Alan-a-Dale is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 best known for winning the 1902 Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

. He was named for a figure in the Robin Hood

Robin Hood

Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....

 legend. According to the stories, he was a wandering minstrel who became a member of Robin's band of outlaws, the "Merry Men." He was bred by Thomas McDowell

Thomas Clay McDowell

Thomas Clay McDowell was an American businessman, Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder, and trainer. He was a great-grandson of Henry Clay, Sr.-Early life and education:...

 at his Ashland Stud in Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

. He was the son of the 1895 Kentucky Derby winner Halma

Halma (horse)

Halma was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred in Kentucky by Eastin & Larabie, he was a son of Hanover, a three-time Leading sire in North America and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee. Grandsire Hindoo, was a Champion runner who also was inducted in the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame. Halma was...

. Raced and trained by McDowell, at age two Alan-a-Dale won three of his four starts but the following year health problems kept him out of racing until Kentucky Derby time. Ridden by future Hall of Fame

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

 jockey

Jockey

A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

 Jimmy Winkfield

James Winkfield

James "Jimmy" Winkfield was a Thoroughbred jockey and horse trainer from Kentucky, best remembered as the last African American to ride a winner in the Kentucky Derby....

, the official Kentucky Derby website says that Alan-a-Dale had a lead of six lengths and despite going lame down the stretch, "carried on with flawless courage to win by a nose." This injury kept Alan-a-Dale out of racing for the rest of the year.

At age four, Alan-a-Dale returned to the track and raced successfully for three more years, retiring with seventeen wins from his thirty-seven lifetime starts. At stud

Horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

, he met with limited success and died in 1925 at age twenty-six.