Malicious (horse)

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Malicious
Malicious
Sire:	Omar Khayyam
Dam:	Ridicule
Damsire:	Black Jester
Sex:	gelding
Foaled:	1927
Country:	USA California
Colour:	Brown
Breeder:	Mrs. E. Turk (?)
Owner:	Mrs. E. Turk
Trainer:	Lonnie Coperhaver
Record:	185: 32-?-?
Earnings:	$14,755
Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards
Honours
Special Guest Appearance at the 1939 San Francisco World Fair
Infobox last updated on: September 25, 2006.

Malicious was a thoroughbred race horse. Sired by the winner of the 1917 Kentucky Derby, Omar Khayyam out of Ridicule (by Black Jester), he was born in 1927 and began racing at the age of two—and didn't stop until he was thirteen years old. During that time he racked up 185 starts on virtually every race track in California as well as Mexico's Aqua Caliente race track. He won 32 times.

Only a colt called Tippity Witchet raced more. Tippity started a stupendous 266 times and won 78 of his races. But not even the superb Champion filly Imp with her record of 171 starts and 62 wins, or the amazing Pan Zareta, 151 starts, 76 wins, or another claimer, the great Stymie, 131 starts, 35 wins, were sent out to race as often as the tough brown gelding called Malicious.

Malicious was an $800 claimer and he ran as a claimer. Owned by Mrs. E. Turk, he was trained for several years by Lonnie Coperhaver, known as the "King of the Gypsies." Malicious was part of Coperhaver's string of lowly claimers and he ran them all in every race he could find, but it was Malicious who took on most of the work.

What made Malicious stand out from Coperhaver's other hard-knocking herd, was character, endurance, and heart. Over time, he became one of California's most beloved race horses. Racing for so many years, people became attached to him; they watched out for his races. A fan named Dan Arrighi, who grew up in Southern California, saw him run more than once, often by sneaking into the infield. Of one of those races he said, "Malicious was next to last when they went by me, and his jockey Johnny Adams let out this loud shriek. The horse took off. And in the distance I could hear 'And here comes Malicious!'...It was a thrill I'll never forget."

Malicious was a closer like Silky Sullivan was a closer, though never coming from as far back as the one-of-a-kind Silky. But Malicious ran dramatic races, coming from last to first, and doing it over his entire career. People started calling him "America's Two-Mile Champion," and then, of course, the press discovered him. Twenty years before track announcers called, "Here comes Silky!", they were calling "Here comes Malicious!" Running at the same time as the legendary Seabiscuit, Malicious was also the center of adoring fans. He made a personal appearance at San Francisco's 1939 World's Fair, had people promoting merchandise in his name, was interviewed on the radio. To ensure that people would stay for a full day's racing, Santa Anita race track would include a two-miler as its last race of the day for Malicious to run in.

Morton Cathro, a retired newspaperman, wrote of seeing Malicious in the last days of his long career. "As a teenager in the autumn of 1939, this writer witnessed a series of Saturday marathons at Bay Meadows for top routers. Old Malicious showed up for the Nov. 11 finale, the four-mile Thornton Stakes. The weary road warrior, who hadn't started since that spring at Santa Anita, made his patented late surge to gain fourth in a blanket finish. That was his final race in the U.S. On Jan. 28, 1940, at age 13, one of the toughest iron horses of all time closed out his gallant career—a marathon in itself—by running second at Agua Caliente. His final paycheck was $100; his legacy, a claimer's place in the pantheon of sound, stout-hearted stakes horses—and in the hearts of a devoted public."

Malicious won, over all this time and in all these races, $14,755.

As of this date, 9-26-06, this writer has yet to discover what happened to Malicious after he was retired from racing.