Racing Career
Under Max Hirsch's training, Assault made his racing debut as a two-year-old in 1945, finishing 12th. He had two wins from nine starts that year and captured the Flash Stakes in a four-way photo finish. Early in his three-year-old season, he was victorious in the Wood Memorial, but his run in the Derby Trial made him somewhat of an outsider in the Kentucky Derby. With jockey Warren Mehrtens aboard, he raced past rivals to take the first race of the Triple Crown by eight lengths, the largest margin of victory to date. Assault was then made the favorite for the Preakness Stakes a week later. Aggravated by traffic early in the race, Mehrtens decided to push Assault earlier than usual. He was four lengths in front with a furlong to go. The tiring Assault scored a neck victory over Lord Boswell.
The crowds saw this as a stamina issue and made Lord Boswell the favorite in the 1½-mile Belmont Stakes. After stumbling at the start, Assault trailed the field throughout much of the race. In the final 200 yards, Assault exploded past the leaders to win the Belmont by three lengths. He was the seventh Triple Crown winner ever, and the third during the 1940s.
Two weeks after his Belmont victory, Assault won the Dwyer Stakes, and the general public opinion finally conceded that he was the best three-year-old in training (but that it was also a poor crop to choose from). However, his last-place finish in the Arlington Classic made him "just an average horse" again. After the Arlington Classic, it was discovered he had a kidney infection and needed some rest. Assault returned to the track, where he compiled a string of seconds, thirds, and fourths. Trainer Max Hirsch then decided to change jockeys. Assault's original jockey, Mehrtens, was replaced by Eddie Arcaro. Assault then won the Pimlico Special and Westchester Handicap with Arcaro aboard and was voted 1946 Horse of the Year.
Over the winter, Assault developed into a mature four-year-old. The colt was constantly hungry, charging grooms if he was not fed on time. He paid such close attention to his exercise riders that when it seemed that they were gazing off or not fully attentive, he would leap to the side, leaving them mid-air, and gallop around the track riderless.
As a four-year-old, Assault won five of seven races and never finished worse than third. He was victorious in some of the biggest handicap races in history, including the Brooklyn and Suburban Handicaps, while carrying weights of up to 135 pounds. During 1947, he and his rival Stymie battled for the top money-earner title, swapping it several times. However, in a $100,000 winner take all match race at Belmont Park on September 27, 1947, Arcaro and Assault lost by eight lengths to Calumet Farm's Armed, ridden by Douglas Dodson, who earned 1947 Horse of the Year honors.
Assault returned to the track as a five-, six-, and seven-year-old, although he displayed the same sort of winning form he showed as a three- and four-year-old.
Assault raced 42 times, with 18 victories (15 in stakes races), 6 second-place finishes, and 7 third-place finishes. He earned $675,470. In 1946, he was voted Horse of the Year, the most prestigious honor in American thoroughbred racing, as well as winning Champion 3-Year-Old honors. In the Horse of the Year poll, conducted by Turf and Sport Digest magazine, Assault received 110 voted to win the title from Armed, who received 37.
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