Thanksgiving: A Travers-Winning Horse Struck By Lightning

SARATOGA SPRINGS — There can be a lot to worry about during the Thanksgiving holiday. Will the turkey be too dry? Will the loose-lipped uncle rant about politics at the table? How bad will the traffic be on 87? No matter what concerns race through one’s mind this Thursday, at least getting struck by lightning won’t be one of them.

Such was the shocking (pun intended) near-disaster that befell Thanksgiving, a racehorse stabled at Saratoga, in the summer of 1937. The story of Thanksgiving’s brush with electric death was uncovered by authors Brien Bouyea and Michael Veitch while conducting research for their latest book, “The Travers: Saratoga’s Midsummer Derby, 1864 – 2023.”

At a November 14 event at the Saratoga Springs History Museum promoting the release of the book, Bouyea relayed the striking story.

“The trainer rushed into his barn and found many of his horses stumbling in a daze and others collapsing. Thanksgiving had been struck by lightning and was unconscious on the ground,” Bouyea said. “Miraculously, Thanksgiving lived and he recovered. He even raced that summer at Saratoga, finishing sixth in the Albany Handicap.”

Thanksgiving returned to the Spa City the following year to compete in the Travers Stakes. He won, and his time of 2:03.60 was the fastest in the Midsummer Derby since Man o’ War in 1920 (who ran a 2:01.80).

Perhaps more impressive was Thanksgiving’s trainer, Mary Hirsch, who was the first female trainer to win the Travers. In fact, she would remain the only woman trainer to win the Travers until Jena Antonucci won with Arcangelo in 2023.

“The story of Mary Hirsch and Thanksgiving was one of great historical magnitude and unique elements, but it garnered only standard newspaper coverage at the time,” Bouyea said. “Many accounts of the 1938 Travers never mentioned the name of the 25-year-old trainer or the horse’s remarkable path to the race. That’s just the way writing was back then. It wasn’t as big of a deal as it should have been.” 

At the tender age of 22, Hirsch was the first woman to earn a trainer’s license. She was also the first to run a horse in the Kentucky Derby, in 1937. She learned much from her father, the legendary trainer Max Hirsch, who was often given credit for Mary’s hard work by members of the press who may not have taken the idea of a female trainer as seriously as they should have. 

Both Mary and Thanksgiving’s remarkable tales are but two of many told in Bouyea and Veitch’s new tome, which is currently for sale at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, where Bouyea works as the director of communications.