Epigram was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 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...

 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...

 best known for winning the 1952 Queen's Plate

Queen's Plate

The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...

, Canada's most prestigious race and North America's

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 oldest annually run stakes race.

Bred and raced by E. P. Taylor

E. P. Taylor

Edward Plunket Taylor was a Canadian business tycoon and famous breeder of thoroughbred race horses. Known to his friends as "Eddie", he is universally recorded as "E. P...

, his dam was Hasty Bet, a daughter of Reigh Count

Reigh Count

Reigh Count was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1928 Kentucky Derby and the 1929 Coronation Cup in England....

, the 1928 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...

 winner and a 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...

 inductee. Epigram was a son of the American-bred winner of the 1938 Ascot Gold Cup

Ascot Gold Cup

The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles and 4 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in June....

, Flares

Flares (horse)

Flares was a British Thoroughbred racehorse owned, bred, and raced by the preeminent horseman in the United States, William Woodward, Sr. Flares was out of the racing mare, Flambino, winner of the 1927 Gazelle Handicap. His sire was the great Gallant Fox, the 1930 U.S. Triple Crown winner and a U.S...

, who in turn was a son of Gallant Fox

Gallant Fox

Gallant Fox was a United States Thoroughbred horseracing champion.Foaled at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky by Sir Gallahad III out of the mare Marguerite, Gallant Fox was a bay colt who became the second horse to win the U.S...

, the 1930 U.S. Triple Crown

United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

In the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...

 winner and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee.

In a rare mistake by the E. P. Taylor racing team, Epigram was entered in a September 1951 claiming race

Claiming race

A claiming race in thoroughbred horse racing is one in which the horses are all for sale for more or less the same price up until shortly before the race. Race types form a hierarchy in terms of the quality of horse they attract, with handicap races and graded stakes races attracting the "best"...

 and was taken for $2,500 by Three Vs Stable, owned by the Veal brothers, Frank, Lawrence and Gordon, proprietors of a Studebaker

Studebaker

Studebaker Corporation was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the...

 dealership in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

.

Epigram entered the 1952 Queen's Plate

Queen's Plate

The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...

 having never won a race and having only earned $75. At the time when the distance was set at one and an eighth miles, in a twenty-one-horse field Epigram won the Queen's Plate by defeating E. P. Taylor's horse Dress Circle and Acadian who came into the race having won divisions of the Plate Trial Stakes

Plate Trial Stakes

The Plate Trial Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred flat horserace for three-Year-Olds, foaled in Canada run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario...

.