[4] Trained by Mesh Tenney (who was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991), bred and owned by the once cowhand Rex Ellsworth, Swaps won his first 1955 start, the San Vicente Stakes.
In May 1955, he won the Kentucky Derby under jockey Willie Shoemaker, beating the heavily favored east coast star, Belair's Nashua, under Eddie Arcaro.
Nashua followed up the Derby with wins in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes in which Swaps did not compete because a split hoof wall in his right forefoot, incurred in January, had inflamed again.
With much interest in a match race between Nashua and Swaps looming, a deal between the camps was reached for the colts to meet at Chicago's Washington Park on August 31, 1955.
At the age of four, Swaps was named Horse of the Year by Turf and Sport Digest after beating Nashua by 78 votes to 45,[8] and topping a similar poll organized by Triangle Publications.
"[10] at 3: at 4: In October, while training for the Washington, D.C. International at Garden State Park, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, he fractured his leg in two places in his left rear cannon bone, then a week later banged his leg in his stall, breaking his cast, and extending the fractures into his pastern joint.
He initially had to be raised and lowered every 45 minutes, and trainer Mesh Tenny stayed with the horse and performed the function for the first 36 hours.
[5] Among his most successful offspring were Chateaugay, winner of the 1963 Kentucky Derby and the 1963 Belmont Stakes, and the U.S. Hall of Fame filly, Affectionately.