The career of Princess Rooney was not unlike a sandwich. Hold the laughter – it’s true. During her three seasons on the track, she packaged a thin layer of disappointment between two sensational winning streaks that stamped her as one of the greatest fillies to every grace the sport of kings.

Bred in Kentucky by Ben and Tom Roach, Princess Rooney wasn’t exactly a hot commodity as a yearling. Her pedigree wasn’t the most fashionable; her sire, Verbatim, was a respectable though not outstanding racehorse and stallion, while her dam and damsire both were unraced.

Allen Jerkens took out his trainer’s license as soon as he turned 21, and he only waited that long because his father forbid him to do so any sooner. He enjoyed solid success almost from the very beginning and won his first stakes race in 1955 with a horse named War Command, whom Jerkens had claimed for $8,000. Seven years later, he agreed to become the private trainer for Jack Dreyfus Jr.’s Hobeau Farm. Though Hobeau Farm didn’t always deal in the most fashionable of pedigrees, it did provide Jerkens with volume. And Jerkens certainly had a knack for getting the most out of his horses.