NOTES
The History of the Horse
1. Phelps, Notable North American Thoroughbreds, 12.
2. International Museum of the Horse, Hyracotherium, http://imh.org/exhibits/online/hyracotherium-eohippus (accessed April 27, 2017). Hereinafter cited as IMH.
3. Ibid.
4. Phelps, Notable North American Thoroughbreds, 12.
5. IMH, http://imh.org/exhibits/online/mesohippus (accessed April 27, 2017).
6. Phelps, Notable North American Thoroughbreds.
7. IMH, http://imh.org/exhibits/online/pliohippus (accessed April 27, 2017).
8. Phelps, Notable North American Thoroughbreds; Gregory L. Ferraro, “The Corruption of Nobility,” American Eye (May/June 1992): 4, accessed April 24, 2017, www.jstor.org/stable/25125367?seq=1#page_scaan_tab_contents.
9. Phelps, Notable North American Thoroughbreds.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., 13.
12. Encyclopedia Britannica, “Horse Racing,” 2, accessed May 17, 2017, https://www.britannica.com/sports/horse-racing#ref9192. Hereinafter EB.
13. Broden, Silks and Satins.
14. Wikipedia, “Parthian shot,” accessed September 21, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_shot.
15. Weeks, American Turf, 11.
16. EB, “Horse Racing,” 2.
17. Eventing horses are not required to be a “purebred” of one kind or another, but thoroughbreds or horses with thoroughbred ancestry dominate.
18. “About Eventing,” accessed September 21, 2017, https://kentuckythreedayevent.com/about-eventing.
19. Mike Parker, “The History of Horse Racing,” 1, accessed November 14, 2016, http://www.mrmike.com/Explore/hrhst.htm.
20. EB, “Horse Racing,” 3.
21. Weeks, American Turf, 12.
22. Parker, “History of Horse Racing,” 2.
23. Weeks, American Turf, 21. The English Stud Book will make a dramatic reappearance in 1913 and contribute to almost ending racing in the United States.
24. There are several horse breeds, not counting interbreeding. The American saddlebred, for example, is popular but is shown, not raced. Other breeds include the European warmbloods and even the Kentucky mountain horse. This work will focus on racing in Kentucky, which is primarily done by thoroughbreds and standardbreds.
25. The name has its origin in a set of standards or requirements of size and gait as well as breeding.
26. “The History of Trotting,” accessed November 14, 2016, http://www.trotting.com/trotting-history.
Racing in Early America
27. Crews, “Gambling,” 7, http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Autumn08/gamble.cfm.
28. EB, “Horse Racing.”
29. Crews, “Gambling,” 1.
30. “Colonial Horses,” International Museum of the Horse, 2, accessed December 6, 2017, http://imh.org/exhibits/on-line/legacy-of-the-horse/colonial-horses.
31. Ibid.
32. Emily Davidson, “Horse Racing in the Colonies,” accessed December 6, 2017, http://prezi.com/xntvtdzwi-*h/horse-racing-in-the-colonnies.
33. Breen, “Horses and Gentlemen,” 239.
34. “Early History of Thoroughbred Horses in Virginia,” Virginia History Series #11–08, 2008, accessed December 6, 2017, http://virginiahistoryseries.org/linked/unit 11.early history of thoroughbred horses in virginia.allslides.pdf. Obviously, claim to the “first” conflicts with the New Amsterdam races.
35. Harold B. Gill Jr., “A Sport Only for Gentlemen,” Colonial Williamsburg, accessed December 6, 2017, http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume4/march06/sport.cfm.
36. Breen, “Horses and Gentlemen,” 251.
37. “Colonial Horses.”
38. Encyclopedia Britannica, “Thoroughbred,” accessed December 3, 2017, https://britannica.com/animal/Thoroughbred.
39. “Early History of Thoroughbred Horses in Virginia,” Virginia History Series.
40. Gill, “A Sport Only for Gentlemen,” 2–3.
41. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 76.
42. Gill, “A Sport Only for Gentlemen,” 1.
43. Breen, “Horses and Gentlemen,” 253–254.
44. Ibid., 256.
45. Davidson, “Horse Racing in the Colonies.”
46. Crews, “Gambling,” 6.
47. Bill Sullivan, “Riders Up! Horse Racing in 18th -Century Williamsburg,” Making History, May 6, 2016, accessed December 6, 2017, http://makinghistorynow.com/2016/05/riders-up-horse-racing-in-williamsburg.
48. “Presidents at the Races,” White House Historical Association, accessed December 6, 2017, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/white-house-horses/presidents-at-the-races.
49. IMH, 4.
The Church Horses Built
50. This chapter is largely based on an article in the Daily Racing Form by Evan Hammonds, September 15, 1996, 21.
51. This movement and its effects on racing in Kentucky are treated in a separate chapter of this work.
52. A parish house is a secondary structure usually housing church offices and administrative areas and occasionally living quarters for a priest.
53. Wall, How Kentucky Became Southern, 227–228.
54. “The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd History,” 4, accessed May 1, 2017, http://goodshepherdlex.org/History. Other information from this site is supplied herein.
55. Daily Racing Form.
Jockeys’ Silks
56. The Benson and Hedges Book of Racing Colors, Jockeys’ Association of Great Britain, 1973, xvii.
57. Frederick M. Borden, Silks and Satins, unpublished manuscript 1966, Keeneland Library, Lexington, Kentucky. Pages are unnumbered.
58. Ibid.
59. Herbert, A History of Racing Silks, 4–5.
60. Ibid., 6.
61. Borden, Silks and Satins.
62. Herbert, A History of Racing Silks, 7.
63. Ibid., 10–17.
64. Ibid., 28.
65. Ibid., 32.
66. Ibid., 37–38.
67. Sheena McKenzie, “Hot to Trot: The Secrets and Superstitions of Jockey Fashions,” Washington Post, accessed September 24, 2017, http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/10/sport/jockey-silks-jackets-horse-racing.
68. Bill Christine, Daily Racing Form, accessed September 24, 2017, http://www.drf.com/events/top-10-most-eclectic-silks-racing-history.
69. Benson and Hedges, 3.
They’re Off!
70. Tom Eblen, Lexington Herald-Leader, “Why a Funny Looking ’95 Cadillac Might Be the ‘Best Place’ to Watch a Horse Race,” October 8, 2017, 1C. The article credits Stephen G. Phillips with inventing the mobile gate.
71. Thoroughbred Record, September 30, 1981, 1865.
72. Keig, Racing Silks and Winning Colors, 11.
73. Weeks, American Turf, 25.
74. Thoroughbred Record.
75. Horse Racing’s Top 100 Moments, 67. Hereinafter Top 100.
76. Ibid.
77. “New Barriers,” Daily Examiner, December 30, 1935.
78. Thoroughbred Record.
79. Lexington Herald-Leader, March 9, 1973.
80. Top 100, 68.
81. Marshall Cassidy, Daily Racing Form, letter to the editor, July 31, 1994.
82. Daily Racing Form, August 3, 1966.
83. Ibid., November 30, 1964.
Resting in Peace
84. Thoroughbred Heritage, accessed July 20, 2017, www.tbheritage.com/index.html.
85. Kleber, Kentucky Encyclopedia, 551.
86. Weeks, American Turf, 30.
87. “The Horse Named Lexington,” accessed September 29, 2017, www.visitlex.com/about/blue-horse/lexington, hereinafter Visitlex.
88. Kleber, Kentucky Encyclopedia, 551.
89. Visitlex.
90. Kleber, Kentucky Encyclopedia.
91. Visitlex.
92. Kleber, Kentucky Encyclopedia.
93. Frances J. Karon, Running Rough Shod, “On Hallowed Ground: The Calumet Cemetery,” 2–3, accessed September 29, 2017, http:/www.runroughshod.blogspot.com/2014/11/on-hallowed-ground-calumet-cemetery.html.
94. Hollingsworth, Wizard of the Turf, 83.
95. “Hamburg Place Horse Cemetery,” accessed September 28, 2017, http:/www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM2KMJ_Hamburg_Place.
96. Tom Eblen, “Farm Had Two Cemeteries,” Lexington Herald-Leader, August 10, 2017, accessed August 10, 2017, http:/kentucky.com/news/local/news-columnsblogs/tom/eblen/article166466297.html.
McDowell Speedway
97. Lexington Leader, “Gala Day for Blue Grass Reinsmen,” July 31, 1904, 6, col. 1. Hereinafter Reinsmen.
98. This may have been the trotting track at Mentelle Park, which was sold in 1872, to be renamed the “Ashland Driving Park.” Daily Press, September 9, 1872, 4, col. 1. The race happened two months before the sale was reported, and the pending change in ownership may have been the reason for moving the race.
99. Dr. Herr’s track lay between the Nicholasville turnpike and the railroad just outside city limits to the south. Herr Park would be developed into a residential development as the city expanded in 1893. Its streets were named for newspapers: Gazette, Transcript, Press and Leader. Today, it is part of the University of Kentucky medical complex campus. “Herr Park Subdivision,” Fayette County Clerk’s Office, Lexington, Kentucky.
100. Daily Press, September 9, 1872, 4, col. 1.
101. “Amateur Racing,” Daily Press, July 11, 1872, 4, col. 2. The article runs two columns. It was not unusual for such extensive detailed reporting on races, not only locally but from other cities. The Lexington Leader for July 17, 1904, also reports on carriage races in Columbus, Ohio.
102. Lexington Leader, July 17, 1904, 3, col. 4. Likewise, the next column discussed the possible closure of a track in Illinois.
103. Lexington Leader, July 25, 1902, 2, col. 1.
104. Coleman, Squire’s Sketches of Lexington, 72.enry
105. Lexington Leader, July 22, 1897, 8, col. 2.
106. Ockerman, Historic Lexington, 23.
107. Wendy Bright, History of a House Museum, “Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate,” accessed October 2, 2017, http:/www.historyofahousemuseum.com/tag/majorhenry-clay.
108. Wall, How Kentucky Became Southern, 38ff.
109. Ockerman; Ernie W. Stamper, “The Gratz of Gratz Park,” 18.
110. Lexington Herald, April 23, 1900, 1, col. 6.
111. William M. Ambrose, “McDowell Speedway,” unpublished manuscript referenced at length with permission, 2017.
America’s First Professional Athlete Class
112. John Cheves, Lexington Herald-Leader, “Jockey Discovers History of Black Horsemen at Local Cemetery,” accessed January 10, 2017, http://kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article44104278.html.
113. Hollingsworth, Lexington Queen of the Bluegrass, 150.
114. Wall, How Kentucky Became Southern, 37.
115. Mooney, Race Horse Men, 195.
116. Ibid., 165.
117. Ibid.
118. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 211.
119. Daily Racing Form, April 11, 1957, 7, col. 1.
120. See the chapter on betting for a discussion of auction pool, bookmaker and pari-mutual betting.
121. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 229ff.
122. Ibid., 239.
123. Mooney, Race Horse Men, 182.
124. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 244.
125. Ibid., 246.
126. Wall, How Kentucky Became Southern, 128.
127. Ibid., 129–130.
128. Mooney, Race Horse Men, 195.
129. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 255.
130. Robertson, The History of Horse Racing in America, 165.
131. Wall, 139.
132. Ibid.,140ff.
133. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 269.
134. Mooney, Race Horse Men, 210.
135. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 271.
136. Robertson, 164.
137. Black Art Depot, accessed January 10, 2017, http://blackartdepot.com/african-american-history/10-facts-about-isaac-burns-murphy.html.
138. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 311.
139. Ibid., 313.
140. Ibid., 318.
141. Ibid., 319.
142. Mooney, Race Horse Men, 215.
143. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 312.
144. Mooney, Race Horse Men, 216.
145. Wikipedia, “James Winkfield,” accessed March 12, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Winkfield.
146. Ibid.
147. Ibid., 217.
148. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 340.
149. Ibid., 291.
150. Mooney, Race Horse Men, 196.
151. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 291.
152. Peter Brackney, “The Kaintuckeean,” accessed October 11, 2017, http://www.kaintuckeean.com/2011/06/walklex-soup-perkins-alley-and-last-old.html.
153. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 295.
154. Ibid., 296.
155. Ibid., 299.
156. Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed October 11, 2017, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Willie-Simms.
157. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 289.
158. Kansas Historical Society, “Álonzo Clayton,” 2017, accessed October 12, 2017, www.kshs.org/kansapedia/alonzo-clayton/17739.
159. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 291. Finishing “in the money” means first through fourth place, which are the places among which purse money is paid.
160. Tim Talbott, “Alonzo ‘Lonnie’ Clayton,” ExploreKYHistory, accessed October 11, 2017, http:/explorekuhistory.ky.gov/items/show/315.
161. Mooney, Race Horse Men, 196.
162. Kansas Historical Society.
163. Talbott, “Alonzo ‘Lonnie’ Clayton.”
164. Wall, How Kentucky Became Southern, 193.
165. Ibid., 281ff.
166. Hotaling, Great Black Jockeys, 281ff.
167. Blackford, “Black Fences,” 15.
168. Jim Embry, “Honor Legendary Black Jockey, Genesis of Idea for His Memorial,” Lexington Herald-Leader, accessed January 10, 2017, hrrp://kentucky. com/opinion/op-ed/article 42642633.html.
169. Lexington Public Library “Visitor Guide,” undated.
How Good Intentions Almost Killed Racing
170. Nicholson, Kentucky Derby, 19.
171. Ibid., 32.
172. Samuel W. Thomas, Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby Museum, 1995, 118.
173. Nicholson, Kentucky Derby, 19.
174. Ibid., 20.
175. Merriam-Webster, “auction-pool,” accessed October 11, 2017, https://www.wordnik.com/words/auction-pool.
176. Wikipedia, “Hart-Agnew Law,” accessed October 13, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart-Agnew_Law.
177. Bolin, Bossism and Reform in a Southern City, 77.
178. Nicholson, Kentucky Derby, 29. See the chapter of betting herein for more on pari-mutual betting and machines.
179. Bolin, Bossism and Reform in a Southern City, 88.
180. Harison and Klotter, New History of Kentucky, 353.
181. Ibid., 353
182. Thomas, Churchill Downs, 172. The American Book Company was an association of bookmakers.
183. Bolin, Bossism and Reform in a Southern City, 88–91.
184. Harison and Klotter, New History of Kentucky, 353.
185. Thomas, Churchill Downs, 118.
186. Ockerman, Historic Lexington, 12.
187. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 65.
188. Ibid., 3.
189. Nicholson, Kentucky Derby, 20.
190. Bolin, Bossism and Reform in a Southern City, 84.
191. Thomas, Churchill Downs, 154.
192. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 56.
193. Bolin, Bossism and Reform in a Southern City, 84.
194. Thomas, Churchill Downs, 168.
195. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 57.
196. Ibid., note, 59.
197. Nicholson, Kentucky Derby, 48.
198. National Portrait Gallery, accessed October 31, 2017, http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp122437/victor-albert-george-child-villiers.
199. I am indebted to horseman Preston Madden for alerting me to the Jersey Act. Madden interview, May 17, 2017.
200. Top 100, 124.
201. Ibid., 124–125.
202. Ibid.
203. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Jersey Act,” accessed May 17, 2017, https://britannica.com/event/Jersey-Act.
204. Hollingsworth, Wizard of the Turf, 29.
205. Ibid., 103.
206. Ibid. Hamburg Place has been mostly developed by 2017 into a regional mall and mixed residential, business and commercial uses. Every street in the development is named for a Hamburg Place horse, including major streets Sir Barton Way and Star Shoot Parkway.
207. Ibid., 102.
208. Top 100, 125.
Civil War Racing in Lexington
209. All Southern tracks closed when war was declared, and almost all horses were put to war uses, either for cavalry mounts or to pull cannon and wagons.
210. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 18.
211. “Racing Calendars—1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865,” compiled by H.G. Crickmore, privately printed by W.C. Whitney, New York, Keeneland Association Library, supplied to the author by William M. Ambrose.
212. Hollingsworth, Lexington Queen of the Bluegrass, 71–72.
213. “Racing Calendars”
214. National Register of Historic Places, “The Civil War in Lexington,” accessed July 5, 2017, .https://nps.gov/nr/travel/lexington/civilwar.htm.
215. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 19.
216. “Racing Calendars.”
217. Hollingsworth, Lexington: Queen of the Bluegrass, 77.
218. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 19.
219. Ibid., 19–20.
220. Weeks, American Turf, 162.
221. Ambrose, Kentucky Association.
Kentucky Just Owns the Triple Crown
222. Clark was the grandson of General William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which explored the Louisiana Purchase Territory for President Thomas Jefferson. Accessed November 7, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meriwether_Lewis_Clark_Jr.
223. Harison and Klotter, New History of Kentucky, 188.
224. Churchill Downs, “The World’s Most Legendary Racetrack,” accessed November 7, 2017, www.churchilldowns.com/about/churchill-downs.
225. Klotter, New History of Kentucky, 189.
226. Marion E. Altieri, “The Woodlawn Vase,” accessed July 11, 2017, equineinfoexchange.com.
227. Tim Talbott, “Woodlawn Race Course,” accessed July 9, 2017, http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/329.
228. “City of Woodlawn Park,” accessed July 9, 2017, http://woodlawnpark.com/index.php/city-information/woodlawn-park-html.
229. Altieri, “Woodlawn Vase.”
230. Marvin Drager, “August Belmont,” accessed November 7, 2017, https://britannica.com/biography/August-Belmont.
231. J. Keeler Johnson, “What’s in a (Race) Name?” The Sport, accessed November 7, 2017, https://www.americasbestracing.net/the-sport/2017-whats-race-namerace-and-track-august-belmont.
232. Wall, How Kentucky Became Southern, 170.
233. Hollingsworth, Lexington: Queen of the Bluegrass, 158.
234. He seems not to have preferred either “II” or “Jr.,” but most sources use the Roman numerals.
235. Johnson, “What’s in a (Race) Name?”
236. Top 100, 106.
$2 to Win on No. 5
237. Weeks, American Turf, 25.
238. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, Appendix E, 76–81.
239. Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Bet,” accessed November 8, 2017, http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/bet.
240. Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Wager,” accessed November 8, 2017, http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/wager.
241. Early wagers were only win bets; it took the development of sophisticated machines to allow place and show betting.
242. Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Game,” accessed November 8, 2017, http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/game.
243. Ambrose, Kentucky Association.
244. Kentucky Constitution, Section 226 (1891). Amendments in 1988 and 1992 to this section permitted a state-run lottery in conjunction with other states, and gambling, lotteries, etc., for charitable purposes. Otherwise, the prohibition on “lotteries and gift enterprises” remains in place.
245. Encyclopedia Britannica, “Bookmaking,” accessed May 17, 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/bookmaking-gambling.
246. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 29.
247. Vosburgh, Racing in America, 1922.
248. Marjorie Rieser, “Horse Racing in Central Kentucky and Jefferson County,” master’s thesis, 1944, 114, Electronic Thesis and Dissertations, Paper 2115, accessed November 16, 2017, https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2115.
249. Tom Eblen, “Raising Money to Restore Floral Hall, Lexington’s ‘Round Barn,” October 2, 2012, accessed November 14, 2017, http://tomeblen.bloginky.com/tag/floral-hall. After the renovations described in the article, it was renamed “The Standardbred Stable of Memories” and now houses horse artifacts and archives, in addition to being rentable for events.
250. Ockerman, Historic Lexington, map, 31.
251. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 32.
252. Weeks, American Turf, 423–426.
253. Raymond W. Kanzler, “When Bookies Were ‘Gentlemen,’” Baltimore Sun, May 4, 1958, magazine section, 2.
254. Wikipedia, “Parimutuel Betting,” accesssed July 21, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parimutuel_betting.
255. Encyclopedia Britannica, “Pari-mutuel,” accessed May 17, 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/pari-mutuel.
256. Vosburgh, Racing in America, 56.
257. Kristina Panos, “Tote Boards: The Impressive Engineering of Horse Gambling,” accessed November 7, 2017, https://hackaday.com/2015/11/04/tote-boards-the-impressive-engeering-of-horse-racing-gambling.
258. AmTote, “Company History,” accessed November 7, 2017, http://www.amtote.com/company-history.
259. Panos, “Tote Boards.” The complete article includes mechanical drawings illustrating the wires, pulls, gears and number wheels.
260. AmTote.
My Old Kentucky Track
261. Cathy Schenck, Keeneland librarian, list compiled from American Turf Register, Keeneland Library, circa 1980.
262. David Louis Thornton III, unpublished manuscript, 1965, Keeneland Library, Lexington, Kentucky, 3.
263. Ibid., 19.
264. Kentucky Historical Society, Historic Markers Database for No. 6, accessed November 21, 2017, http://migration.kentucky.gov/kyhs/hmdb/MarkerSearch.aspx?mode=All.
265. Perrin, History of Fayette County, 1882, 279.
266. Keeneland Magazine (Fall/Winter 1991): 69.
267. Lexington Herald-Leader, October 23, 1993.
268. Byron Crawford, (Louisville) Courier-Journal, June 19, 1981
269. National Register of Historic Places, Robert Sanders House nomination form, 3.
270. (Lexington) Reporter, August 9, 1815, 6, col. 6.
271. Tim Talbott, “Race Track, 1924–1928 (Raceland),” accessed September 24, 2017, http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/326. Jack Keene was a noted breeder and trainer and owned Keeneland Stud in Lexington, which would later become Keeneland Race Track.
272. Ibid.
273. Terry L. Hapney Jr., “Raceland Steep in History Thanks to Racetrack Heritage,” Greenup Beacon, September 19, 2017, accessed September 24, 2017, http://greenupbeacon.com/raceland_racetrack.
274. Schenk, list compiled from American Turf Register.
275. Gary A. O’Dell, “At the Starting Post: Racing Venues and the Origins of Thoroughbred Racing in Kentucky: 1783–1865,” Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 116, no. 1 (Winter 2018): 67.
276. Thornton, 22.
277. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 1.
278. Marjorie Risner, “Horse Racing in Central Kentucky and Jefferson County,” 1944, Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Paper 2115, 9, accessed November 16, 2017, https://doi.org/10.18297/etd2115. While Risner states the “main street of the town served as the race course,” that is not clear from the newspaper advertisement announcing the race. From the detailed rules and conditions, it is clear the Lexington Jockey Club was conducting the race, but where is not stated.
279. Minute Book of the Lexington Trustees, 9.
280. Ibid., 32.
281. Ibid., 47–48.
282. Lexington Gazette, March 21, 1795, 2, col. 4.
283. Thornton, 25. Thornton reports the Kentucky General Assembly was still passing laws against horse races in public streets as late as 1821.
284. Ibid.
285. Ibid., 23.
286. Fayette County (Lexington) Clerk’s Office records.
287. Randolph Hollingsworth, “She Used Her Power Lightly: A Political History of Margaret Wickliffe Preston of Kentucky,” unpublished dissertation, University of Kentucky, 1999, 303–304.
288. Risner, “Horse Racing in Central Kentucky,” 12. Risner describes the area as beginning at the northwest corner of today’s Jefferson Street and Main Street and running back to the vicinity of Third Street. However, the cemetery property is three blocks and a line of railroad tracks farther west. She bases her location of the Jockey Club track based on correspondence of Charles R. Staples, a Lexington historian in the early 1900s. However, the area described as west of Jefferson from Main to Third is where the Todd Race Land would have been. Either Staples remembered the wrong track or Risner, not from Lexington, misinterpreted the descriptions in his letters.
289. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 2; Risner, “Horse Racing in Central Kentucky,” 12.
290. See, e.g., Risner, “Horse Racing in Central Kentucky,” 15, for a Kentucky Gazette advertisement announcing that “there would be a Purse run for over the Lexington Course,” 15.
291. “Lexington Races,” Kentucky Gazette, October 10, 1795, 3, col. 3.
292. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 1.
293. Lee Sollow, “Horse Owners in Kentucky in 1800,” Journal, Kentucky Historical Society 79, no. 3 (Summer 1981): 204–205.
294. Kentucky Reporter, September 25, 1813, 4, col. 2.
295. O’Dell, “At the Starting Post,” 20.
296. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 66.
297. Hollingsworth, “She Used Her Power Lightly,” 37.
298. Coleman, Squire’s Sketches of Lexington, 30.
299. Simpson, Bluegrass Houses and Their Traditions, 383.
300. Ibid., 2.
301. Ibid., 6–9.
302. Ibid., 8.
303. Fayette County Deed Book 4, 181.
304. Ambrose, Kentucky Association, 11.
305. Coleman, Squire’s Sketches of Lexington, 44. The area is now part of the University of Kentucky campus.
306. O’Dell, “At the Starting Post,” 76.
307. Ockerman, Historic Lexington, 31.
308. Until the mid-1990s, the roads outside the city limits were owned by private road companies, which acquired franchises to build roads and charge tolls in return. Ibid., 32.
309. W.R. Wallis, “Map: Fayette County,” Kentucky Room, Lexington Public Library, Lexington, Kentucky, map drawer 1.
310. (Lexington) Leader, “Trotting Industry,” April 4, 1908, 2, col. 1.
311. Ibid., “Death of Dr. Herr,” May 29, 1891, 8, col. 5.
312. The earliest mention in the Lexington newspapers of trotting races on the Herr Track found is the (Lexington) Observer and Reporter, November 11, 1866, 3, col. 4.
313. (Lexington) Daily Press, “Amateur Racing,” July 11, 1872, 4, col 2.
314. Ibid., “Trotting Races Yesterday,” August 1, 1872, 4, col.1.
315. Lexington Transcript, December 30, 1884, 3, col.3.
316. Leader, “Orloff Brought In,” July 16, 1891, 8, col. 3, and “Forest Park Sold,” July 15, 1891, 5, col. 3.
317. W.R. Wallis, CE, Map of Fayette County, 1891, Lexington Public Library, Kentucky Room, map drawer one. The map describes the point as a “toll gate,” suggesting that it may not have been a house or a building.
318. The application is by Maprika, LLC, found at www.maprika.com. On December 6, 2017, the author used his cellphone to access the Wallis Map on the app and track down the physical location of the toll booth. The app gives credit for “historical positioning” to Scott Clark. Maprika version 2.7.3 was used on an iPhone 9.3. The map is further identified as Map #2799. No date of creation or uploading is given.
319. “Herr Park Subdivision.”
320. Ockerman, Historic Lexington, 34.
321. “Early Louisville Racing and Edward Troye,” June 24, 2012, accessed November 14, 2016, https://kentuckyonlinearts.wordpress.com/tag/oaklandhouse-and-race-course.
322. Risner, “Horse Racing in Central Kentucky,” 24. Risner notes that early racing in Louisville is not as well documented as in Lexington, because the community did not have early newspapers to record races and locations.
323. “Early Louisville Racing”
324. “Shippingport Island,” accessed November 14, 2016, http://historiclouisville.weebly.com/shippingport-island.html.
325. Ibid.
326. Ibid. This site contains several images and photographs, including a representation of what the area would have looked like without the extensive canal enlargement and other facilities.
327. Risner, “Horse Racing in Central Kentucky,” 25–29.
328. “Early Louisville Racing.” An image of an 1840 painting showing the mansion that served as the clubhouse and the gathering crowd can be found on the website.
329. Ibid.
330. Risner, “Horse Racing in Central Kentucky,” 32.
331. “Early Louisville Racing.”
332. Peter Morrin, “Patriotism in a Bottle,” Courier Journal, July 3, 2005, H1.
333. Vosburgh, Racing in America, 55.
334. Tim Talbot, “Woodlawn Race Course,” ExploreKYHistory, accessed November 14, 2016, http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/itens/show 329.
335. John C. Sheer, “Woodlawn Race Track: It’s History,” accessed November 14, 2016, http://neighborhoodlink.com/Beechmont/pages/49908.
336. Ibid.
337. Risner, “Horse Racing in Central Kentucky,” 34. Churchill Downs was established in 1875, but as it is an active track, it is outside the scope of this work.
338. Talbott, “Douglas Park Racetrack,” ExploreKYHistory, accessed November 14, 2016, http://explorehistory.ky.gov/items/show/320.
339. “Louisville Tracks,” Courier Journal, July 21, 1977.
340. Talbott, “Douglas Park Racetrack.”
Henry Clay, Horse Breeder and Racer
341. Heidler and Heidler, Henry Clay, 42.
342. The book runs to almost eight hundred pages of text.
343. Remini, Henry Clay, 804.
344. Rimini, 205. The Clay racetrack was a training track and not a place for public races except for a brief period in the early 1820s between the end of racing on the Williams Track and the beginning of racing at the Kentucky Association Track. That track, as shown by the accompanying photograph, paralleled Tates Creek Road/High Street. The starting post was probably near the turn at the top right turn of the track, as the stables and Clay’s spring were in that area. If so, the back stretch ran behind the present-day Cassidy Elementary School and Morton Middle School, turning back for a home stretch in the Romany Road area.
345. Jeff Meyer, “Henry Clay’s Legacy to Horse Breeding and Racing,” Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 100, no. 4 (Autumn 2002): 473. Meyer is a former curator and registrar at Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate in Lexington, Kentucky. Meyer laments the absence of scholarly book-length studies of the Kentucky horse industry and history, which has not abated, 474, n. 2. For this reason, Meyer’s article is the primary source for the rest of this review of Henry Clay’s equine activity except as noted.
346. Meyer, “Henry Clay’s Legacy,” 473. Ashland only tracks bloodlines through Clay’s mares in reaching this number. A different view from tracing the descending lines from Clay’s stallion Buzzard is discussed later.
347. Ibid., 476, quoting from an 1830 letter to his brother-in-law, James. Brown. This was written about a year and a half after Jackson had replaced John Quincy Adams in the White House, thus ending Clay’s tenure as Adams’s secretary of state. The year 1829 was one of turmoil for Clay, as he returned to Lexington to restart his law practice and see to the farm. In addition, his son Thomas was arrested and jailed for nonpayment of a debt, and his stepfather, mother and older brother John all died. One cannot wonder why Clay was tempted to retire to Ashland and be a country gentleman. He did not give into this temptation and, by November 1831, was elected to the United States Senate. Remini, Henry Clay, xix–xx.
348. Remini, Henry Clay, 205, n. 40.
349. Meyer, “Henry Clay’s Legacy,” 477.
350. Richard Vimont, equine law attorney. Mr. Vimont has practiced law in the equine area for many years and is very familiar with equine syndication agreements. He shared his original notes for his speech; the following discussion is derived from those notes.
351. For context, Kentucky became a state on June 1, 1792.
352. The medical conditions are from Vimont, notes 2. The age is assumed based on Buzzard first racing as a three-year-old in 1792.
353. The model was updated in the 1930s by Leslie Combs of Spendthrift Farm outside Lexington. He increased the number of investors and the number of mares covered by a stallion in a breeding season. Some people in the industry, including John Gaines, became concerned that the Combs-style agreement began to resemble an investment contract and the promotional material might be considered an offering of a security, which, if so determined, would bring the breeding industry under Securities and Exchange Commission regulation. Gaines submitted his “typical” stallion syndication agreement to the SEC and requested a “no action” letter, which basically would say that, based on the facts and opinions presented by the Gaines legal team, the SEC would not take any action against the participating horsemen. He obtained the desired letter. Vimont, 4–6.
354. Meyer, “Henry Clay’s Legacy,” 478 and n. 15.
355. Vimont, 13.
356. Eric Brooks, curator at Ashland, e-mail of July 24, 2017.
357. Remini, Henry Clay, xxi.
358. Meyer, “Henry Clay’s Legacy,” 479-482.
359. Ibid., 483.
360. Ibid., 487-488. This is about the same time that Dr. Lee Herr came to Lexington with a similar fondness for trotters and the same thoughts about breeding.
361. Ockerman, Historic Lexington, 23.
Forgotten Farms
362. Meadowthorpe subdivision website, History, accessed December 22, 2017, http://mnalex.org/history.
363. Trey Crubie, “Historic James Pepper Distillery Fills First Bourbon Barrel Since ’58,” Lexington Herald-Leader, December 22, 2017, 11A, col.1.
364. Peter Brackney, “Kaintuckeean: Meadowthorpe, Lexington’s First True Subdivision, Also Site of First Airport,” KYForward, accessed December 22, 2017, http://www.kyforward.com/kaintuckeean-meadowthorpe-lexingtons-first-true-subdivision.
365. Knight and Greene, Country Estates of the Blue Grass, “The Bell Place,” 35.
366. Formally named Tates Creek Road today, the former name, as with almost all roads leading out from Lexington in the nineteenth century, was “Pike,” in recognition that the road was a toll road with a turnpike at the tollgate.
367. Merrick Inn, “Our Story,” accessed December 22, 2017, http://www.themmerrickinn.com/about-us/our-story.
368. Ibid., 38.
369. Ibid., 42.
370. Ibid., 45.
371. Ibid., 47.
372. Ibid., 56.
373. Ibid., 83.
374. Ibid., 114.
375. Lexington Herald Leader, “Standardbreds Gain Prestige at Gainsway,” Bluegrass Review (January 15, 1950): 36.
376. Dan Liebman, “John Gaines, Formerly Owned Gainesway Farm, Founded Breeders’ Cup, Dies at 76,” Bloodhorse Magazine, February 11, 2005, accessed April 19, 2017, http://bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/171831/john-gaines.
377. “650 Lot Subdivision to be Developed,” Lexington Herald, July 12, 1957, 1, col. 2.
378. Knight and Greene, Country Estates of the Blue Grass, 123.
379. Hollingsworth, Lexington: Queen of the Bluegrass, 29.
380. Knight and Greene, Country Estates of the Blue Grass, 131.
381. Preston Madden interview, May 16, 2017.
382. Kent Hollingsworth, Wizard of the Turf, epilogue by Ray Paulick, following page 134.
383. Madden interview.
384. Kent Hollingsworth, Wizard of the Turf, 123.
The Earl of Derby Goes to the Kentucky Derby
385. Wikipedia, “Epsom Oaks,” accessed January 20, 2018, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epson_Oaks
386. Ibid., “Epsom Derby,” accessed January 20, 2018, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epson_Derby.
387. Ibid., “Kentucky Derby,” accessed February 18, 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Derby.
388. Ibid., “Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby,” accessed February 18, 2018, https://en.wikipedia/wiki/Thomas_Stanley,_1st_Earl_of_Derby. An announcement appeared in the Lexington Leader 445 years later that the Seventeenth Earl of Derby, Edward George Villiers Stanley, would visit Lexington and then go to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby; so far as is known, the first time any of the Derbys came to Kentucky.
389. Lexington Leader, March 25, 1930, 6, col. 2
390. Wikipedia, “Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby,” accessed January 20, 2018, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Stanley,_17th_Earl_of_Derby.
391. “Derby (17th Earl of) (1865–1948), National Horseracing Museum, accessed January 20, 2018, http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/view/Document?id=988.
392. Tony Morris, “A Man Whose Colts Became Basis of the Modern Thoroughbred,” Bloodstock World, October 1, 2012, 14, accessed January 20, 2018, http://www.racingpost.com.
393. Lexington Leader, March 30, 1930, 10, cols. 4–5.
394. Ambrose, Magnificent Elmendorf, 99.
395. Ibid., 71.
396. Ibid., 98.
397. Lexington Leader, April 8, 1930, 5, col. 1.
398. “Ácquitania,” accessed February 18, 2018, www.bryking.com/acuitania/career.html.
399. Encyclopeadia Britannica, “Maurentania,” http://www.britannica.com/topic/Maurentinia-ship-1906-1935.
400. Lexington Leader, May 14, 1930, 1, col. 8.
401. Ibid., May 4, 1939, 1, col. 3.
402. Ibid., May 16, 1930, 1, col. 5.
403. Ibid., May 15, 1930, 1, col. 5.
404. Ibid., May 17, 1930, 1, col. 6.
405. Ibid., May 18, 1930, 1, col. 5.
406. Ibid., May 18, 1939, 1.
407. Ibid., May 18, 1930, 2, col. 5. None of the sources consulted indicate that he ever raced in America.
408. Ibid., May 21, 1930, 1, col. 4, carrying an Associated Press report.