Maine Chance Farm was an American

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 t ...

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

owned by

cosmetics Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...

tycoon

Elizabeth Arden Elizabeth Arden (born Florence Nightingale Graham; December 31, 1881 – October 18, 1966) was a Canadian-American businesswoman who founded what is now Elizabeth Arden, Inc., and built a cosmetics empire in the United States. By 1929, s ...

. Elizabeth Arden raced under the '' nom de course'' "Mr. Nightingale" until 1943 when she adopted the name Maine Chance Farm from her health spa in

Mount Vernon, Maine Mount Vernon is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,721 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Mount Vernon is included in the Augusta, Maine, Augusta, Maine micropolitan New Englan ...

. During the nineteen forties and fifties, the Maine Chance Farm racing stable was a major force in American

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

. Among the stable's many champions and

stakes race Glossary of North American horse racing: Additional glossaries at: *Glossary of Australian and New Zealand punting *Glossary of equestrian terms This is a basic glossary of equestrian terms that includes both technical terminology and jargon ...

winners who raced under Arden's cerise, blue and white colors were the

colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: *Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People * Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places *Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...

Star Pilot and the

filly A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: *In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old. *In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, t ...

, Beaugay, both 1945 American national champions. The

Beaugay Handicap The Beaugay Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares three-years-old and older over a distance of one and one-sixteenth of a mile at Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, New York. History The event was i ...

Aqueduct Racetrack Aqueduct Racetrack is a Thoroughbred horse racing facility and casino in the South Ozone Park, Queens, South Ozone Park and Jamaica, Queens, Jamaica neighborhoods of Queens, New York City, United States. Aqueduct is the only racetrack locate ...

is named in the filly's honor. That year, Maine Chance Farm was the top money-winning stable in the United States. In May 1946, a fire at a racetrack in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

destroyed twenty-two horses owned by Maine Chance Farm. The stable's two-year-old star

Jet Pilot survived as he had been shipped to another racetrack. Two future Hall of Famers, trainer Tom Smith and

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

Eric Guerin Oliver Eric Guerin (October 23, 1924 – March 21, 1993) was an American Hall of Fame jockey. Eric Guerin was born in Maringouin, Louisiana, in Cajun backwater country, twenty-four miles west of Baton Rouge. He was the son of an impoverished C ...

, worked for Maine Chance Farm and in 1947, Jet Pilot won the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...

. In 1948,

Ace Admiral {{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Ace Admiral , image = , caption = , sire = Heliopolis , grandsire = Hyperion , dam = War Flower , damsire = Man o' War , sex = Stallion , foaled = 1945 , country = United States , colour = Chestn ...

won the prestigious

Travers Stakes The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is nicknamed the "Mid-Summer Derby" and is the third-ranked race for American three-year-olds according to internation ...

and in 1954 the Maine Chance filly Fascinator won the

Kentucky Oaks The Kentucky Oaks is a Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred Filly, fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers at Churchill Downs; the horses carry . The Kentucky O ...

. In 1960, the farm bred future Hall of Fame colt

Gun Bow Gun Bow (1960 – December 1979) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was one of America's leading older male racehorses in 1964 and 1965 and was later inducted into the Hall of Fame. Gun Bow was noted for his rivalry with five-time ...

. In 1956, Elizabeth Arden acquired the northern portion of Coldstream Stud on the death of owner E. Dale Shaffer and renamed it Maine Chance Farm. Following Arden's passing in 1966, the farm property became part of the College of Agriculture at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. In 2005, the University of Kentucky began the Equine Initiative Project. This project was started by the UK College of Agriculture to develop their Equine Science program into a nationally outstanding program. In 2007, the Maine Chance Farm was being revamped into a Collegiate Equestrian mecha-center, which was expected to feature a breeding program, equestrian center, and equine disease and research center.

References

Maine Chance Farm at the University of Kentucky website

{{coord, 38.126, -84.486, type:landmark, display=title American racehorse owners and breeders Owners of Kentucky Derby winners Horse farms in Kentucky Companies based in Lexington, Kentucky University of Kentucky