Big Pebble was an American Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 Champion racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

. Bred by Edward R. Bradley

Edward R. Bradley

Colonel Edward Riley Bradley was an American steel mill laborer, gold miner, businessman and philanthropist. As well as a race track proprietor, he was the preeminent owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses in the Southern United States during the first three decades of the 20th Century...

 at his Idle Hour Stock Farm

Idle Hour Stock Farm

Idle Hour Stock Farm was a 400 acre thoroughbred horse breeding and training farm near Lexington, Kentucky, United States established in 1906 by Colonel Edward R...

 near Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

, his dam was Beach Talk and his sire was Black Servant who would also sire Blue Larkspur

Blue Larkspur

Blue Larkspur was a bay Kentucky-bred thoroughbred race horse. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957, awarded the 1929 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, and ranks Number 100 in Blood-Horse magazine's top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century...

. Black Servant, a son of Black Toney

Black Toney

Black Toney was bred by James R. Keene's Castleton Farm. Keene, whose health was failing , sold all his holdings in 1912 to Colonel Edward R. Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm in Lexington, Kentucky...

, won the 1921 Blue Grass Stakes

Blue Grass Stakes

The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, currently sponsored by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is an American Grade 1 horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in mid April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky....

 and was second to stablemate Behave Yourself

Behave Yourself (horse)

Behave Yourself , by Marathon out of Miss Ringlets , was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was one of four Kentucky Derby winners owned by Colonel Edward R...

 in the 1921 Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

.

Raced by Bradley at age two and three, Big Pebble showed little and was even used as a lead pony for Bradley's rising star, Bimelech

Bimelech

Bimelech was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse who won two Triple Crown races, was twice named American horse of the year, and is ranked #84 among U.S. racehorses of the 20th century. After retiring to stud, he sired 30 stakes winners and his daughters produced 50 stakes winners.-Early...

. As such, the colt was sold in late 1939 for a mere $5,000 to Edward S. Moore of Sheridan, Wyoming

Sheridan, Wyoming

Sheridan is a city in Sheridan County, Wyoming, United States. The 2010 census put the population at 17,444 and a Micropolitan Statistical Area of 29,116...

. Raced in 1940 under the colors of Moore's Circle M Ranch, Big Pebble's race conditioning was taken over by William Finnegan

William B. Finnegan

William B. "Bill" Finnegan was an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer.A native of New York City, Finnegan spent more than fifty years as a trainer primarily on the West Coast of the United States. During his career he conditioned horses for major stable owners such as Vera S. Bragg, movie...

. For his new handlers, Big Pebble developed rapidly into a contender, running a strong second to Many Stings in the March 1940 Widener Challenge Cup

Widener Handicap

The Widener Handicap at Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida was a Grade III stakes race for Thoroughbred racehorses 3-years-old and up. It was run over a distance of 1¼ miles until 1993 when it was modified to 1 1/8 miles. Initially called the Widener Challenge Cup Handicap, the race was...

 at Florida's

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 Hialeah Park Race Track

Hialeah Park Race Track

The Hialeah Park Race Track is a historic site in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S...

.

Championship year

In 1941, Big Pebble was one of the top horses racing in the United States. Back at Hialeah Park for winter racing, he won a division of February's McLennan Handicap

McLennan Handicap

The McLennan Handicap was an American thoroughbred horse race run annually each February from 1934-1961 at Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida. First run in 1934 as the Joseph McLennan Memorial Handicap, the race was named In honor of the late Joseph "Sandy" McLennan, the former racing...

 and then the prestigious Widener Challenge Cup in March. Sent to Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California

Inglewood, California

Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...

, future Hall of Fame

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

 jockey Jack Westrope

Jack Westrope

Jack Gordon Westrope was an American Hall of Fame jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing.Born in Baker, Montana, Westrope was the son of racehorse owner/trainer W. T. Westrope. Jack was only 12 years old when he rode his first winner on a small track in Lemmon, South Dakota...

 rode Big Pebble to the most important win of his career in July when he defeated heavily favored Mioland

Mioland

Mioland was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred in Oregon by H. W. Ray, he was out of the mare Iolanda. His German-born sire was Mio D'Arezzo, a winner of the Deutsches St...

 in the Hollywood Gold Cup

Hollywood Gold Cup

The Hollywood Gold Cup is an American Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions...

. In early September, at Washington Park Race Track

Washington Park Race Track

Washington Park Race Track was a popular horse racing venue in the Chicago metropolitan area from 1884 until 1977. It had two locations during its existence. It was first situated in what is the current location of the Washington Park Subdivision of the Woodlawn community area of Chicago in Cook...

 near Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, with Jack Westrope aboard again, Big Pebble won the Washington Park Handicap

Washington Park Handicap

The Washington Park Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the first week of September at Arlington Park Racetrack in Arlington Heights, Illinois. A Grade III event open to horses age three and older, it is contested on Polytrack synthetic dirt over a distance of a...

. In addition to his 1941 wins, Big Pebble earned second place finishes in the Saratoga

Saratoga Handicap

The Saratoga Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It was open to horses three years old and upward and raced at a distance of 1¼ miles on dirt.- Selected winners :...

 and Whitney Handicap

Whitney Handicap

The Whitney Handicap is an American Grade 1 handicap race for Thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and older run at a distance of 1⅛ miles. In 2007, the Breeders' Cup Ltd...

s.

At the end of the year, Big Pebble shared 1941 American Champion Older Male Horse honors with Charles S. Howard's Mioland.

On November 26, 1941, owner Edward S. Moore announced that Big Pebble was being retired to stand at stud

Stud (animal)

A stud animal is a registered animal retained for breeding. The terms for the male of a given animal species usually imply that the animal is entire—that is, not castrated—and therefore capable of siring offspring...

 due to a bowed tendon

Bowed tendon

Tendinitis/tendonitis is inflammation of a tendon. Many times, the tendon tissue is torn. A bowed tendon is a horseman's term for a tendon after a horse has sustained an injury that caused the tendon fibers to be torn, and then healed with "bowed" appearance.-Description of a Tendinitis in...

. He was not successful as a sire.http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/861059592.html?dids=861059592:861059592&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+26%2C+1941&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Big+Pebble+Retired+Due+To+Bowed+Tendon&pqatl=google