June 12, 1948: The Belmont Stakes is held at Belmont Park, in Elmont, New York, on the Long Island side of the New York City Line.
Everyone is expecting the horse that won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes to win it, and seal the Triple Crown. That was Citation. Bred, foaled and trained at Calumet Farm outside Lexington, Kentucky.
He won 8 of his 9 races as a 2-year-old. His 1st 2 races as a 3-year-old saw him not only win, but defeat the 1947 Horse of the Year, Armed, who was ridden by Eddie Arcaro, who had won the Triple Crown aboard Whirlaway in 1941.
After winning the Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah Park outside Miami, tragedy struck on March 5, 1948, when his jockey, Albert Snider, was lost at sea when his fishing boat was lost in a storm off the Florida Keys. He was only 26 years old. Arcaro was signed to ride Citation. Together, they lost to Saggy in the Chesapeake Trial Stakes at Havre de Grace Racetrack in Maryland. But in the actual Chesapeake Stakes, Arcaro and Citation reversed this defeat, starting a 16-race winning streak.
On May 1, 1948, on a sloppy track at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, Citiation won the Kentucky Derby by 3 1/2 lengths. Arcaro gave a share of his winners' purse to Snider's widow. On May 15, Citation won the Preakness by 5 1/2 lengths. Instead of the usual 3-week gap between the Preakness and the Belmont, there was a 4-week gap, and trainer Ben A. Jones decided on a warmup race for Citation. He won the Jersey Stakes by 11 lengths.
So he was more than ready to run the mile and a half of the Belmont, "the True Test of Champions." He won it by 8 lengths, with a time of 2 minutes, 28 and 1/5ths seconds, tying the course record set in 1943, by Triple Crown winner Count Fleet.
Arcaro became the 1st jockey to win the Triple Crown on 2 different horses. He remains the only one. Citation was the 8th horse to win the Triple Crown of American thoroughbred racing, the 4th in the last 8 years. There would not be another for 25 years, until Secretariat, who broke the Belmont Stakes time record shared by Citation and Count Fleet.
Over the rest of 1948, Citation won the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and the Pimilico Special in a walkover, as no other horse was willing to challenge him. An injury prevented him from racing in 1949, but he won his 1st race of 1950, as a 5-year-old.
That gave him 16 straight wins. It was a record eventually matched by Cigar in 1996, and not surpassed until the filly Peppers Pride won 19 straight in 2008, matched by another filly, Zenyatta, in 2010. However, none of those horses ever even entered one of the Triple Crown races -- although Cigar and Zenyatta each won the Breeders' Cup Classic, a race not available until 1984, and thus not to Citation (or Secretariat, for that matter). Only American Pharoah, in 2015, has won the Triple Crown and added the BCC for a "Grand Slam."
In 1951, at age 6, considered young for most horses but "old" for a thoroughbred, Citation won the Hollywood Gold Cup. This made him the 1st horse to win $1 million in prize money. He was then retired to stud at Calumet, and died in 1970, at 25.
In 1999, Blood-Horse magazine ranked the Top 100 U.S. Thoroughbred Champions of the 20th Century. Citation was ranked 3rd, behind Man o' War and Secretariat. In 2020, as part of a fundraiser for emergency relief efforts due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a "virtual Kentucky Derby" was held, wherein the field included all 13 Triple Crown winners. Citation finished 2nd to Secretariat.
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June 12, 1948 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees were swept in a doubleheader by the Cleveland Indians, 7-5 and 9-4 before a crowd of 68,586 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-9 over the 2 games.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams went 2-for-4. In a way, this day decided the American League Pennant: The Indians and the Red Sox finished in a tie for 1st place, with the Yankees 1 game back; and the Indians then won a 1-game Playoff, beating the Red Sox.
* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Browns, 3-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 4-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.
* The New York Giants beat the St. Louis Browns, 7-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Stan Musial went 2-for-5.
* The Cincinnati Reds swept a doubleheader from the Boston Braves, 3-2 and 11-9 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. In spite of this, the Braves won the National League Pennant, before losing to the Indians in the World Series.
* The Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 22. The Pirates won the opener, 5-3. The nightcap was tied, 1-1 in the 5th inning, when it was rained out again. Since 5 innings had been completed, the game was declared official, and was never replayed. The Pirates had a whopping 16 games postponed due to rain, and another 5 shortened by it.
* And the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs were rained out at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 31. The Cubs swept, 3-0 and 7-2. In the opener, Hank Borowy allowed only 1 baserunner, a single by Gene Hermanski in the 2nd inning. Jackie Robinson went 0-for-7 on the day.
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