Montana, known for many things – rowdiness, independence, and the multitude of athletes who have walked our hallowed grounds. But there is one athlete who stands above the crowd; who stands far and above all the talented athletes who have called Montana their home. It is a thousand to one; a million to one long shot, or more, that Montana will ever be able to claim such a talented athlete as one of their own again.
And it all started one chilly day in 1886 near Twin Bridges. Every day, every hour since that innocent moment that was just an ordinary day, an ordinary birth; created an athlete that Montana has never seen before and will likely never see again.
Spokane was a chestnut thoroughbred stallion foaled in 1886. Owned and bred by Noah Armstrong; sired by the Leamington son Hyder Ali and out of the mare Interpose by Intruder. Surviving tragedy and ending in mystery; the chestnut colt captivated generations of Montanans. The barn in which Spokane was born, the Doncaster Round Barn, located about two miles north of Twin Bridges, has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Montana’s biggest news story of 1889 was not statehood. It was the Kentucky Derby triumph of a Montana-raised Thoroughbred horse named Spokane. Spokane is the only horse foaled and trained in Montana to ever win the Kentucky Derby on May 9, 1889.
Spokane was ridden by Tennessee native Tom Kiley and at 16.4:1 odds, Spokane defeated the heavily favored colt, Proctor Knott and set a new Kentucky Derby record for 1½ miles at 2:34.50. This record still stands at the Kentucky Derby for a 3-year-old.
Spokane also won two other important races, the American Derby and the Clark Handicap. He finished second in the Sheridan Stakes and the Peabody Hotel Handicap, and had a third-place finish in the Pelham Bay Handicap.
The details of Spokane’s early years are fairly well documented, but the end portion of his life is a mystery. In Montana folklore, he’s known as the “Spirit Horse of the Rockies.” In the decades that ensued, turf chroniclers romanticized and inspired fantasy of his story. His birthplace was a starting point; his Kentucky Derby win occurred six months prior to the Montana Territory achieving statehood. In Spokane’s day, Montana was still viewed by as the wild, largely untamed West.
In 1951, Horace Wade wrote about Spokane as a yearling on the Montana range, when he “desperately outran the raking claws” of a mountain lion that left wounds and “life-long scars” across his flank. Wade’s article was published in Police Gazette, a periodical not renowned for its accuracy.
Some claimed Spokane’s success came from being fed a steady diet of a mysterious tea made from wildflowers picked by medicine men near the Flathead River, a concoction that helped produce the strongest and healthiest men and the fastest and stoutest horses.
Spokane blazed forth from the western mountains and briefly dominated racing’s 3-year-old division. And when twilight beckoned, he disappeared.
Spokane was a good racehorse – as evidenced by his triumph at Churchill Downs and his victories in his next two starts, the Clark Stakes at Churchill and the American Derby at Washington Park near Chicago.
“His margin of victory in the Kentucky Derby was described by Goodwin’s Official Turf Guide, a manual of record during that era, as “a short neck.” Many in the Churchill crowd, reported in the range of 25,000-30,000, questioned the accuracy of the result. But Frank James (brother of Jesse) wasn’t among those displeased. He cashed for $5,000 with Spokane’s victory.
Proctor Knott, the odds-on choice with the bookmakers, had a one-length lead midway through the Churchill stretch. But jockey Shelby “Pike” Barnes was having immense difficulty controlling the colt. With about a furlong remaining, Proctor Knott suddenly veered on a sharp angle toward the outside.
Meanwhile, Spokane, ridden by Thomas Kiley, was making a late move on the rail and took the lead with a sixteenth of a mile remaining. In essence, Spokane’s path was arrow-straight, while Proctor Knott was forging front and sideways at the same time.”
In those days, the Churchill judges’ stand was on a platform in the infield adjacent to the finish line. Spokane swept under the wire in close proximity to the stand, while Proctor Knott completed the race on the far side of the track’s crown.
“There were no photo-finish cameras, film patrols, or slow-motion television replays to assist in deciding the issue. Five minutes passed, and then the judges put Spokane’s number at the top of the result board. The margin between the top two and the third-place finisher in the field of eight was two lengths. The race had pretty much been Spokane versus Proctor Knott, with the rest providing supporting roles.”
It wasn’t a major upset, but it was surprising, even to a key member of Spokane’s team. Kiley had “wagered $25 to win on Proctor Knott,” which would be a scandalous admission today, but was within the acceptable boundaries of that era.
“Among most on-site bookmakers, Spokane was the 6-1 second choice. At the mutuel windows, he returned $34.80 to win and $6.30 to place. It was also the first year that $2 win wagers were available.
Spokane’s breeder of record and owner, Noah Armstrong, received a winner’s share of $4,880 from the purse of $5,330. A correspondent for the May 18, 1889, edition of Spirit of the Times assessed the race as “the greatest Derby ever run in America.”
At age 2, Spokane was sent to Tennessee to be trained by John Rodegap, who had been conditioning Thoroughbreds for about five years. On October 2, 1888, Spokane won the Maiden Stakes at Latonia. In five starts at age 2, he was twice a winner and thrice unplaced.
His 3-year-old campaign commenced with a second-place effort against older horses in the 1 1/8-mile Peabody Hotel Handicap in Memphis. Fifteen days later, Spokane won the Kentucky Derby.
Luck played a factor. As the Derby field was moving into line, Proctor Knott twice ran off with his rider. Jockey Barnes was aboard more than he could handle that afternoon.
Ability figured in, too. Kiley, whose overall win ratio of 35.6 percent that year easily outdistanced the 29.7 percent achieved by Isaac Murphy, who was riding at the top of his game. And Spokane’s Derby time was just a half-second slower than the North American record for 12 furlongs (1.5 miles), jointly held by Luke Blackburn and Jim Guest.
Five days later, Spokane beat Proctor Knott again, winning the 1 1/4-mile Clark Stakes by two lengths in a time of 2:12 1/5. The following month, Spokane was victorious in the 1 1/2-mile American Derby, with Proctor Knott finishing last in the field of seven.
The American Derby winner’s share of the purse was $15,400 – well more than those of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes combined. Spokane had ascended to star status.
And then the star imploded. On July 4, Proctor Knott defeated Spokane in Washington Park’s Sheridan Stakes. And in three more starts at age 3 and 4 the following year, Spokane never won again.
Spokane was sent to stud duty for a while in Kentucky at Fairhaven Stock Farm; and at Niddervale Stock Farm; and at Elmendorf Farm; and, as late as 1897, at Maxwelton Stock Farm. The fee for his services apparently never exceeded $50, and none of his offspring did much. “If there ever were references in Thoroughbred journals to a “Spokane line,” they elude discovery.”
From there, documentation dwindles. Newspaper articles from the period include unverified accounts that Spokane was shipped back to Montana; that at age 6, Armstrong wanted to return him to racing; that Spokane was fatally stabbed by a farm worker with a pitchfork; that he was mortally injured in a railroad accident; and, more happily, that he died a natural death in Ennis, Montana, at age 30.
Spokane’s gravesite (if he had one) is unknown.
Spokane, like most horses from the American West, was never given much of a chance. “His odds in the Kentucky Derby were 6–1. By contrast, the 1888 3-year-old champion horse Proctor Knott, was the odds-on favorite at 1–2. Proctor Knott was once called “the greatest horse that ever looked through a bridle.” But he would do no better than second place against Spokane, who caught Proctor Knott in the stretch and won the mile-and-a-half race in 2:34.5, a track record that wasn’t broken until the length of the race was shortened to a mile and a quarter.”
“Spokane had defeated the prized (and more expensive) horses from Kentucky breeding operations, and his legend as a superhorse grew after his Derby win. But when Spokane’s owner, the mining magnate Noah Armstrong, had originally sent the horse to his ranch in Montana, it was because he had low hopes for the colt. He thought the horse was “puny” and “out of proportion.” Once there, however, according to one Chicago writer, “the raw-boned brute sniffed the rare air of the Rockies, and was fed the wildflower of the Indians. He grew big and lusty, his sides expanded, his limbs became rock-strong, and turning into his third year the outcast was a thing of equine beauty.”
The medicine men and wild animals of the Montana wilderness never caught on among horse racing’s elite. No other horse raised in Montana has won the Derby, or even made a ripple in the sport. Few training operations exist in Montana; its terrain too rocky and rugged, its weather too cold, its distance from the country’s major race tracks too far. But if you would like to learn more about this great athlete, stop by for Spokane’s biography.
“This, then was the land of 100,000 blooded horses. Days broke brightly. Chestnut muscles rippled in the sunlight. Copper hues reflected a state’s wealth. Spokane belonged to Montana in 1889, another gem for her Treasure Chest.”
“High in the ruby Mountains of Montana sounds the neighing of a spirit horse. His mane blown by the breeze, his head held high, and nostrils flared, he stands ready to race and win. I see him in my mind’s eye, and I feel his proud presence as I stand in the shadow of his home, an imposing round barn just north of Twin Bridges. Spokane, Child of the Sun, Spirit Horse of the Rockies, born to redeem the losses of a noble race.”