Story by B. Jason Brooks
The excitement is building for the 152nd running of Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Oaks, mile-and-an-eighth fillies classic on Friday, May 1st. The 1947 edition of the “Lillies for the Fillies” was a thrilling victory over the mud for Arthur “Bull” Hancock Jr.’s Blue Grass, Claiborne Farm’s first classic winner under the Twin Spires.
When owner-breeder Marshall Field III scaled back his stable in the 1940s, Hancock purchased Blue Grass as part of a package of yearlings whom had been raised under Hancock’s care for Field at the legendary Paris, Kentucky farm. Field’s connections to the Claiborne also notably included joining Hancock, William Woodward, and Robert Fairburn to purchase stallion Sir Gallahad III (FR), by Teddy, to stand in Kentucky at Claiborne where he went on to be great sire.
Blue Grass’s pedigree made her attractive to Hancock. By Col. Edward R. Bradley-bred Belmont Stakes-winning Hall of Famer Blue Larkspur, Blue Grass was out of Sir Gallahad III (FR) mare Camelot, a granddaughter of multiple stakes winner Golden Corn (GB). Additionally, Golden Corn’s dam Corn Cockle (GB), by St. Frusquin (GB), was a half sister to 1921 champion filly Love in Idleness (GB), winner of the English fillies classic Epsom Oaks.
Trained by former jockey Willie Crump, Blue Grass quickly found success in her second career start as a juvenile, breaking her maiden with relative ease versus 11 foes in the five-furlong Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs in 1946. After breaking well under jockey Don Padgett, she shuffled back and settled on the inside. Blue Grass hit the lane in third before rallying to win going away by a length and a half, completing the muddy five furlongs in 1:02 and establishing herself as a division leader.
She went on to become one of the few fillies to sweep the most prestigious juvenile and sophomore filly races at Churchill Downs with a victory in the 1947 Kentucky Oaks. With Hall of Fame jockey John Longden in the irons for the mile-and-a-sixteenth classic over the mud, she broke well and settled in fifth-place before improving her position through the far turn. She hit the top of the stretch with a two-length lead and drove home for a rousing finish, holding on to win by a neck, with a final time of 1:51 ⅗. For Blue Grass’s conditioner Willie Crump, the Kentucky Oaks victory made him the first to win the race both as a jockey – aboard Easter Stockings in 1928 and Rose of Sharon in 1929 – and as a trainer.
In addition to her two stakes wins, Blue Grass retired with four wins and six placings from 22 starts, including third in the Pollyanna Stakes at the age of 2 and third in the Modesty Handicap at 3, both races at Arlington Park.
Following her racing career, she joined the Claiborne Farm broodmare band where she produced seven foals before being acquired by Paul Mellon. As a Claiborne broodmare, her most successful runner was Blue Ruler, by Claiborne stallion Nasrullah (GB), who won the 1954 editions of the Del Mar Futurity and Starlet Stakes. Her daughter Blue Jeans, by Bull Lea, produced six-time stakes winner Bluescope, by Helioscope, and 1968 Tanforan Handicap winner Ole Bob Bowers, by Prince Blessed, who went on to sire the Hall of Famer John Henry. Blue Grass’s stakes-placed daughter Nasturtium, by Nasrullah (GB), produced multiple stakes winner Dr. Jarrell, by Pacific Native, and stakes winner Resolutely, by Tulyar (IRE).
Blue Grass’s female family remains active and some of her stakes-winning descendants include Fight for M’lady, by Fit to Fight, winner of the 1997 Laurel Futurity (G3); Sierra Virgen, by Stack, winner of the 1998 Ascot Handicap (G3), and her full sister Stay Forever, winner of the 2004 Galaxy Stakes (G2) and 2004 Mint Julep Handicap (G3); Funboy, by Gumboy, an 11-time stakes winner who placed in the 1995 Budweiser Mile Handicap (G3); and, most recently, Idyll Gossip, by Central Banker, winner of the 2024 Shesastonecoldfox Stakes.
Claiborne Farm’s second classic winner under the Twin Spires would come 37 years later in the 1984 Kentucky Derby (G1) with Woody Stephens-trained champion Swale. (For more on Swale, see “The Family of Claiborne Farm’s Swale Carries On” on the Claiborne Farm blog).
Jason Brooks is a Thoroughbred racing and pedigree researcher, writer, and social media manager residing in Saratoga Springs, New York.