Kauai King
Encyclopedia
Kauai King 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...

 who was born on Pine Brook Farm in Maryland by the champion sire Native Dancer. In 1966 he won the first two legs 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...

 races. To date Kauai King is one of only two horses born in the state of Maryland to cross the Kentucky Derby finish line first. Dancer's Image was later stripped of his title leaving Kauai King as the only official Maryland bred winner of the Derby.

Ridden by 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:...

 Don Brumfield
Don Brumfield
Donald Alan Brumfield is a retired American jockey from Kentucky.During his thirty-five year career, Brumfield won 4,573 races in 33,222 rides. He retired from racing in 1989. Brumfield was the "track all-time leading rider in terms of races won " at Churchill Downs, where he won 16 riding titles...

, Kauai King won the 1966 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 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 finished 4th in the 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...

 at Aqueduct Racetrack
Aqueduct Racetrack
Aqueduct Racetrack is a thoroughbred horse-racing facility and racino in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Its racing meets usually are from late October/early November through April.-History:...

, 2 lengths back of the winner, Amberoid
Amberoid
Amberoid was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1966 American Classic, the Belmont Stakes....

. On June 16th, the colt was sold to a horse breeding
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...

 syndicate for a then record price of $2,520,000.

1966 was also the 3-Year-Old season for the outstanding colt, Graustark
Graustark (horse)
Graustark was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was a favorite to win the 1966 Kentucky Derby until an injury prematurely ended his career.-Background:Bred by renowned sportsman John W...

, as well as the 1965 Champion 2-Year-Old Colt
Eclipse Award for Outstanding 2-Year-Old Male Horse
The American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971....

, Buckpasser
Buckpasser
Buckpasser was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won he won nine of his eleven race starts for international record winnings for a two-year-old of $586,090. Buckpasser was leading broodmare sire in 1983, 1984 and 1989....

. The undefeated Graustark's racing career ended with a broken coffin bone
Equine forelimb anatomy
The equine forelimb of the horse is attached to the trunk of the animal by purely muscular connections...

 in the Blue Grass Stakes
Blue Grass Stakes
The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, currently sponsored by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is an American Grade 1 horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in mid April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky....

 and an injury kept Buckpasser out of the Triple Crown races.

Even after Kauai King's wins in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes there was much speculation as to which was the better horse and on June 27, 1966 Kauai King and Buckpasser met in the Arlington Classic
Arlington Classic
The Arlington Classic Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for 3-year-old horses held annually at the end of June at Arlington Park race track near Chicago, Illinois...

. Kauai King's racing career came to an end when he pulled a ligament in his leg during the race. Following the announcement of his career-ending injury, he was retired 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...

 at Alfred G. Vanderbilt II's
Alfred G. Vanderbilt II
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II was a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, a son of the first Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt who died a hero in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. His mother, Margaret Emerson, was one of America's wealthiest women and most sought-after hostesses, operating at least...

 Sagamore Farm
Sagamore Farm
Sagamore Farm is an American Thoroughbred horse breeding farm on Belmont Avenue in Reisterstown, Baltimore County, Maryland. Established in 1925, it was owned by Margaret Emerson Vanderbilt who gave it to her son Alfred G. Vanderbilt II for his twenty-first birthday...

 in Glyndon
Glyndon, Maryland
Glyndon, Maryland is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1871 by Dr. Charles A. Leas, the village is located in the northwest section of Baltimore County and serves primarily as a residential suburb of metropolitan Baltimore City...

, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. Kauai King is still one of only two "Dual Classic Winner" ever to be bred in the state of Maryland (the other was Native Dancer) and one of only eleven to win a triple crown race.

Kauai King proved less than successful as a sire
Father
A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...

. Near the end of 1971 it was announced the horse was being shipped to stand at stud in England. He remained there until 1973 when he was sent to a breeding farm in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

where he died on January 24, 1989.
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