Horse History - June 29th Through July 4th

June 30th, 1917 - The Thoroughbred racehorse Exterminator ran in his first race. The race was six furlongs, held at the Old Latonia Racecourse located in Covington, Kentucky, and Exterminator won it by three lengths. Exterminator was a gelding and during his career he would race 100 times, winning 50 of them. Perhaps most impressive of all is the fact that Exterminator would carry 130 pounds and up in 35 races, a very high weight assigned to him in hopes of giving the other racehorses a chance against his already demonstrated speed. Despite the high weight, Exterminator would win twenty of these races.

Information courtesy of Exterminator

Photo courtesy of Old Bones His Amazing Career Record Was Never Broken

July 1, 1875 – The Thoroughbred racehorse Lexington died today. Lexington was known for setting the record of 7 minutes, 19 ¾ seconds for running 4 miles at the Metaire Course. He had a very successful career as a sire to racehorses such as Preakness. When he died, Lexington was buried in a coffin in front of Woodburn Farm where he had stood at stud. His remains were later donated to the United States National Museum and his skeleton was placed on exhibition.

Information courtesy of Famous Horses

Photo courtesy of Lexington (horse)

July 3, 1965 – Trigger, Roy Rogers' Palomino horse, died one day before his thirty-first birthday. Trigger was trained to perform over 100 tricks, and would respond to the touch and hand movements of his rider. Trigger appeared in the 188 movies which Roy Rogers starred in, and performed all over the country at Rogers' side. When Trigger died, Rogers had him mounted in his rearing position, and his body was displayed at the Roy Rogers - Dale Evans Museum located in Victorville, California.

Information and photo courtesy of Roy Rogers’ legendary horse Trigger to go under hammer