High Quest

High Quest (1931–1948) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1934 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series of races. Background Sir Gallahad III, the sire of High Quest, had been purchased in 1926 from his owner in France by an American breeding syndicate made up of Robert A. Fairbairn, William Woodward Sr., Arthur B. Hancock, and High Quest's breeder, Marshall Field III. Bob Smith, a trainer with a history of spotting talent, had been hired by heiress Isabel Dodge Sloane to stock her newly formed Brookmeade Stable. Smith purchased High Quest for $3,500 at the Saratoga Yearling Sales and that same year bought Time Clock for $700 and Cavalcade for $1,200. Time Clock won the Flamingo Stakes in 1934 while Cavalcade won the Kentucky Derby, Horse of the Year honors, and was later inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Racing career Racing at age two, High Quest won an allowance race at Saratoga Race Course, defeating future Hall of Famer Discovery. In the prestigious Hopeful Stakes for two-year-olds, he again defeated Discovery but finished second to a filly named Bazaar. In the Eastern Shore Handicap at Havre de Grace Racetrack in Maryland, High Quest beat Discovery for the third time as well as stablemate Cavalcade.