And They're Racing! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bob-tailed nag

'Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races', to use the song's full title, was written around 1850, and was intended to be performed as part of a minstrel show. The structure is intended to be a mixture of solo singer and chorus support from the other performers on the stage. It seems to have been first performed by Christy's Minstrels, a blackface group led by Edward Pearce Christy which had close ties to Stephen Foster. They performed at a benefit for Foster in 1847, and became specialists in performing his music. The song 'Old Folks at Home' was sold to them for their exclusive use in 1851.

The camptown referred to in the song would have been an area inhabited by laborers and migrant workers living in tents and crude shacks on the fringe of a frontier town. Such sites often attracted the gamblers of the region, and horse races, reputedly often rigged, were common.

Answer: The Kentucky Derby

Dan Fogelberg's song is addressed to a young thoroughbred, who is being encouraged to dream big and strive to attain his dreams. Yes, it's a metaphor, but it does refer to one of the world's most well-known races, the Kentucky Derby. The Kentucky Derby is a race for three-year-olds held on the first Saturday in May at the Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the first of the three races called the Triple Crown (the others being the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes), so any horse who is going to have a chance at winning that prestigious set of races must win it. The winner is draped in a garland of roses, which leads to the race's nickname of 'The Run for the Roses', first used by a sports columnist in 1925. Roses were first associated with the race as part of a social event around 1900, a gesture which was so popular that the rose was adopted as the race's official flower shortly after.

Here is the chorus to the Fogelberg song:
"And it's run for the roses as fast as you can
Your fate is delivered, your moment's at hand
It's the chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance
And it's high time you joined in the dance
It's high time you joined in the dance."

Answer: Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby recorded 'Where the Turf Meets the Surf' in July of 1941 with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra. It was not recorded for commercial release, but to be played at the Del Mar Racetrack, of which Bing was a part owner. It is still played there over the loudspeaker on every race day as a tribute to Bing's contributions to the club.

The lyrics to the song (written by Johnny Burke, Bing Crosby and James V. Monaco) are simple:
"Where the turf meets the surf
down at old Del Mar
take a plane
take a train
take a car.

There is a smile on every face
and a winner in each race
where the turf meets the surf
at Del Mar."

Answer: Bluegrass

If I had told you that the recording was made by Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys, the answer would have been obvious. Just reading the lyrics makes it clear that we absolutely must have a bluegrass sound behind it. The song tells the story of a famous match race held in 1878 at Churchill Downs.

The four-mile race was between the champion east coast stallion Ten Broeck and the California mare Molly McCarthy. According to contemporary accounts, Molly led for the first mile before Ten Broeck took the lead; Molly never finished the race, the first time in her career when she was not victorious.

In the song, she dies, but reality was kinder - she raced again, with a mixture of wins and losses, before retiring to the life of a brood mare.

Answer: Fact

There are two distinct songs about Stewball/Skewball, and many variations on each of these, as is common for folk songs. It has been recorded by (among others) Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Lonny Donegan, The Weavers, and Peter, Paul and Mary. The name Stewball tends to be used for American variants, and Skewball for English ones.

The song appears to date from the middle of the 18th century, when an English-bred racehorse named (records are not consistent) Squball or Sku-ball or Skewball or Stewball had a successful career in both England and Ireland.

In 1752, as an eleven-year-old, he won a much talked-about race on the plains of Kildare, and it is thought that the song was based on that race. Because of his age, he started the race as underdog, but emerged victorious.

Answer: Poisoned

According to the first verse of the song, it was done by a bookmaker, presumably to keep the horse from winning.

"Well the angels came to see me today
Said 'We've taken your racehorse away'
And I believe it was that bookmaker from Crail
I believe that he put one in her pail
All the finest in the field
Only measured to her shoulders, they only ever see her heels
And I believe (I believe) every sporting man will cry
I believe (I believe) to see his income pass him by"

The song refers to the dead horse as having won the Lanark Silver Bell, which is one of the oldest trophies in Great Britain. Lanark is a Scottish town which used to hold an annual race for a very long time. Exactly how long is not sure - tradition says that King William donated the cup in 1165, but that is hard to verify. The cup was lost for many years, and rediscovered in a cupboard when the town council moved offices in 1836. It has hallmarks showing that work was done on it in 1587, the earliest verifiable date for this trophy. After the 1977 race was announced to have been the last running of the Lanark Silver Bell, the race was revived at a new venue, Hamilton Park Racecourse, in 2008.

Answer: The William Tell Overture

This has become one of Spike Jones's best-known songs, and has been included in many compilation albums of his work. 'The William Tell Overture' (which was also used as the theme music for television's 'Lone Ranger') is played on a variety of objects, some of them actual musical instruments, and with many sound effects.

The finale uses traditional orchestral instruments, with a race call superimposed. Some of the horse names are references to real horses (Dogbiscuit for Seabiscuit), some are just silly, some are in-jokes among the band as references to each other. Always bringing up the rear, and lagging further and further behind as the race progresses, is Beetlebaum.

Then, all of a sudden, the winner is ... Beetlebaum.

Answer: Gunsynd

Of course, using the song's alternative title, 'The Gunsynd Song', would have made the question too easy. Gunsynd was born in New South Wales in 1967, and sold as a yearling to the Goondiwindi syndicate for $1300. During the course of his career he earned around $280,000 (purses weren't nearly as big back then - that was quite an impressive amount). During his four years of racing, he won or placed in many of the most important races in the country. His unusual colouring (grey is rare in Australian thoroughbreds) made him stand out from the pack, and the Goondiwindi Grey was very popular with racegoing crowds. In 1972 he was named Horse of the Year, and inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. He died of cancer in 1983. There is a statue of him in the centre of his home town, as well as this song written by Nev Hauritz and Brian Wallace.

None of the incorrect options fits either the era or the color. Phar Lap (1926-1932) was a chestnut; Kingston Town (1976-1991) was a black gelding; Makybe Diva (1999- ) was bay mare. They all have their own songs, but that's another quiz.

Answer: Let the Big Horse Run

The song 'Let the Big Horse Run' was written and performed by John Stewart, a former member of the Kingston Trio. It describes seeing Secretariat in retirement, enjoying himself in a field, and expresses the writer's longing to see the 1973 Triple Crown winner race again, just one more time. The syndication deal under which he was raced had a clause stating that he could not race past the age of 3, but would be sent to stud then. Given his amazing performance (he set race records in two of the three legs of the Triple Crown, won 16 of his 21 starts with only one unplaced finish, and earned over 1.3 million dollars), one can only speculate on what he might have achieved had his career been extended.

"Spending his time in the field with the ladies
In the field with the ladies he can't complain
But let him run, oh let the big horse run
One more time
Out on the track
Saddle the wind and get up on his back."

Answer: Black Caviar

Black Caviar was the talk of the Australian racing world when she won her 19th consecutive race in February 2012 as a five-year-old. Ted Egan's tribute to her was not entirely surprising, as there is a long tradition of Australians writing songs in praise of their beloved racehorses.

"Black Caviar you are the star
That shines above this land
Just like the Southern Cross
You make us all feel grand."

Ted Egan was born in suburban Melbourne in 1932, and moved to the Northern Territory at the age of 16, where he spent many years working in the bush for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. From 2003 to 2007 he was Administrator of the Northern Territory, a position roughly equivalent to premier of an Australian state, or governor of an American state. He has released over 25 albums since he started recording in 1969, mostly in the folk and country genres, and is a prolific performer - he appears everywhere!