Jet Pilot was 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...

. Purchased for US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

41,000 at the Keeneland Yearling Sale

Keeneland Sales

The Keeneland Sales is an American Thoroughbred auction house in Lexington, Kentucky founded in 1935 as a nonprofit racing/auction entity on 147 acres of farmland west of Lexington, which had been owned by Jack O. Keene...

 by cosmetics queen Elizabeth Arden

Elizabeth Arden

Florence Nightingale Graham , who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire in the United States. At the peak of her career, she was one of the wealthiest women in the world.-Biography:Arden was born in 1884 at Woodbridge, Ontario,...

, he raced under her Maine Chance Farm

Maine Chance Farm

Maine Chance Farm was an American Thoroughbred horse racing stable in Lexington, Kentucky owned by cosmetics tycoon, Elizabeth Arden.Elizabeth Arden raced under the nom de course "Mr. Nightingale" until 1943 when she adopted the name Maine Chance Farm from her health spa in Mount Vernon, Maine...

 colors. He was sired by the English

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 champion and 1930 Epsom Derby

Epsom Derby

The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...

 winner, Blenheim II

Blenheim II

Blenheim II was a good British-bred Thoroughbred race horse who won the Epsom Derby in 1930. As sire he had a major influence on pedigrees around the world.-Pedigree:...

, and out of the mare Black Wave by the champion 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...

 sire, Sir Gallahad III

Sir Gallahad III

Sir Gallahad III was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and a very important Sire in the United States.Racing at age two in France for his British breeder/owner, Jefferson Davis Cohn, Sir Gallahad earned victory in three of his five starts but was overshadowed by the 1922 Champion colt, Epinard...

. Both Blenheim II and Sir Gallahad III had each brought to stand 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...

 in the United States by groups of American horsemen both of which were led by Arthur B. Hancock

Arthur B. Hancock

Arthur Boyd Hancock was an American breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses who established the renowned Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky....

 of Claiborne Farm

Claiborne Farm

Claiborne Farm is a thoroughbred Horse breeding operation in near Paris, Kentucky. It was established in 1910, by Arthur B. Hancock, owner of Ellerslie Farm in Albemarle County, Virginia, and has been operated by members of his family ever since.-Owners:...

.

Racing at age two, Jet Pilot was second in the 1946 Arlington Futurity and third in that year's Futurity Stakes

Futurity Stakes (USA)

The Futurity Stakes, commonly referred to as the Belmont Futurity, is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid September at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to two-year-old horses, it is raced on dirt over a distance of seven furlongs.The creation of James G. K...

 and Champagne Stakes. However, he won the important Tremont Stakes

Tremont Stakes

The Tremont Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually for 2-year-olds at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.Due to the troubled economy in 2008, the Tremont was canceled by the NYRA as they adjusted races to meet the new Grade I standard purse of $300,000. The Tremont Stakes was...

 and Pimlico Futurity

Laurel Futurity

The Laurel Futurity is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November at Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland. Run over a distance of 1 1/16 miles on turf, at one time it was a Grade I stakes race on dirt, and one of the richest and most important races for two-year-old...

.

One of the winter book favorites for the 1947 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...

, Jet Pilot broke from post position thirteen and immediately took the lead in the 73rd edition of the Derby and never relinquished it in defeating C. V. Whitney's

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....

 betting favorite

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

, 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....

. 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...

, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown

Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...

 series, Jet Pilot finished fourth behind Calumet Farm's

Calumet Farm

Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of Lexington's blue grass country, the finest horse breeding region in...

 winner, Faultless

Faultless

Faultless was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1947 Preakness Stakes. Bred and raced by Calumet Farm, his dam, Unerring, was the 1939 American Co-Champion Three-Year-Old Filly. His sire was Calumet's preeminent stallion Bull Lea who was the sire of seven U.S...

. He did not win again until the fall when he captured the (then) six furlong

Furlong

A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to 220 yards, 660 feet, 40 rods, or 10 chains. The exact value of the furlong varies slightly among English-speaking countries....

 Jamaica Handicap

Jamaica Handicap

The Jamaica Handicap is American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses run annually on the turf at Belmont Park in Elmont on Long Island, New York...

 at Belmont Park

Belmont Park

Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...

.

Retired to stud duty for the 1948 season, Jet Pilot sired multiple graded stakes race

Graded stakes race

A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...

 winners Jet Action and Myrtles Jet, plus 1951 Champion 2-year-old Filly

Eclipse Award for Outstanding 2-Year-Old Filly

The American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a female horse in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971....

, Rose Jet. The product of his last mating was born in 1964.