Gregory Duncan "Don" Cameron (c.1894 - July 11, 1952) 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...

 horse 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...

 who won the 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...

 in 1943.

A native of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Don Cameron served as an aviator in the United States Military during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Working in the Thoroughbred horse racing industry, he trained for various owners including the prominent stables of Vera S. Bragg and J. Shirley Riley. However, he is best known for his time with Stoner Creek Stud

Stoner Creek Stud

Stoner Creek Stud was an American Thoroughbred horse breeding farm near Paris, Kentucky owned by Chicago businessman John D. Hertz and his wife, Fannie Kesner Hertz .In his early business years in Chicago, John Hertz owned a farm near Cary, Illinois...

 training the horses for its owners, John & Fannie Hertz

John D. Hertz

John Daniel Hertz, Sr. was an American businessman, thoroughbred racehorse owner, and philanthropist.-Biography:...

. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772138,00.html?promoid=googlep

Beginning in September 1940 Don Cameron trained Challedon

Challedon

Challedon was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred in Maryland by William L. Brann and Robert S. Castle, he raced under the colors of their Branncastle Farm....

 for owner William L. Brann

William L. Brann

William Leavitt Brann was an American businessman and Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder.Born in Washington, Indiana, William Brann graduated from Indiana University and then moved to New York City where he founded the highly successful W. L...

 and won the Pimlico Special

Pimlico Special

The Pimlico Special is an American thoroughbred horse race held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland in mid May. It is raced on dirt over a distance of 1³/16 miles . The race is currently open to horses age three and older and offers a purse of $250,000.The Pimlico Special was first run in...

 and Havre de Grace Handicap

Havre de Grace Handicap

The Havre de Grace Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. The inaugural race was run in the first year the track opened in 1912. It was open to horses three years old and upward and raced at a distance of 1 1/8...

. He left Brann's employ in February 1941 and the horse's training was taken over by L. T. (Whitey) Whitehill. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60910F73F5E167B93C7A91789D85F458485F9

Count Fleet and the Triple Crown

In 1939, he hired jockey Johnny Longden

Johnny Longden

John Eric Longden was an American Hall of Fame jockey. He was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England but his father wanted to build a better life for his family so in 1909 emigrated to Canada, settling in Taber, Alberta. By 1912 Longden Sr. had saved enough money to send for his wife and young son...

 to ride the horses owned by Vera S. Bragg and Fannie Hertz. With Longden riding Count Fleet

Count Fleet

Count Fleet was born and died at Stoner Creek Stud farm in Paris, Kentucky, United States. He was a Thoroughbred racehorse and Triple Crown champion in 1943....

 in all his races, in 1942 Don Cameron conditioned Mrs. Hertz's two-year-old colt to U.S. Champion 2-Yr-Old Colt

Eclipse Award for Outstanding 2-Year-Old Male Horse

The American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971....

 honors. The following year the colt won the 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...

, 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...

 and Belmont Stakes

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...

 to become only the 6th U.S. Triple Crown Champion in the history of the American Classic Races. Cameron would see his colt voted the 1943 American Horse of the Year, the most prestigious honor for Thoroughbred runners in the United States.

Among Cameron's other important horses was Vulcan's Forge

Vulcan's Forge (horse)

Vulcan's Forge was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1947 Champagne Stakes as a two-year-old, the 1948 Withers Stakes, and in 1949 the prestigious Santa Anita and Suburban Handicaps....

, whose conditioning he took over in 1949 from 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, Syl Veitch. That year, Cameron saddled Vulcan's Forge to major wins in California's richest race, the Santa Anita Handicap

Santa Anita Handicap

The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses four years old and up , and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during the winter racing season...

 and on the East Coast

East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...

, the 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....

 at New York's

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...

 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...

.

In 1950, Don Cameron's trainee, Miche

Miche (horse)

Miche was an Argentinian Thoroughbred racehorse who was imported to the United States in 1948 where he successfully competed at the top levels of racing...

, notably won the La Sorpresa Handicap at Santa Anita Park

Santa Anita Park

Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent racing events in the United States during the winter and in spring. With its backdrop of the purple San Gabriel Mountains, it is considered by many as the world's most beautiful race...

, ending the great Citation's

Citation (horse)

Citation was the eighth American Triple Crown winner, and one of three major North American Thoroughbreds to win at least 16 consecutive races in major stakes race competition...

 sixteen-race win streak

Don Cameron died on July 11, 1952 at age fifty-eight from a coronary thrombosis

Coronary thrombosis

Coronary thrombosis is a form of thrombosis affecting the coronary circulation. It is associated with stenosis subsequent to clotting. The condition is considered as a type of ischaemic heart disease.It can lead to a myocardial infarction...

.