High Quest

High Quest (1931–1948) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1934 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series of races.

Background

Sir Gallahad III, the sire of High Quest, had been purchased in 1926 from his owner in France by an American breeding syndicate made up of Robert A. Fairbairn, William Woodward, Sr., Arthur B. Hancock, and High Quest's breeder, Marshall Field III.

Bob Smith, a trainer with a history of spotting talent, had been hired by heiress Isabel Dodge Sloane to stock her newly formed Brookmeade Stable. Smith purchased High Quest for $3,500 at the Saratoga Yearling Sales and that same year bought Time Clock for $700 and Cavalcade for $1,200. Time Clock won the Flamingo Stakes in 1934 while Cavalcade won the Kentucky Derby, Horse of the Year honors, and would be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Racing career

Racing at age two, High Quest won an allowance race at Saratoga Race Course, in the process defeating future Hall of Famer, Discovery. In the prestigious race for two-year-olds, the Hopeful Stakes, High Quest again defeated Discovery but finished second to a filly named Bazaar. In the Eastern Shore Handicap at Havre de Grace Racetrack in Maryland, High Quest beat Discovery for the third time as well as stablemate Cavalcade.

In 1934, en route to the U.S. Triple Crown races, the three-year-old High Quest won the important Wood Memorial Stakes. His stablemates Cavalcade and Time Clock were entered in the Kentucky Derby, finishing first and seventh respectively. High Quest then replaced Time Clock in the Preakness Stakes and under California jockey Bobby Jones, scored the most important win of his career by defeating stablemate Cavalcade by a nose.^[1]

Despite sustaining an injury in the Withers Stakes,^[2] High Quest went on to compete in the third leg of the Triple Crown series, finishing second in the Belmont Stakes to the Joseph E. Widener colt, Peace Chance. An injury shortly before the Arlington Classic ruled him out for the rest of the year^[3] and he did not race again.

Stud record

Retired to stud duty, unlike his prominent father, High Quest was less than successful in producing stakes winners with 1946 Santa Anita Handicap winner War Knight probably the best of the lot.

Breeding

References

• High Quest's pedigree and racing stats