Owned and bred by John W. Galbreath, Proud Clarion was foaled at his Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.
His sire was Hail To Reason, the U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old Colt for 1960, and his grandsire was Royal Charger, a son of the great Nearco.
[2] The fourteen-horse field included Diplomat Way, Ruken, who had won California's Santa Anita Derby and was the bettors second choice, plus the overwhelming favorite, Wood Memorial Stakes winner Damascus.
Leaving the starting gate from post position seven, Proud Clarion raced ninth near the back in a pack of horses until close to the ¾ mile pole when jockey Bobby Ussery made a move.
He won six of his thirteen starts in 1967, with his only other significant stakes win coming in the Roamer Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack in which he set a new track record of 1:55 flat for a mile and three-sixteenths.