Proud Clarion

Proud Clarion (January 19, 1964 – December 17, 1981) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1967 Kentucky Derby. Background Owned and bred by John W. Galbreath, Proud Clarion was foaled at his Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. His sire was Hail To Reason, the U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old Colt for 1960, and his grandsire was Royal Charger, a son of the great Nearco. Out of the mare Breath O'Morn, Proud Clarion's damsire was Djeddah, a major stakes winner in England who in turn was a son of the French champion and 1942 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner, Djebel. Racing career Racing at age two for trainer Loyd Gentry, Jr., Proud Clarion showed little of what his pedigree promised. Out of three starts, his best result was a third in a minor race. He finished his two-year-old season with earnings of just $805. As a three-year-old, he won a few sprint races then in the immediate lead-up to the 1967 Kentucky Derby, he ran second to Diplomat Way in the Blue Grass Stakes. Ridden by Bobby Ussery in the Derby, Proud Clarion was given little consideration and was sent off by bettors at more than 30:1 odds. The fourteen-horse field included Diplomat Way, Ruken, who had won California's Santa Anita Derby and was the bettors second choice, plus the overwhelming favorite, Wood Memorial Stakes winner Damascus.