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| William Woodward, Sr. leads Gallant Fox and jockey Earl Sande at Belmont in 1930 |
Gallant Fox was bred and owned by William Woodward, Sr., the former owner of the Belair Stud Farm. Shortly after being weaned, Gallant Fox was sent to Belair. Each spring, Woodward and his long time trainer Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons inspected all the yearlings at Belair, and they decided which horses would be sold and which horses would be trained. Gallant Fox was selected to be trained at Aqueduct - Fitzsimmons' home track. In his early days at Aqueduct, Gallant Fox didn't have the personality traits of a typical race horse. He was lazy, curious and he "enjoyed the company of humans." He eventually matured into a fine race horse, and in 1930, he was teamed up with accomplished jockey Earl Sande. Gallant Fox, who came to be known as the Fox of Belair, won the Preakness Stakes, the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes in 1930, and he became only the second Triple Crown Winner. Gallant Fox later sired Omaha, the third Triple Crown Winner. To this day, Gallant Fox and Omaha are the only father/son pair to both win the Triple Crown, and they both did it wearing the colors of Belair Stud.
Special thanks to Kimberly Gatto for compiling this information in her book, "Belair Stud: The Cradle of Maryland Horse Racing" (available at the Belair Stable Museum and Amazon.com).
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