Fisherman was an American

United States

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

 Thoroughbred 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...

. He was bred and raced by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney

Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney

Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was an American businessman, film producer, writer, and government official, as well as the owner of a leading stable of thoroughbred racehorses....

, a member of the prominent horse-racing Whitney family

Whitney family

The Whitney family is an American family notable for their social prominence, wealth, business enterprises and philanthropy, founded by John Whitney who came from London, England to Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635.-Rise to prominence:...

. He was out of the mare Crawfish and sired by Whitney's Phalanx

Phalanx (horse)

Phalanx was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was sired by Pilate, a son of the 1916 Belmont Stakes winner, Friar Rock. His dam was the outstanding runner, Jacola, the American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly of 1937 who beat the great Seabiscuit by two lengths in the 1938 Laurel Stakes....

, the winner of the 1947 Belmont Stakes

Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

 voted American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse.

Fisherman was trained by future U.S. Racing 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...

 inductee, Sylvester Veitch

Sylvester Veitch

Sylvester E. Veitch was a Hall of Fame thoroughbred horse trainer.Veitch began his career in racing as a jockey and trainer in Steeplechase racing. In 1939 he moved to flat racing when he began employment as a trainer with Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney in Kentucky...

. Sent to the racetrack at age two, Fisherman won a number of races for his age group including the important Champagne Stakes. Despite Fisherman's performances in 1953, in the balloting for American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt he finished behind the co-winners, Hasty Road

Hasty Road

Hasty Road was an American thoroughbred racehorse best remembered for winning the 1954 Preakness Stakes and coming in a close second to Determine in the 1954 Kentucky Derby. Hasty Road was a very large bay thoroughbred with a distinctive white blaze...

 and Porterhouse

Porterhouse (horse)

Porterhouse was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by Liz Person and raced under her Llangollen Farm banner, Porterhouse was a son of the Argentine-bred Endeavour who also sired Corn Husker, Prove It and Pretense, three top runners who each won the Santa Anita Handicap. His dam was...

.

In 1954, under regular jockey Hedley Woodhouse

Hedley Woodhouse

Hedley John Woodhouse was a Canadian jockey who won the New York state riding championship in 1953. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he began his racing career there in 1937 at the Lansdowne Park racetrack as an apprentice with A.C.T. Stock Farm owned by industrialist Austin C. Taylor...

, three-year-old Fisherman won the Gotham Stakes

Gotham Stakes

The Gotham Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses run in early March at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. A Grade III event with a purse of $250,000, it is set at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt...

. In the U.S. Triple Crown series he finished seventh in the 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...

 and did not run in the Preakness Stakes

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

. But, in the ensuing Belmont Stakes

Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

 he ran second to High Gun

High Gun

High Gun was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. His sire, Heliopolis, was a two-time Leading sire in North America. His dam was Rocket Gun whose damsire was the legendary Man o' War....

. From there, Fisherman went on to win two very important races. First, he won the Travers Stakes

Travers Stakes

The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...

 at Saratoga Race Course

Saratoga Race Course

Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. It opened on August 3, 1863, and is the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the United States. It is typically open for racing from late July through early September.-History:John...

 then, following the withdrawal of an injured High Gun, C. V. Whitney was invited to run Fisherman in the November Washington, D.C. International Stakes. In the mile and a half weight-for-age race on the grass at Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland

Laurel, Maryland

Laurel is a city in northern Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County, Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Incorporated in 1870, the city maintains a historic district including its Main Street...

, he was up against older horses and some of the best from Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 including Queen Elizabeth's

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 colt Landau and the betting

Parimutuel betting

Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...

 favorite, the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 filly

Filly

A filly is a young female horse too young to be called a mare. There are several specific definitions in use.*In most cases filly is a female horse under the age of four years old....

, Banassa

Banassa

Banassa was a French Thoroughbred Filly racehorse bred and raced by Julien Décrion. Named for an ancient Roman village in Morocco, she was sired by Décrion's multiple race winner Un Gaillard and out of his mare, Fatou Gaye....

. Ridden by Eddie Arcaro

Eddie Arcaro

George Edward Arcaro , known professionally as Eddie Arcaro, was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who won more American classic races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice...

, Fisherman remained within striking distance of the pacesetter before taking the lead and holding off a charge in the homestretch by Banassa to win the race.

In 1955, Fishermen continued to win New York races, capturing the Excelsior Handicap

Excelsior Handicap

The Excelsior Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the first week of April at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens, New York...

 and earning a second in the John B. Campbell Handicap

John B. Campbell Handicap

The John B. Campbell Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland. Raced in mid February, it is open to horses age three and older and is contested on dirt over a distance of 1⅛ miles ....

. Encouraged by the performance on grass by Fisherman and another of his top runners, the three-year-old Career Boy

Career Boy

Career Boy was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred and raced by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, a member of the prominent horse-racing Whitney family...

, C. V. Whitney decided to send the two horses to compete in the 1956 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...

 at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Fisherman finished off the board with Career Boy taking fourth behind winner, Ribot

Ribot (horse)

Ribot was an Italian bay Thoroughbred racehorse, considered the strongest horse of all time.Undefeated in 16 races, he won over distances ranging from 5 furlongs to 1m 7f , in three different countries and in all types of track conditions...

, one of the best horses in European racing history.

Retired to stud

Stud (animal)

A stud animal is a registered animal retained for breeding. The terms for the male of a given animal species usually imply that the animal is entire—that is, not castrated—and therefore capable of siring offspring...

duty, Fisherman met with limited success.