Background
Benny the Dip was a dark brown (officially "bay or brown") colt with a white star, bred in the United States by Landon Knight who raced the colt in his own colours until August 1997 when he sold a share in the colt to Claiborne Farm. The Brown colt was sired by Silver Hawk out of the mare Rascal Rascal. Silver Hawk was an American-bred son of Roberto who raced successfully in the United Kingdom before moving back to the United States where he became a "very good" stallion, siring good winners such as the St Leger winner Mutafaweq, the Arc de Triomphe runner-up Mubtaker and the leading American turf runner Hawkster. Rascal Rascal produced several other winners including Cryptic Rascal (Palm Beach Stakes) and Beggarman Thief (Horris Hill Stakes).
Benny the Dip was widely, but incorrectly reported to be named after a Damon Runyon character. In fact he was named after a 1951 crime film. He acquired the unflattering nickname "Benny the Drip" because of his tendency to sweat heavily before his races.
Knight, a newspaper publisher from Ohio (the son of John S. Knight), considered selling the colt as a yearling but was persuaded by his English trainer John Gosden to send the colt to him to be trained at Newmarket, Suffolk.
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