“Black Gold” Real Dark Horse: Made. The Indians Of Five Tribes A Fortune

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 37, 13 April 1948, Page 4

“Black Gold” Real Dark Horse: Made. The Indians Of Five Tribes A Fortune

“Black Gold,” the little black Oklahoma-bred horse, was really a “dark horse” when he.won the. Kentucky Derby in 1924. In the winter books-he had been on the short of 200-1 odds. Just before the race he came down to odds of 40-1. Then, came the Derby trials. This three-year-old proved a sensation, and finally went to the pole with odds down to six-to-five. When he won the Churchill Downs classic he gave this country’s bookmakers the worst financial beating they had ever suffered. Some took years to pay off their losses. Meanwhile the Oklahoma redskirined members of the Five Civilised Tribes cleaned up a fortune. Most had bet heavily on the colt when the odds were above 40-1. “Black Gold’s” story proved so fabulous that Allied Artists studios were inspired to film it in Cinecolour at a., cost of a million dollars.

Because Hollywood sequences for this production, were scheduled for shooting in late November, several mares had to be bred months earlier than usual; so that a colt could be born at the right time for. important sg&H§^cesi-„pf % . ... story of a Kentucky Derby winner. Colts are usually born in March or April, when feed is more nutritious. Too early birth is important from a sales standpoint, for a horse is automatically a year old on January 1, regardless of the date of it’s birth.