Campfire was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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

Eclipse Award

The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...

 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 and raced by the co-owner and president of Saratoga Race Course

Saratoga Race Course

Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. It opened on August 3, 1863, and is the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the United States. It is typically open for racing from late July through early September.-History:John...

, Richard T. Wilson, Jr.

Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr.

Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr. was an American banker and businessman who was a prominent figure in Thoroughbred horse racing in the early decades of the 20th Century....

, he was sired by Wilson's Olambala

Olambala

Olambala was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred in Tennessee by John G. Greener, his British-born sire Ornus, a son of Bend Or, a two-time leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland, was imported to stand at stud in the United States...

, a multiple winner of important races including the Latonia Derby

Latonia Derby

The Latonia Derby was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually from 1883 through 1937 at Latonia Race Track in Latonia, Kentucky. Open to three-year-old horses, for its first 52 years the Latonia Derby was contested at a mile and a half; in 1935, the race was shortened to a mile and a...

 and Suburban Handicap

Suburban Handicap

The Suburban Handicap is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is run at the classic one-and-one-quarter mile distance on dirt for a $400,000 purse....

 and who would also sire several top runners including the multiple Handicap winner Sunfire

Sunfire (horse)

Sunfire was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred and raced by the co-owner and president of Saratoga Race Course, Richard T...

 and the 1922 Belmont

Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

 and Preakness Stakes

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

 winner Pillory

Pillory (horse)

Pillory was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred and raced by the co-owner and president of Saratoga Race Course, Richard T. Wilson, Jr., his damsire was Disguise, who raced for James R. Keene in England and was a son of the great Domino...

.

Campfire was conditioned for racing by future U.S. Racing 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...

 trainer

Horse trainer

In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

 T. J. Healey

T. J. Healey

Thomas J. Healey was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame trainer.Regularly referred to as "T. J." by both his associates and the media, Healey was born near the site of Fordham University in Fordham, New York. Growing up he worked on his father's dairy farm but rather than cows, his...

. Racing at age two in 1916, Campfire joined the great filly

Filly

A filly is a young female horse too young to be called a mare. There are several specific definitions in use.*In most cases filly is a female horse under the age of four years old....

 Regret

Regret (horse)

Regret was a famous American thoroughbred racehorse and the first of three fillies to ever win the Kentucky Derby.-Background:She was foaled at Harry Payne Whitney's Brookdale Farm in Lincroft, New Jersey...

 as only the second horse to win all three Saratoga Race Course

Saratoga Race Course

Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. It opened on August 3, 1863, and is the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the United States. It is typically open for racing from late July through early September.-History:John...

 events for two-year-olds: the Saratoga Special Stakes

Saratoga Special Stakes

The Saratoga Special Stakes is an American grade II thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid-August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The race is for two-year-olds willing to race six and a half furlongs on the dirt....

, Sanford Stakes

Sanford Stakes

The Sanford Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the third week of July at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. A six furlong sprint race, the Grade II event is open to two-year-old horses....

 and the Hopeful Stakes, in which he defeated Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam (horse)

Omar Khayyam was a British-born Thoroughbred racehorse who was sold as a yearling to an American racing partnership and who became the first foreign-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby...

. Winning all three races would not be matched for another seventy-seven years, when Dehere

Dehere

Dehere is an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred and raced by Robert E. Brennan's Due Process Stable. Sired by Canadian Hall of Fame inductee and two-time North American Champion sire, Deputy Minister, he was out of the mare Sister Dot, a daughter of the great U.S...

 did it in 1993 followed by City Zip in 2000. In addition, Campfire won the Futurity and Great American Stakes

Great American Stakes

The Great American Stakes is a defunct American Thoroughbred horse race last run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to two-year-old horses, it was last competed at a distance of five and a half furlongs....

 at Belmont Park

Belmont Park

Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...

. The leading money winner among all American horses irrespective of age, Campfire's outstanding year earned him 1916 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors.

Racing at age three, much was expected of Campfire. He won the Toboggan Handicap

Toboggan Handicap

The Toboggan Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually during the first week of March at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, New York. Open to horses aged three and older, the Grade III event is contested over at a distance of six furlongs on the dirt and offers a purse of $100,000 ...

 at Aqueduct Racetrack

Aqueduct Racetrack

Aqueduct Racetrack is a thoroughbred horse-racing facility and racino in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Its racing meets usually are from late October/early November through April.-History:...

 in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 but did not win another race that year or at age four in 1918.

Retired to 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...

 for the 1919 season, Campfire met with limited success as a sire

Sire

Sire may refer to:* Father, the counterpart of a dam, particularly in animal breeding. See also stallion* James W. Sire, author on worldviews* Sire Records, a record label* Sire Advertising, an advertising agency...

. Most notable was his son Wilderness, who won the 1923 Toronto Cup Handicap

Toronto Cup Stakes

The Toronto Cup Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually on turf at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Run in early July, the race is open to Three-year-olds and is run over a distance of 1⅛ miles on turf....

 and the Travers Stakes

Travers Stakes

The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...

.

Campfire died at a Maryland farm in 1932.