September 14, 1968 – New Zealand-bred Cardigan Bay became the first harness racer to ever reach one million dollars in career earnings. He was twelve years old at the time, and he won his last race at Freehold Raceway in New Jersey, surpassing the million dollar earning mark. Cardigan Bay, a Standardbred, outpaced three-time horse of the year Bret Hanover in the ‘Pace of the Century’ in 1966. Cardigan Bay was retired after surpassing the million dollar mark and went on to live to the age of thirty-two. For more information on Cardigan Bay, see

Photo courtesy of http://www.interdominion.com.au/history.cfm


September 15, 2008 – The clone of legendary show jumper, Gem Twist, was born. Gem Twist, a grey Thoroughbred who was named Horse of the Year three times, died in 2006. Cryozootech, a cloning company, cloned the gelding. The resulting colt is expected to be in high demand as a stud to contribute to the gene pool of showjumpers as Gem Twist himself, a gelding, could not.

For a full article about the birth, please see

September 18, 1830 – A horse was victorious in a race against the first US-built locomotive. The locomotive, called the Tom Thumb, was raced against a stage coach horse on a parallel track in Ellicotts Mills, Maryland. The train was winning until a belt slipped, allowing the horse to win the race in the end. The train would go on to win the races against horses that followed, though, once the belt was repaired. For more information, please see

Photo courtesy of: http://history1800s.about.com/od/steamlocomotives/ig/19thcentloco/tomthumb-rakeman.htm