If it's true that, as Hamlet tells Horatio, "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will," can the same be said of Thoroughbred racehorses?
In the possible answer to that question, there lies a 50-year-old tale.
In 1964 on Paul Mellon's Rokeby Farm in Virginia, one of his prized broodmares, Key Bridge, foaled a bay colt by Amerigo.
Named Fort Marcy, for one of the earthen fortifications that once protected Washington, D.C., a juvenile Fort Marcy was sent to the barn of trainer Elliot Burch.
A useful sort but far shy of the standards for Rokeby runners through his first year and a half on the track, Fort Marcy was entered into a June 26 Belmont paddock sale in 1967. A gelding by this time, he had started 19 times with three wins. Although he had shown some promise on the turf, he failed to bring what his connections wanted and was a $77,000 buyback.
In one of those cases that throw "buyer beware" out the window, two days later Fort Marcy won his first stakes, the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park. With that barrier broken, others tumbled in succession. He won four consecutive stakes, two against older horses. His final sophomore start was a nose victory over fellow sophomore and year's end's Horse of the Year Damascus in the 12-furlong Washington, D.C., International.
The following two years found Fort Marcy to be an integral hub in the Rokeby wheel. Having found his best distance (12 furlongs) and his best surface (turf), Fort Marcy won or placed in all five of his 12-furlong stakes.
Coming into the 1970 season, Fort Marcy was a star on the rise and might have had pride of place had it not been for Rokeby's Arts and Letters, who spent the last half of 1969 carving out a Horse of the Year campaign. The runner-up in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, the flashy chestnut son of Ribot had gone unbeaten the remainder of the year with victories in the Metropolitan Mile Handicap, Belmont, Jim Dandy, Travers, and Woodward stakes and the Jockey Club Gold Cup Handicap.
Once again, fate rolled a different die.
Scheduled to make his turf debut in the 1 1/2-mile Bowling Green Handicap at Belmont Park, Arts and Letters suffered a career-ending injury, leaving Fort Marcy to come in off the bench.
June 13, 1970, bloomed sunny and mild, drawing more than 42,000 to Belmont for a glorious afternoon of racing.
Despite a slow start to his 6-year-old season—one win in six starts—Fort Marcy, the favorite in a field of seven, carried high weight of 127 pounds. James Moseley's filly Drumtop (Round Table) was second highweight at 120 pounds. A hard-nosed runner like her sire, Drumtop came into the Bowling Green off an easy victory over males in the 11-furlong Edgemere Handicap at Belmont.
Fort Marcy pressed the pace of Semillant through the first 10 furlongs with Drumtop near the rear of the peloton. Two furlongs out, Fort Marcy took command from a tiring pacesetter as Drumtop made her way to offer a challenge that fell a half-length short but courageous enough to force Fort Marcy to a track record for the distance.
Fort Marcy finished the year with victories in the biggest turf events of the fall: the United Nations Handicap, Man o' War Stakes, and a second Washington D.C., International.
Fort Marcy garnered not only a turf championship and champion older horse but also a Horse of the Year title. It also gave Rokeby back-to-back Horses of the Year.
