Armed

Armed (May, 1941–1964) was an American Thoroughbred gelding race horse. He was sired by the great stakes winner Bull Lea, the sire of Citation. His dam was Armful, whose sire was Belmont Stakes winner Chance Shot, and whose grandsire was the great Fair Play.

Small for his age and very headstrong, Armed's habit of biting and kicking hay out of his handler's pitchfork, along with being practically untrainable, caused his trainer, Ben A. Jones, to send him back to Calumet Farm to be gelded and turned out to grow up. He returned to the track late in his two-year-old season and resumed training.

His first start was as a three year old the following February and he won at Hialeah Park by eight lengths. He won again less than a week later but then won only once in five starts and had to be rested due to an ankle injury.

Armed raced for seven seasons, from 1944 to 1950, finishing with a 41-20-10 record in 81 starts. Ridden by Douglas Dodson, the 1947 season saw him defeat U.S. Triple Crown champion Assault in a match race at Belmont Park and also set a new track record of 2:01-3/5 for one and one-quarter miles while winning the Widener Handicap and carrying 129 pounds. He repeated as American Champion Older Male Horse and was voted 1947 American Horse of the Year honors. In the Horse of the Year poll conducted by Turf and Sport Digest magazine he received 151 of a possible 173 votes to win the title from Citation, Stymie, Bewitch and Assault. Armed died in 1964 of an intestinal tumor. In 1963, Armed was inducted into National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. In The Blood-Horse ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, he was ranked #39.