White Skies was an American Champion 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...

. Bred by renowned 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...

 horseman, Charles Nuckols, Jr., he was out of the mare Milk Dipper and sired by Calumet Farm's

Calumet Farm

Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of Lexington's blue grass country, the finest horse breeding region in...

 Arlington Futurity winner, Sun Again.

Purchased and raced by Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 grower, William M. Wickham, he was trained by former jockey

Jockey

A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

, Tommy Root. An October 19, 1987 article in Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

referred to White Skies as a "bullet" horse in the same vein as racing greats such as Tom Fool

Tom Fool

Tom Fool was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, a winner of the American Horse of the Year award and a Hall of Fame inductee. He sired the outstanding racehorses Buckpasser and Tim Tam....

, Decathlon

Decathlon (horse)

Decathlon was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was voted the U.S. Champion Sprint Horse in 1956 and 1957. He was sired by Olympia, the Leading broodmare sire in North America in 1974. His dam was Dog Blessed, a daughter of Bull Dog, the 1943 Leading sire in North America. Decathlon was...

, Ta Wee

Ta Wee

Ta Wee was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame race horse bred at the Tartan Stable of William L. McKnight . Foaled on March 26, 1966, her sire was Intentionally, the American Champion Sprint Horse of 1959...

, Dr. Fager

Dr. Fager

Dr. Fager was an American a thoroughbred racehorse who had what many consider one of the greatest single racing seasons by any horse in the history of the sport. "The Doctor" was the only horse who ever held four titles in one year...

, and Forego

Forego

Forego was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won eight Eclipse Awards including Horse of the Year, Champion Handicap Horse and Champion Sprinter....

. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1066581/index.htm

White Skies earned wins in the 1952 Pageant and Princeton Handicaps. Best suited as a sprinter

Sprint (race)

Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...

, he raced primarily at distances of six to seven furlongs. At age four in 1953, his wins included the Interborough

Interborough Handicap

The Interborough Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at the beginning of January at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens, New York...

 and Sport Page Handicaps plus he set a new track record of 1:22 3/5 for seven furlongs in a win at the Atlantic City Race Course

Atlantic City Race Course

The Atlantic City Race Course , formerly the Atlantic City Race Track, is a thoroughbred horse race track located in the Mays Landing section of Hamilton Township, in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The track is located off the Black Horse Pike next to the Hamilton Mall...

. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40916FC3F5C177B93C0AB178ED85F408585F9 At age five, White Skies had his best year and was voted the 1954 American Champion Sprint Horse. His wins included the Carter

Carter Handicap

The Carter Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early April at Aqueduct Racetrack. Open to horses three-years-old and up, it is raced over a distance of seven furlongs....

, Toboggan

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 ...

 and Paumonok Handicap

Paumonok Handicap

The Paumonok Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. A six furlong sprint race, it is open to horses aged three years and older and currently offers a purse of $75,000....

s plus the seven-furlong Rosben Handicap in a time of 1:22 2/5, only two-fifths of a second slower than the track record set forty-eight years earlier in 1906.

Regularly burdened with weights from 132 to 136 pounds, even when White Skies lost, the winner's time often had to be very fast as was the case when he finished second in track record time in the Oceanport Stakes

Oceanport Stakes

The Oceanport Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early August at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey. Open to horses age three and older, the Grade III event is contested on turf over a distance of 1 1/16 miles.Inaugurated in 1947 as a six furlong sprint race...

 to Robert L. Gerry's

Robert L. Gerry, Sr.

Robert Livingston Gerry, Sr. was an American businessman and owner of thoroughbred racehorses.-Biography:Owner of the Aknusti Estate in the Catskill Mountains of New York, adjoining his family's estate at Lake Delaware, New York...

 Master Ace at Monmouth Park. In the race, Master Ace carried 106 pounds to White Skies' 136.

White Skies raced again in 1955 at age six, and after going undefeated in seven career races at tracks in New York state

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...

, he incurred his first loss there in the 1955 Paumonok Handicap when he ran third to winner, Bobby Brocato. On May 2, 1955, White Skies suffered a compound fracture of his right hind cannon bone during a training run at Jamaica Racetrack

Jamaica Racetrack

Jamaica Race Course was an American thoroughbred horse racing facility operated by the Metropolitan Jockey Club in Jamaica, New York. The track opened on April 27, 1903, a day which featured the inaugural running of the Excelsior Handicap. Eugene D. Wood, one of the founders and largest...

 in Queens

Jamaica, Queens

Jamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. It was settled under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland as Rustdorp. Under British rule, the Village of Jamaica became the center of the "Town of Jamaica"...

, 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...

 and had to be euthanized

Animal euthanasia

Animal euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, an animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress...

. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0C17FC345B167B93C1A9178ED85F418585F9