Brookmeade Stable was a successful
thoroughbred horse racing
Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in ...
stable owned by
Dodge automobile heiress and socialite
Isabel Dodge Sloane
Isabel Cleves Dodge Sloane (February 1896 – March 16, 1962) was an American heiress and socialite who owned a major Thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm.
Isabel Dodge was the second of three children of Canadian-born Ivy Hawki ...
. Sloane first won using the name Brookmeade Stable at the Manly Memorial Steeplechase at
Pimlico in 1924.
In 1929, Sloane divorced and expanded her interest in horse racing. She purchased in
Upperville, Virginia
Upperville is a small unincorporated town in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States, along U.S. Route 50 fifty miles from downtown Washington, D.C., near the Loudoun County line. Founded in the 1790s along Pantherskin Creek, it was originally ...
, again using the name Brookmeade Stable. Sloane later developed the estate into a breeding farm, Brookmeade Stud, producing several successful race horses, including
Sword Dancer.
U.S. Triple Crown successes
Brookmeade Stable won each of the three races constituting the
American Triple Crown
In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three r ...
series. The first win came in the
1934 Kentucky Derby with
Cavalcade
A cavalcade is a procession or parade on horseback, or a mass trail ride by a company of riders. The focus of a cavalcade is participation rather than display. Often, the participants do not wear costumes or ride in formation. Often, a cava ...
then his stablemate
High Quest
High Quest (1931–1948) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1934 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series of races.
Background
Sir Gallahad III, the sire of High Quest, had been purchas ...
won that year's
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () o ...
.
Bold gave Brookmeade Stable its second Preakness win in the
1951 event. In 1959,
Sword Dancer completed the triple with a victory in the final leg of the series, the
Belmont Stakes.
Brookmeade Stable also won the most prestigious steeplechase event in the United States, the
American Grand National
The Grand National Hurdle Stakes is an American National Steeplechase Association sanctioned steeplechase race run each fall at Far Hills, New Jersey. It is a Grade 1 event run over miles. It has been known by a variety of names over the years, i ...
.
High Boots won the race in 1949 and again in 1953.
Brookmeade's success allowed Sloane to become the first woman to lead the United States in race earning in 1934, with $251,138.
The stables of Brookmeade in Upperville, Virginia now constitute
Lazy Lane Farms.
References
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{{coord missing, Virginia
American racehorse owners and breeders
Owners of Kentucky Derby winners
Owners of Preakness Stakes winners
Owners of Belmont Stakes winners
Fauquier County, Virginia
Horse farms in Virginia