Bloodlines Presented By Walmac Farm: Jim Dandy’s Shovel In The Graveyard Of Favorites originally appeared on Paulick Report.

When Jim Dandy (by Jim Gore) won the 1930 Travers Stakes over Gallant Fox (Sir Gallahad III) and Whichone (Chicle), at the moment of the race result at Saratoga, the Travers result was an upset of even more extraordinary proportions than Man o’ War’s loss to Upset (Whisk Broom) in the 1919 Sanford had been at that time.

For one thing, when Man o’ War (Fair Play) lost the Sanford, he wasn’t yet the legend that he became over the following 15 months.

Furthermore, when the heavily favored Man o’ War lost the Sanford after a poor start and a rough trip, he was mortally flying at the end as he just missed catching third-choice Upset. It was unfortunate, but the loss was taken with the usual grace of horseplayers who’ve lost on a sure thing, as Man o’ War appeared to be.

The 1930 Travers was something else entirely.

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Gallant Fox came into the Travers as the first winner of the officially designated Triple Crown, had won seven races in a row (extending back to his final start at two), and was being mentioned regularly as the best racer since Man o’ War, as many another would be.

In the Belmont Stakes, Gallant Fox had met the previous season’s top juvenile, Whichone, and defeated him by three lengths. Whichone had been the favorite for that event, but Gallant Fox had put the Whitney colt in his place and won the Triple. Thus, the Travers was set as the rematch between the two divisional stars.

Following the Belmont, Gallant Fox had won the Dwyer Stakes at Aqueduct, and then he traveled to Arlington Park in Chicago, where he won the Classic. The striking bay colt was receiving more press attention than any racer since Man o’ War.

The headlines focused attention on Gallant Fox, newspapers and radio reporters commented vigorously on William Woodward’s colt, and the attention set up the public to see or listen to an epic confrontation in the Travers Mid-Summer Derby at Saratoga.

That is surely how the public relations officials at the track, as well as the majority of the press, assessed the race.

From the race fractions, it appears that Whichone and Gallant Fox were ridden in the event as if it were a match race, and their jockeys disregarded the two other competitors, including 100-1 Jim Dandy. After three-quarters in 1:13 3/5, the racers required nearly another minute for the final half-mile. The final time of 2:08 showed that :54 2/5 elapsed from the sixth furlong to the tenth.

Jim Dandy, a rugged and useful colt who had won the Grand Union Hotel Stakes at Saratoga as a juvenile, did not need nearly that long to race a half-mile, and even though he was behind on the turn, he sailed along through the heavily muddy stretch to win by eight lengths from Gallant Fox and shower mud on the seemingly invincible champions.

“Staggering” would have described the condition of the favorites at the end of the race in the heavy track conditions, and that also fits the response of racecourse observers. Evidently none of them had bet on Jim Dandy.

That did not make the result any less joyous for the owner and breeder.

Bred in Kentucky by Col. W.S. Dudley, Jim Dandy was a son of the Claiborne Farm stallion Jim Gaffney (Golden Garter). Jim Gaffney had ranked among the top 20 U.S. sires from 1922 to 1926, and he was again among them in 1930, when he had been sold and moved to Charlton Clay’s Marchmont Farm adjacent to Claiborne.

Jim Dandy’s sire Jim Gaffney had been bred in California in 1905 by James Ben Ali Haggin at his Rancho del Paso and sold for $3,500 as a yearling. Jim Gaffney proved to be a very useful racehorse, especially as a 2-year-old when he won the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, and he won 15 races over multiple seasons until his retirement to stud in 1912.

The sire produced robust stock that stood training and racing well, and he had enough class and versatility among them to attract the attention of the first Arthur Hancock, who bought him to stand at Claiborne after the horse had shown the ability to get fast racers.

The 1930 Travers winner was out of Thunderbird, by the outstanding sire and broodmare sire Star Shoot (Isinglass), and Jim Dandy was the mare’s third foal. The colt was bred by Dudley at Sunny Hill Stock Farm near Millersburg in far northern Bourbon County, Kentucky, and Dudley raced Jim Dandy initially.

After the colt won his first race, Dudley knew he had an attractive racing prospect and sold the colt for $25,000 to Chaffee Earl through trainer John B. McKee. Earl owned Jim Dandy when he won the Grand Union Hotel at two, as well as his greatest triumph in the 1930 Travers.

The view of racing fans, gamblers, and newsmen was correct, however. Gallant Fox never lost another race, and Jim Dandy never won a race of comparable merit. The 1930 Travers winner is memorialized in the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga, which will be raced this year on Saturday, July 26.

This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Jul 23, 2025, where it first appeared.