Ridan (horse)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ridan
Upload / Commons Upload
Sire:	Nantallah
Dam:	Rough Shod
Damsire:	Gold Bridge
Sex:	Stallion
Foaled:	1959
Country:	USA
Colour:	Bay
Breeder:	Claiborne Farm
Owner:	Mrs. Moody Jolley, Ernest Woods, John L. Greer
Trainer:	LeRoy Jolley
Record:	23: 13-6-2
Earnings:	$635,074
Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards
Major Racing Wins
Arlington Futurity (1961) Washington Park Futurity (1961) Hibiscus Stakes (1962) Florida Derby (1962) Blue Grass Stakes (1962) Arlington Classic (1962)
Infobox last updated on: November 19, 2006.

Ridan (February 21, 1959 - 1977) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who in 1961 was arguably the best 2-year-old colt racing in the United States and who lost 1962 U.S. Champion 3-Year-old honors by a fraction of a nose.

A full brother to 1965 U.S. Horse of the Year, Moccasin, Ridan's grandsire was Nasrullah, a son of Nearco. He was purchased from Claiborne Farm as a yearling by trainer Moody Jolley and because he reminded him of another Nasrullah colt named Nadir, he named him Ridan which is Nadir spelled backwards. Jolley sold a one-third interest each to Ernest Woods and John L. Greer.

Trained by Moody Jolley's son LeRoy, and ridden by future U.S. Hall of Fame jockey Bill Hartack, in 1961 the two-year-old Ridan went unbeaten in seven starts that included wins in the important Arlington Futurity and the Washington Park Futurity. Soreness in a foreleg cut short his season and although he had handily beaten another two-year-old star, Crimson Satan, the 1961 U.S. Juvenile Champion honors went to Crimson Satan. A choice hotly debated in racing circles, jockey Bill Hartack said Ridan was the best two-year-old he had ever ridden or ever seen. A number of expert racing observers agreed, too saying that Ridan was the best two-year-old they had ever seen. The following year at age three, Ridan would settle the issue, beating Crimson Satan seven more times by an average of eight lengths in each race and retired without ever losing to him.

In 1962 Ridan won the Hibiscus Stakes in record time then won the Blue Grass Stakes and the Florida Derby. Made the heavy favorite going into the Kentucky Derby, Ridan wound up third after running wide in a hard fought race in which he and Roman Line finished a neck behind upset winner Decidedly. Disappointment followed in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown. Ridan lost by the then narrowest, and still second narrowest margin in Preakness history, beaten by a nose to a Brandywine Stable longshot named Greek Money.

[edit] One of American Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments

In the 1962 Travers Stakes at the Saratoga Race Course, Ridan lost by a fraction of a nose in track record time to the George D. Widener, Jr. colt, Jaipur. Still written and talked about today, the race is listed in the 2006 book Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments written by the staff of Blood-Horse Publications. The race result determined which colt would be named the 1962 U.S. Champion 3-Year-Old Horse.

At age four, Ridan raced only three times but got his revenge when he beat Jaipur, as well as the great Kelso, in the Palm Beach Handicap at Hialeah Park. An ankle injury brought Ridan's racing career to an end and he was sent to stand at stud in Kentucky. Only moderately successful as a sire, Ridan was eventually sent to a breeding operation in Australia where he died in 1977 from a twisted intestine.