Robert Wyndham Walden (August 2, 1844 – April 28, 1905) was one of the most successful American

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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 ...

during the last quarter of the 19th century. He was inducted in the

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American Thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers. In 1955, the museum moved to its current location on Union Av ...

in 1970. Known by his middle name, Wyndham, in 1872 Walden and his wife Caroline moved from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to Middleburg in

Carroll County, Maryland Carroll County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 172,891. Its county seat is Westminster. Carroll County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is ...

where they established "Bowling Brook Farm" to breed and train

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

race horses. Wyndham Walden trained his first

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 () on ...

winner in 1875,

Tom Ochiltree Tom Ochiltree (1872–1897), was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1875 Preakness Stakes and several other major stakes. In 1877, he lost in one of the most famous match races of the nineteenth century – a race that had been so ...

, then two years later began a streak of five straight victories, all of which came with horses owned by George L. Lorillard. Walden won the Preakness for a seventh time in 1888 with his own horse, Refund. The win set a record for a trainer which still stands, and is tied with Bob Baffert's seven wins. During a career spanning thirty-one years between 1872 and 1902, he also won the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...

four times and trained more than 100 Stakes race winners. His son Robert J. Walden won the 1899 Kentucky Derby with Manuel, owned by the Morris brothers,

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

and

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. His daughter, Minnie Walden, married jockey

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who rode Refund to his 1888 Preakness Stakes victory and was aboard

Bowling Brook Bowling Brook (foaled 1895) was a British-bred American-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. Background His sire, Ayrshire, won two of the British Classic Races, the 1888 Epsom Derby and 2,000 Guineas. Grandsire Hampton was the Leading sire in ...

for the win in the 1898 Belmont Stakes. On Wyndham Walden's death in 1905, Bowling Brook Farm was taken over by his wife, then on her death by their son Robert, who lived there until his death in 1951. Over the Walden family's eighty-year history in racing they raised and trained winners of more than one thousand races.

Classic Race winning horses

Kentucky Derby: * Manuel (1899) Preakness Stakes: *

(1875) * Duke of Magenta (1878) *

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(1879) *

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(1880) * Saunterer (1881) *

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

(1882) * Refund (1888) Belmont Stakes: * Duke of Magenta (1878) *

(1880) * Saunterer (1881) *

(1898)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walden, R. Wyndham 1844 births 1905 deaths American horse trainers American racehorse owners and breeders Owners of Preakness Stakes winners Breeders of Preakness Stakes winners United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees