Carroll K. Bassett

Biography

Born in Summit, New Jersey, Carroll Bassett graduated from the Westminster School in Connecticut and briefly attended Williams College in Massachusetts before getting involved in racing as an amateur rider.

In addition to his interests in steeplechasing, polo, and fox hunting, Bassett from a young age displayed a talent for art, studying for a time in New York at the Art Students League. He specialized in sculpting bronze statues of horses, prompting noted equine sculptor Herbert Haseltine to praise his work.

Bassett rode his first winner in 1929, also trained a number of his mounts, and owned a few as well — in the early 1930s, he campaigned horses in partnership with J. Spencer Weed under the name Ram’s Head Stable. Bassett reached the peak of his riding career in the mid-1930s, when he ranked among the leading steeplechase riders in the nation. Bassett trained and rode many of the jumpers for Montpelier Stable owner Marion duPont Scott.

At Camden, South Carolina, he often rode at Springdale Race Course, where he supervised the early schooling of duPont Scott’s Hall of Fame steeplechaser Battleship. In 1934, Bassett won on 11 of his 18 mounts, including victories aboard Battleship in the American Grand National and National Steeplechase Hunt Cup, which he also won with Battleship in 1933. Bassett also won stakes aboard Annapolis, Night Retired, Passive, and Peacock.

Achievements

Won the National Steeplechase Hunt Cup — 1933, 1934
Won the American Grand National — 1934