Who is Needles

In 1956, Needles brought his owner D&H stable, his trainer H.L. Fontaine, and jockey David Erb, to their first and only Derby wins as the favorite. As the favorite?!!! I thought no horse could win off so few preps, and if one did it certainly wouldn't be the favorite. Well it turns out Needles was a pretty special horse. He was Champion 2 yo and the first Florida bred to ever earn that distinction. He followed that up as Champion 3yo. He won the Hopeful & Sapling at two and won the Derby, Flamingo, Belmont, Florida Dery as a three year old. In fact, he finished second in the Preakness, he was almost a triple crown winner yet for Fabius the Calumet bred and owned colt. (1 of only 10 colts) According to Ocala Needles pretty much put them on the map. So, maybe it just takes a special horse to power home after such a long layoff, but it certainly won't be a fluke.