Bold Ruler

Bold Ruler (April 6, 1954 – July 12, 1971) was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse who was the 1957 Horse of the Year. This following a three-year-old campaign that included wins in the Preakness Stakes and Trenton Handicap, in which he defeated fellow Hall of Fame inductees Round Table and Gallant Man. Bold Ruler was named American Champion Sprinter at age four, and upon retirement became the leading sire in North America eight times between 1963 and 1973, the most of any sire in the twentieth century. Bold Ruler is now best known as the sire of the 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, and was also the great-grandsire of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. He was an outstanding sire of sires, whose modern descendants include many classic winners such as California Chrome. Background Bred by the Wheatley Stable of Gladys Mills Phipps, Bold Ruler was foaled on April 6, 1954, at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. His sire was Nasrullah, who has the distinction of being a champion sire in both Europe and North America. Bold Ruler's dam was the stakes-winning sprinter Miss Disco, by Discovery. By coincidence, he and rival Round Table were foaled on the same night at Claiborne, and both returned to stand at stud there after their racing careers. He was trained by Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, and was regularly ridden by Eddie Arcaro. Bold Ruler was a big, leggy horse, standing with a great shoulder, powerful hindquarter, and a distinctive long, sloping hip going down to a straight hind leg. This conformation can still be found, especially in horses descended through the Seattle Slew line.