June 1, 1946: We tend to think of horse racing as a sport with grace, rather than a contact sport full of violence. Yet, on this day, a horse named Assault won the Triple Crown.
Assault was foaled at King Ranch in south Texas, a son of 1936 Kentucky Derby and Preakness States winner Bold Venture. His maternal grandfather was Equipoise, the 1932 and 1933 Horse of the Year despite not winning any of the Triple Crown races. And he was a great-grandson of a sister of Man o' War, making him a cousin of both War Admiral and Seabiscuit.
Perhaps the true "assault" was the amount of injuries inflicted on him as a foal. He stepped on what was believed to have been a surveyor's stake, driving it through his front right hoof. The hoof was permanently deformed, and the colt developed a limp to accommodate the odd shape of his foot. However, the "Club-footed Comet," as he was later dubbed, showed no signs of abnormality when he was at a full gallop. Throughout his career, Assault also overcame kidney, splint bone, fetlock, knee and bleeding problems.
Trained by Max Hirsch, and ridden by Warren Mehrtens, he won only 2 races as a 2-year-old. One of them was a genuine rarity, a four-horse photo finish, in the perhaps aptly-named Flash Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Upstate New York.
As a 3-year-old, he won the Wood Memorial, one of the major prep races for the Kentucky Derby, at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York's Queens, but ran badly in the Derby Trial Stakes, and was not considered a favorite for the 1946 Kentucky Derby, run on May 4.
Yet he ran "the Run for the Roses" in 2 minutes, 6 and 3/5ths seconds, and tied what was then the race record by winning by 8 lengths. The Preakness was run a week later, on May 11. With a furlong (1/8th of a mile) to go, he led by 4 lengths, but he tired, and ended up winning by only a neck over Lord Boswell.
At a mile and a half, the longest major stakes race in America, the Belmont Stakes is known as "The True Test of Champions." Although it had happened only once to that point -- Pensive finished 2nd in 1944 -- no fewer than 19 horses have won the Derby and the Preakness, but come up short in the Belmont between then and 2014. (From 1932 to 2022, 3 other Triple Crown potentials did not run in the Belmont due to injury concerns.)
So it was thought by racing experts that Assault would not hold up in the long distance at Belmont Park, just outside New York City in Elmont, Long Island, and Lord Boswell was the betting favorite for the Stakes on June 1.
The experts were wrong: Almost the exact opposite of what they expected happened. Assault stumbled out of the gate, and trailed almost the whole way. But it was the other 6 horses in the race that got tired, and Assault made a run with 200 yards to go, and won by 3 lengths, in 2:30 and 4/5ths. Natchez finished 2nd, and Lord Boswell faded to 5th. Assault had won the Triple Crown.
Injuries and illness troubled Assault for the rest of the year. Hirsch replaced Mehrtens with Eddie Arcaro, and he rode Assault to victory in both the Pimlico Special back in Baltimore and the Westchester Stakes at Belmont. He won 5 out out his 7 races as a 4-year-old, and, unusual for a major thoroughbred, was raced until he was 7.
Assault failed at stud, and lived until 1971. Jockey Warren Mehrtens lived until 1997.
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June 1, 1946 was a Saturday. Scottish actor Brian Roy, the 1st actor to play Hannibal Lecter, and the star of the TV series Succession, was born on this day.
These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the St. Louis Browns, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. Jack Kramer (no relation to the tennis player of the same name, one of the top players of that ear) outpitched Frank Hiller. For the Browns, Johnny Berardino (later to become an actor under the name John Beradino) and Wally Judnich hit home runs. For the Yankees, Charlie Keller hit a home run, but Joe DiMaggio went 0-for-4.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Lonny Frey hit a sacrifice fly to bring Mike McCormick home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Ed head went the distance as the Dodgers' pitcher and got 2 hits, but was the losing pitcher.
* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 10-4 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Senators beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Hank Greenberg went 1-for-4.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Braves, 6-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. With a doubleheader already set for the next day, June 2, this game was made up the day after, June 3. The Phillies won, 8-4.
* The Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. (They were rained out the next day, too. That game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day.) This game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 17. The Red Sox swept, 3-1 and 6-1. Over the 2 games, Ted Williams went 2-for-7 with a walk and an RBI. The Red Sox got off to starts of 21-3, and 41-9, finishing at 104-50 and winning their 1st American League Pennant in 28 years.
* The New York Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 28. The Cards swept, 13-8 and 3-2. Giants player-manager Mel Ott made himself a pinch-hitter in the 1st game, and had an RBI on a groundout. Erv Dusak hit 2 home runs, and he and Whitey Kurowski each had 3 hits and 4 RBIs.
The 2nd game was tied going into the 9th inning. Goody Rosen doubled, and Willard Marshall singled him home to give the Jints the lead. But with 2 outs in the bottom half, Marty Marion singled, and Walter Sessi hit a home run. It was the only homer of Sessi's major league career. Over the 2 games, Stan Musial went 1-for-6 with 3 walks. The Cardinals went on to beat the Red Sox in the World Series.
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