Another Lawn Jockey

With the popularity of the two Lawn Jockey blogposts, wanted to show you this new addition that we picked up over the weekend at an antique show!  Not that we were looking for one, but we came across this and the price was right. This is an old "Jocko" that has the original paint, very heavy, with some rust.  Have not seen one of these in a long time other than on Ebay. 

Alfred Vanderbilt's Sagamore Farm

What a weekend for horse racing, with a possible Triple Crown in the works!  While we are thinking horses, race horses, Maryland and Triple Crown, let's talk about the famous Sagamore Farm.  Maybe you've never heard of it. If you live in Maryland or if you know anything about the famous race horse, Native Dancer, well, then you've probably heard about it.  The farm is located near Baltimore. 

Alfred G. Vanderbilt II owned the famous farm which was built by his mother, Margaret Emerson Vanderbilt in 1925.  She gave the 530-acre farm to him for his 21st birthday in 1933.  According to Vandersbilt's son, he would sleep in the barns so he could learn everything he could about the business of horse racing.  It was his true love.  Vanderbilt would later become owner and President of Pimlico Racetrack and he served at various times head of the New York Racing Association and the U.S. Jockey Club.

In 1941, Vanderbilt teamed up with Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. and other investors to acquire for breeding services the 1935 English Triple Crown winner Bahram from the Aga Khan III.   Bahram stood at stud at Sagamore and then was sent to Chrysler's farm in Warrenton, VA.  Vanderbilt/Sagamore Farms' best known horses were Discovery, Bed O'Roses and Native Dancer.   Native Dancer, "The Grey Ghost" is buried on the farm, one of 12 horses to be honored at Sagamore.    

Native Dancer was foaled in 1950.  He won an astounding 21 of 22 starts, his only loss, to Dark Star in the Kentucky Derby. Not only was he a great race horse but he is likely one of the greatest sires of all time.  Since his son, Kauai King won the Derby in 1966, fifteen other Derby winners have carried his blood including Dancer's Image (disqualified in 1968), Majestic Prince (1969), Affirmed (1978), Genuine Risk (1980), Ferdinand (1986), Alysheba (1987), Unbridled (1990), Strike the Gold (1991), Thunder Gulch (1995), Grindstone (1996), Real Quiet (1998), Charismatic (1999) and Fusiachi Pegasus (2000).

In 1986, Vanderbilt sold the farm to developer James Ward. The farm had fallen into disrepair and needed millions of dollars for restoration costs.  In 2007, Kevin Plank, CEO of Baltimore-based athletic company Under Armour, bought the historic farm with plans to renovate it to his former glory.  The farm includes a 90-stall training barn and a quarter-mile track.  Indeed Mr. Plank is planning to put Sagamore back on the throne of horse racing.  In November 2010, Shared Account, a Sagamore entry, won the $2 million Breeders Cup Fillies and Mares race. Tiger Walk was entered in the 2012 Derby, another Sagamore entry. 

Plank is restoring the farm's 18 miles of white fencing.  Native Dancer's stall is still a relic to the great horse, left alone, in honor of the great gray stallion. The red and white colors of Sagamore are vibrant again!

The Devon Horse Show

It's that time of year again, everyone heads to Devon.  Not England, but Main Line Philadelphia. The show runs from May 24 through June 3. 

Devon is probably the most competitive horse show in the country and to participate you have to qualify, meaning the number of entries is limited, it's the best of the best.  The show started over a century ago when a group of foxhunting enthusiasts pooled their resources to purchase a small piece of land in Chester County, PA (the Main Line just outside Philadelphia).  Today more than 400 people own coveted Devon Horse Show boxes which are passed down from generation to generation.  Over 100,000 people attend the show and "county fair" which donates large sums to Bryn Mawr Hospital.

The show started in 1896 and offered "a little bit of everything for everyone" from harness to saddle horses to heavy and light hunters and children's ponies. No show was held during the war years (1900 to 1910) but by 1914 the show had grown to become the largest outdoor horse show in the world and raised more than $9000 for aid for soldiers overseas (a large sum of money at the time).

Hope Montgomery Scott is remembered as "the heart of the horse show" and was an accomplished rider.  She is the inspiration for Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story so aptly portrayed by the late Katherine Hepburn.  The photo below was taken at the show.  She was the chair of the Board of Directors for many years.

 
Today the Horse Show attracts the best in the horse show world. The first weekend is "Junior Weekend" dominated by ponies, junior hunter and equitation classes.  The professional divisions and the amateurs follow on the schedule.  This photo of a pony is from 1966.

 

This photo, taken in 1941, by a Philadelphia Enquirer photographer shows a hunter class in the Wanamaker Ring, named after William H. Wanamaker, a prominant Philadelphia businessman who founded the show.  

 Here is a photo of one of the many vendors that will be there. Great shopping, even if you don't like to watch the horses!

 

There is something for everyone at Devon. If you live close enough to make the trip, by all means go. You'll see the best horses in the country, great shopping, fabulous food, a country fair and a piece of history.