Hall of Fame horse ‘Black Gold’ had ties to Tulsa, Oklahoma

Shortly before he died in 1917, Tulsa racehorse breeder Al Hoots asked his wife to breed his favorite mare, Useeit, to a top colt, in hopes that the colt would win the Kentucky Derby.

According to legend, Hoots made the request on his deathbed for Useeit to be bred to a Kentucky colt named Black Toney—the sire that was used—but Hoots actually gave his wife, Rosa, a list of horses he I thought they could generate a winner.

Useeit produced a horse named Black Gold that won the Golden Jubilee Kentucky Derby race in 1924, a year after the Derby was won by Zev, a horse owned by former Tulsa oilman Harry Sinclair.

Black Gold was in a close race with Chilhowee and Beau Butler in that May 17, 1924 race at Churchill Downs, finally getting ahead to beat Chilhowee by half a distance.

Hundreds of Tulsans and Osages – Mrs. Hoots was an Osage – were on hand to cheer Black Gold and jockey J.R. Mooney to victory and to collect thousands of dollars in winnings priced at $5.50 for each winning ticket from $2.

The story of Useeit and her foal was one of the most romantic stories in thoroughbred racing, but it had no happy ending.

Black Gold earned $111,503 in two years of racing before being placed at stud for three years, but produced only one foal, a horse that died after being struck by lightning.

When Black Gold returned to the track in 1927, he won just $50 in three starts.

Although not as fast or strong as he once was, Black Gold participated in a race at the New Orleans Fairgrounds in 1928, still as active as when he was younger.

But he broke a leg and finished the race on three legs.

Black Gold was destroyed and the body buried in the infield of the New Orleans track.

Black Gold was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989. A year before his death, Hoots, 59, and Useeit were banned from racing for life because he refused to sell the 9-year-old mare, who had won 34 of your matches. , when a racing fan tried to buy it after a race in Juarez, Mexico, in which Useeit placed fifth.

Spectators were allowed to buy the horses in a claiming race, and a man named Tobey Ramsey sent his fiancé to buy the horse.

But Hoots did not want to part with Useeit because of his hope that one day he could breed her to a top horse and produce a Derby winner – and held the buyer’s future fiancé at gunpoint until he could carry Useeit . a boxcar bound for Oklahoma, get in it and head back across the border.

Although the horse and owner were banned from racing by the racing commission, they were not prevented from breeding.

After Hoots died, Useeit was bred to two other stallions and produced foals that won races for Rosa before the mare was sent to Lexington, Kentucky, in 1921 and bred to Black Toney, producing Black Gold.

Black Gold became the name of a film starring Anthony Quinn and Katherine DeMille that opened simultaneously at Tulsa’s Orpheum Theater and an Oklahoma City theater in June 1947.

But the film was pure fiction. There was no resemblance to the real story of the racehorse – with the exception of the name.

“It is not the story of Black Gold or any part of it,” wrote a Tulsa World critic after a private screening before the premiere. “Tulsa is not mentioned in the photo. Oklahoma is barely mentioned.”

In the film, Black Gold was a long shot and a surprise Derby winner. In fact, Black Gold was the 9-5 crowd favorite and a $2 pari bet paid $5.50.

After citing numerous differences between the film’s fictional account and the real story it supposedly portrayed, the critic pointed out technical flaws such as one of the characters driving a 1942 coupe in a 1920 scene and a reference made in the film to the Santa Anita Race Track , also in a 1920 setting, although this race track was only opened in 1935.

“If we weren’t familiar with the true story of Black Gold, the film’s story would have been good,” the reviewer wrote. “But most film fans who see this image came after 1924, so it won’t bother them that the producers preferred a fictional Black Gold to the real thing.”

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