Racing History Blog

An old Kentucky legacy: The mighty Longfellow and Ten Broeck

Hall of Fame members from Nantura Stock Farm were among the best of the 19^th century

By Brien Bouyea 
Hall of Fame and Communications Director 
Longfellow and Ten Broeck, two of the most accomplished and celebrated American racehorses of the 19^th century, will forever be linked even though they never crossed paths on the racetrack during their remarkable careers. Representing the Harper family’s Nantura Stock Farm, located near Midway, Kentucky, Longfellow and Ten Broeck had few peers during their respective runs of dominance in the 1870s. Longfellow, known as the “King of the Turf,” came along first, winning 13 of his 16 starts from 1870 through 1872. Ten Broeck, meanwhile, made his debut in 1875 and won 23 of his 29 races. He reeled off 15 consecutive victories at one point and set six American records at distances ranging from one to four miles by the time he retired in 1878. Both Longfellow (1971) and Ten Broeck (1982) were eventually elected to the Hall of Fame.

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Old Rosebud: Hall of Famer was a record-setting Kentucky Derby winner

Beloved gelding set seven track records during a remarkable career that featured multiple comebacks

By Brien Bouyea
Hall of Fame and Communications Director
In a remarkable and unique career that spanned almost a decade, Old Rosebud displayed a fierce competitive nature and the courage of a champion time by overcoming a series of significant injuries to become one of the greatest racehorses in the annals of the American turf.

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Clarence Kummer: A quiet path to greatness

Best known for his association with Man o’ War, Hall of Fame jockey Clarence Kummer wasn’t as flashy as some of his contemporaries, but his achievements guaranteed his status as one of the elite riders of the 1920s

By Brien Bouyea
Hall of Fame and Communications Director
At the dawn of the Roaring Twenties, the American sports scene was entering a nicknamed era of its own — the Golden Age. Baseball had Babe Ruth, who was swatting home runs at a prodigious rate and dizzying turnstiles throughout the country. In the boxing ring, heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey was on par with the Bambino as a drawing card and public idol. Baseball and boxing were joined by thoroughbred racing as the decade’s most popular sports. In 1920 — when Ruth crushed a record 54 homers and Dempsey walloped Billy Miske and Bill Brennan in the early days of his four-year reign as champ — Man o’ War was decimating all his competition on the racetrack during an undefeated 11-race campaign. In the irons aboard Man o’ War for nine of those victories was a little-known member of the Hall of Fame, 21-year-old Clarence Kummer.  

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Ruthless: First Belmont belonged to a filly

Hall of Famer also won the 1867 Travers Stakes

By Brien Bouyea
Hall of Fame and Communications Director 
Ruthless was exactly what her name suggested she was. The most accomplished of the famed “Barbarous Battalion,” Ruthless earned her high place in racing history by winning the first edition of the Belmont Stakes in 1867 at Jerome Park and the fourth running of the Travers later that summer at Saratoga.

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