Racing Career
In his first race of 1956 Fabius won the Florida Purse at Hialeah Park Race Track. He then ran third in both the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park and Hialeah's Flamingo Stakes. Four days before the 1956 Kentucky Derby Fabius recorded a one length win in the Derby Trial Stakes at Churchill Downs leading to his being considered a serious contender for the first leg of the Triple Crown: six of the previous eight Derby winners had finished either first or second in the Trial. In the Derby, Fabius went to the front after quarter of a mile and held the lead well into the stretch. An eighth of a mile from the finish he was overtaken by the favorite Needles and finished second, beaten three quarters of a length.
In the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course, Fabius started 2.5/1 second favorite behind Needles in a field of nine colts, with some observers expressing the view that the shorter distance and tighter turns could give him an edge over the Derby winner. Hartack sent Fabius into the lead half a mile from the finish and the Calumet colt held a clear advantage as the runners turned for home. Needles came from well back in the field to reduce the margin but could not catch Fabius, who won the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown by one and three quarter lengths.
Fabius was expected to start favorite for the Belmont Stakes, especially after an impressive win in the Jersey Stakes on May 26 which led some commentators to draw comparisons with his sire Citation. In his final prep race, however, he ran disappointingly when he was beaten six lengths by the 23/1 outsider Ricci Tavi in the Leonard Richards Stakes at Delaware Park Racetrack. In the Belmont, Fabius got the better of a prolonged struggle with Ricci Tavi and Charlevoix to turn into the stretch one and a half lengths in front. As in the Derby, he was overtaken by Needles at the eighth pole and finished third, with the fast-closing Career Boy taking second place.
The rivalry between Fabius and Needles continued into 1957, but early in the year it was another Calumet horse, the five-year-old Bardstown who proved the best of the Handicap division. In early March, Fabius produced a "blazing stretch run" to win the Armed Handicap at Gulfstream Park, but in the climactic race of the Florida campaign Fabius and Needles were decisively beaten by Bardstown in the Gulfstream Park Handicap.
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