Olympia (horse)

Olympia (1946-1974) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won top races at age two through four then became a foundation sire for Florida breeder, Fred W. Hooper. Bred by Hall of Fame jockey turned trainer, Ivan H. Parke, he was sired by Champion sire Heliopolis and out of the mare, Miss Dolphin.^[1]

After a very successful two-year-old season, Olympia won the San Felipe Stakes,^[2] the Flamingo Stakes,^[3] the Wood Memorial Stakes ^[4] and the Derby Trial Stakes ^[5] that resulted in him being sent off as the heavy betting favorite for the 1949 Kentucky Derby in which he would finish sixth.^[6]

Olympia developed into a top class sprinter who retired from racing with a record of 15-12-4 from 41 starts and earnings of $365,632.

Champion broodmare sire

Olympia was retired to stud duty, Olympia stood at Danada Farm in Lexington, Kentucky but on his death at age 28 in 1974 was buried at Hooper Farm in Ocala, Florida. ^[7]

Among his successful progeny were two Champions. Decathlon (f. 1953) was voted the 1956 & 1957 American Champion Sprint Horse and Pucker Up (f. 1953) the 1957 American Champion Older Female Horse.^[8] Olympia's other good runners included:

• Air Pilot (f. 1954), two-time winner of the Massachusetts Handicap
• Alhambra (f. 1955), multiple stakes winner
• Talent Show (f. 1955), multiple stakes winner who easrned more than US$500,000
• Winonly (f. 1957), multiple stakes winner
• Editorialist (f. 1958), multiple stakes winner
• Top Bid (f.1964). the 1973 American Grand National winner, 1970 American Champion Steeplechase Horse ^[9]
• My Portrait (f. 1958), won 1961 Kentucky Oaks

Olympia was the damsire of Darby Dan Farm's very good runner True Knight (f. 1969) who was instrumental in Olympia becoming the 1974 Leading broodmare sire in North America.^[10]

References