Print by Franklin Voss
NMR Collection

Jolly Roger was a flashy chestnut with a blaze face and four white stockings. One of the most popular steeplechasers of the 1920's, Jolly Roger's rivalry with Fairmount kept fans on the edge of their seats.

At 2 Jolly Roger raced on the flat and won one race in Canada. The following season he switched to steeplechase racing. His most important victory at 3 was in the Elkridge Steeplechase. At 4 he won the Wingfield Steeplechase Handicap and the Wheatley Steeplechase Handicap. Jolly Roger's best seasons came at 5 and at 6. At 5 he won his first American Grand National, carrying 165 pounds and getting two from Fairmount. Jolly Roger also won the Brook, the Charles L. Appleton Memorial Cup, the Bayside, and the Corinthian Steeplechases.

At 6 Jolly Roger won the American Grand National again carrying 167 pounds and giving 26 to the second horse. He also won another Corinthian.

In his final season of racing at 8 Jolly Roger won the Glendale and the North American Steeplechase Handicaps. He retired as steeplechasing's greatest money winner.

Jolly Roger was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1965.

Jolly Roger leads Bangle in the Corinthian
©Keeneland-Cook