Myrtlewood was a champion 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...

 race horse as well as an exceptional broodmare. She was by Blue Larkspur

Blue Larkspur

Blue Larkspur was a bay Kentucky-bred thoroughbred race horse. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957, awarded the 1929 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, and ranks Number 100 in Blood-Horse magazine's top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century...

, himself by Black Servant by the great sire Black Toney

Black Toney

Black Toney was bred by James R. Keene's Castleton Farm. Keene, whose health was failing , sold all his holdings in 1912 to Colonel Edward R. Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm in Lexington, Kentucky...

, which means she went back to Ben Brush

Ben Brush (horse)

Ben Brush was a high class Thoroughbred racehorse and sire who won the 1896 Kentucky Derby. He was a bay stallion by Bramble out of Roseville by Reform...

. Her dam was 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...

-bred Frizeur, by Sweeper, a son of another great sire, Broomstick

Broomstick (horse)

Broomstick was a Thoroughbred race horse born and bred at the famous McGrathiana Stud in Kentucky, but more importantly, he was one of the great sires of American racing. Out of another great sire, the Hall of Famer Ben Brush, Broomstick went on after his racing career to produce champion after...

 by, again, Ben Brush. Frizeur’s dam was the racing mare Frizette (after whom the Frizette Stakes

Frizette Stakes

The Frizette Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-old fillies raced annually at Belmont Park in the late fall. It is currently a Grade I stakes race at as distance of one mile. The Frizette is the female counterpart of the Champagne Stakes.The race is currently part of the...

 is named), by Hamburg

Hamburg (horse)

Hamburg was an American Thoroughbred race horse bred in Kentucky by James E. Kittson, brother to Norman W. Kittson who had been partners in Erdenheim Stud. His sire was the great Hanover by another great, Hindoo....

, taking her back to Hanover

Hanover (thoroughbred horse)

Hanover was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse that won his first 17 race starts. He was the only American stallion to head the Leading sire in North America list for four consecutive years until Bold Ruler did so in 1965.-Background:...

, St. Simon

St. Simon (horse)

St. Simon was an undefeated British Thoroughbred racehorse and one of the most successful sires in the history of the Thoroughbred. In May 1886 The Sporting Times carried out a poll of one hundred experts to create a ranking of the best British racehorses of the 19th Century. St...

 and Hindoo

Hindoo (horse)

Hindoo was an outstanding American Thoroughbred race horse who won 30 of his 35 starts, including the Kentucky Derby, the Travers Stakes and the Clark Handicap. He later sired the Preakness Stakes winner Buddhist and the Belmont Stakes winner and Leading sire in North America, Hanover.He was a bay...

.

A sensation at three (when Seabiscuit

Seabiscuit

Seabiscuit was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse in the United States. From an inauspicious start, Seabiscuit became an unlikely champion and a symbol of hope to many Americans during the Great Depression...

 was also racing but making little impact), at four in 1936, Myrtlewood made ten starts under 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:...

 George South and won eight, seven of which were stakes

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...

 races. In the Lakeside Handicap, she equaled the track record, which was a world record for a female. In the Motor City Handicap and Cadillac Handicaps she set track records at the Detroit Race Course

Detroit Race Course

The Detroit Race Course was a horse racing facility in the Detroit, Michigan suburb of Livonia in the United States. Opened in 1950, it hosted Thoroughbred flat racing and harness racing for Standardbreds....

.

Myrtlewood was involved in match races with two exceptional racers of her day, one a colt

Colt's Manufacturing Company

Colt's Manufacturing Company is a United States firearms manufacturer, whose first predecessor corporation was founded in 1836 by Sam Colt. Colt is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century...

, Clang (winner of the 1936 Clark Handicap

Clark Handicap

The Clark Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November/early December at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Among the oldest races in the United States, it was first run in 1875, the year the racetrack opened for business...

), the other a filly, Miss Merriment (starting in 77 races and a winner or placer 2/3s of the time). Myrtlewood won her match with Miss Merriment under a hand drive. In the Midwest, both Clang and Myrtlewood had set records. Myrtlewood had beaten the time established by Iron Mask for 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....

s while Clang had equaled Roseben

Roseben

Roseben was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame race horse who grew to such an enormous size he was known as "The Big Train." Because of his great size, he was slow to mature but when he finally got moving in his fourth, fifth and sixth years of racing, he began to be called the greatest...

’s seven furlong record. After Myrtlewood beat Clang three times, a match race was proposed. In the first at Hawthorne Race Course

Hawthorne Race Course

Hawthorne Race Course is a race track for horse racing in Stickney/Cicero, Illinois, near Chicago.The oldest continually-run family-owned racetrack in North America, in 2009 the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating system for 65 Thoroughbred racetracks in North America...

, Mrytlewood beat Clang a fourth time, winning by a nose. In their second meeting in Cincinnati, Clang beat her by a nose...which represents 1/5 of a second.

As a broodmare

Myrtlewood proved a splendid broodmare, producing two great fillies

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....

: Durazna, the champion two-year-old in 1943, and Miss Dogwood, winner of the 1942 Kentucky Oaks

Kentucky Oaks

The Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers 1⅛ miles at Churchill Downs; the horses carry 121 pounds . The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Friday before the Kentucky Derby each year...

.

Mrytlewood was inducted into the 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...

in 1979.