Currently, The Foxes of Belair: Gallant Fox, Omaha, and the Quest for the Triple is available in both hardcover and eBook formats. Signed copies are also available for purchase. Use the links below to purchase Foxes of Belair in your preferred format.
Need more information about ordering the book or other topics? Feel free to email Jennifer at FoxesofBelair at gmail.com. For marketing inquiries, please contact Jackie Wilson (jackie.wilson@uky.edu) at the University Press of Kentucky.
Gallant Fox, Omaha, and the many champions of Belair Stud are products of both great training and great breeding. William Woodward spent a great deal of time working out the minutiae of breeding his mares to the sires of the day, often doing so in partnership with his good friend Arthur Hancock of Claiborne Farm. Woodward started small, but his investments during the upheaval of World War I yielded a number of his best horses.
One of this was Flambette.
Flambette with Linus McAtee up. Courtesy of and copyright the Keeneland Library’s Cook Collection.
From Gotham to Gaul
Herman Duryea, breeder and friend of Harry Payne Whitney, saw the Hart-Agnew laws as sounding the death knell for horse racing in New York and perhaps in the United States as a whole. Duryea, whose inherited wealth enabled him to spend his days at sport, had invested in properties in New York and Tennessee, but decided to move his operation to France, establishing Haras du Gazon. There, he bred two English classic winners, Durbar II, winner of the 1914 Epsom Derby, and Sweeper II, who won the Two Thousand Guineas in 1910. In addition, the mare Frizette, for whom the Frizette Stakes is named, was part of his broodmare band. When Duryea died in 1916, his widow attempted to maintain Haras du Gazon, but eventually sold much of the breeding operation and its stock to Marcel Boussac.
About the same time, Edmond Blanc’s concern about the Great War in Europe prompted him to sell a number of his broodmares, most by Ajax. William Woodward bought five of them, including La Flambee. Wartime conditions prevented the mares from coming to the United States until 1919, so, in the interim, Woodward had La Flambee covered by Durbar II. By the time those five mares arrived at Belair, they also had La Flambee’s filly La Rabelais and her yearling filly by Durbar II. Woodward named her Flambette.
A Queen on the Track and Off
Prior to 1923, Woodward’s horses were leased by his friend Philip A. Clark, his friend and fellow horseman who had also owned other good horses, like 1918 Belmont Futurity winner Dunboyne. In 1921, at age three, Flambette ran in Clark’s colors, winning the Latonia Oaks and the Coaching Club American Oaks, where she defeated stablemate and Kentucky Oaks winner Nancy Lee. An injury in the Wilton Handicap at Saratoga ended her career, which meant the start of her next career, broodmare for Belair Stud.
Though she flashed brilliance in her nine-race career, Flambette became one of Belair’s foundational broodmares, producing thirteen foals for William Woodward. Of those thirteen, seven were starters and four were winners. Her first foal was a filly by Wrack, the Claiborne stallion who had won both on the flat and over jumps. That filly was named Flambino. Flambino won the Gazelle Stakes and finished third in the 1927 Belmont Stakes and the Coaching Club American Oaks, but, as a broodmare, she gave Woodward another prize: Omaha.
Flambette also produced La France, an unraced filly by Sir Gallahad III. La France’s best foal was Johnstown, 1939 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner. Also by Sir Gallahad III was another filly, Gallette. Now, as a racehorse, Gallette was terrible both over jumps and on the flat. She started sixteen times and could not do better than second, finishing her career with a grand total of $225 in winnings. From Gallette came Gallorette, champion handicap mare in 1946.
Later, Flambette’s daughters would go on to produce more good horses. Other than Omaha, Flambino produced Fleam and Flares for Belair. Omaha also sired Flaming Top, third dam of Nijinsky II. La France is the fourth dam of Decidedly, 1962 Kentucky Derby winner, and the sixth dam of Danzig Connection, who won the 1986 Belmont Stakes. Another classic winner with Flambette in his pedigree was Sunday Silence, who has Flambette in his pedigree through his dam Wishing Well.
La Reine-de-Course de Belair
In French, une reine-de-course is a queen of the turf. Like the chefs-de-race, a reine-de-course is a foundational figure for a family of thoroughbreds, producing producers that often go on to foal champions and other important horses within the world of horse racing. Flambette is one of Belair’s, influencing generations of champions on multiple continents, her name tucked away in the pedigrees of many a great horse. She is just one of the names that made Belair Stud among the influential breeders of the 20th century and beyond.
Read more on Flambette and other reines-de-course at Ellen Parker’s site of the same name. Much gratitude to Ms. Parker and her work alongside that of Avalyn Hunter and her excellent American Classic Pedigrees.
William Woodward’s two years in England had whetted his appetite for more. As a child, he had already set it in his mind that he would win the Epsom Derby one day, as Pierre Lorillard had in 1881 with his American-bred Iroquois. Woodward’s time in Britain, though, grew this idea into an obsession, the Harvard educated young man spending as much time researching pedigrees and race records as he did the law and other concerns. Back in the United States, he continued this passion, turning his Belair estate into a veritable equine heaven, but he needed the bloodstock to make his dreams a reality. To do that, he looked to a horse named Ajax.
French Connection
Edmond Blanc divided his time between politics and horses, parlaying his inheritance into a place as one of the France’s most successful breeders. He purchased English Triple Crown winner Flying Fox from the estate of the Duke of Westminster and brought the stallion to his Haras de Jardy. There, in his first crop, Flying Fox sired Ajax.
Ajax was a sensation on the racetrack, winning all five of his starts at age three, before an injury cut his career short. He retired with that perfect record to Haras de Jardy, his wins in the Prix de Jockey Club and the Grand Prix de Paris marking him as a sire to pursue. In addition to siring Teddy, who also became a champion on the racetrack and then in the breeding shed, Ajax sired a number of broodmares, including one named La Flambee. When World War I began, many breeders rushed to sell their horses, resulting in a number of importations from Europe to the United States. Blanc decided to sell several of his broodmares, news that caught the eye of William Woodward at Belair in Maryland.
American Successes
Woodward decided to buy five of those mares, all by Ajax. Woodward was still early in his breeding career, building his bloodstock holdings slowly, waiting for the right moment to break out. Through contacts, he purchased those fives mares by Ajax for a surprisingly low $3,750. One of those mares was La Flambee, who had been bred to Epsom Derby winner Durbar II while she waited to be shipped to the United States. Even though Woodward had purchased these mares in 1914, they did not arrive in America until 1919. By that time, La Flambee’s filly by Durbar II was a yearling that Woodward named La Flambette.
La Flambette won the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Latonia Oaks for Woodward, establishing herself as a leading filly of her generation before becoming a broodmare of note, producing horses like La France (dam of classic winner Johnstown), Gallette (dam of Gallorette, champion handicap mare), and Flambino, who won the Gazelle and finished third in both the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Belmont Stakes. For Woodward, Flambino would produce Fleam, Flares, and, of course, Omaha, 1935 Triple Crown winner. From that investment in five Ajax mares came many of Belair’s great runners.
Of course, Ajax had another connection to Belair. Earlier, I mentioned that he sired Teddy, who was a champion in Spain during World War I and then a notable sire for Jefferson Davis Cohn. Among the horses he sired was Sir Gallahad III, the stallion that a syndicate of breeders like Arthur Hancock and William Woodward purchased and brought to the United States in late 1925. Sir Gallahad would sire Gallant Fox, who would then sire Omaha, out of Flambino. Ajax’s blood ran deep in the Belair bloodstock, generations of horses that brought much success to their breeder and owner across the ocean from where it all began.
In his time, a horse named for a mythical hero helped establish one breeder’s fantastic success, bringing us horses that stand alongside the actual Ajax as pillars of equine greatness.
With ninety-four days to go, the Kentucky Derby looms large over the racing calendar for this year’s crop of newly minted three year olds. The inevitable bevy of top 10 lists rate the best of what we’ve seen thus far, early looks at immature horses who still have growing to do between late January and the first Saturday in May. As we consider the chances of horses like Essential Quality and Life is Good, let us harken back to the ninety-one years ago and the run-up to the Kentucky Derby for an all-time great.
The story of 1929’s two-year-olds were Harry Payne Whitney’s pair, Boojum and Whichone. Boojum had beaten his stablemate in the Hopeful after showing off his speed in earlier sprints while Whichone had taken the Champagne Stakes, the Saratoga Special, and the Futurity at Belmont. In the Winter Book for the 1930 Derby, Whichone was at the top of the list at 4-1, with Boojum second choice at 10-1 along with another juvenile standout, Gallant Fox, also at 10-1. With 112 days to go, of these three, who would come out on top?
Unfortunately, lingering injuries from 1929 would keep both Boojum and Whichone from finding out how they would all measure up. Whichone did not make his first start until May 1930, while Boojum attempted a comeback in April but his injured tendon was not ready for racing. Without those two standouts, the Kentucky Derby picture was wide open, with not one horse standing out above the rest. Instead, the weeks between January 25th and May 17th saw the standings shift between names like Gallant Knight, Tanery, and Crack Brigade. After his performance in the Preakness, one week before the Derby, one horse rose to favoritism: Gallant Fox.
The historic Twin Spires of Churchill Downs
He had won only one prep race, the Wood Memorial, prior to the Preakness. The Fox had won two of his eight races as a two-year-old, demonstrating the inconsistency of a horse with bottomless talent and a mind of his own. With Earl Sande, though, he was a different horse. Instantly, the presence of one of the era’s greatest jockeys lent him credibility. Instantly, that troubled trip around the Pimlico oval demonstrated a depth that augured for something special.
When all was said and done, the other names that had been bandied about as favorites for the 1930 Kentucky Derby became afterthoughts, discarded for the Fox of Belair. His Run for the Roses was impressive enough that he had propelled himself to the top of his division, but still he had one more hurdle to clear before he became its clear leader: Whichone. The Whitney colt may not have made it to Louisville, but his status as juvenile champion and winter book favorite meant that the Fox had one more horse to beat before he could call the year his.
In a year that has been marked by the challenges of COVID-19 and more, giving back is more important than ever. The following is a list of equine-related non-profits that benefit both horses and people, including backstretch workers, jockeys, and more. If you are looking to give this year, I hope you will visit each of these charities and help them continue their missions to help across equine industries.
In 1930, Gallant Fox duplicated Sir Barton’s 1919 victories in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. In doing so, he became America’s second Triple Crown winner. In 1935, his son Omaha followed in his hoofprints, becoming our third Triple Crown winner and the only father-son duo to win one of American horse racing’s most treasured prizes. Behind them were the team of breeder/owner William Woodward and James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons.
No one book has ever told the story of Gallant Fox and Omaha. No one book has ever discussed the influence of William Woodward on the sport of horse racing in America. Sure, you can read a number of books on the Triple Crown and each will have a chapter devoted to the Fox and to his best son, but they only give you a sliver of the story. That is about to change.
To follow up my first book, Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown, I will be bringing you the full story of how William Woodward helped to change the landscape of American racing. The 1930s were a time of great change in America; the Great Depression spurred the expansion of horse racing across the country as governments sought outlets to generate money. In addition, technologies like radio and later television, the starting gate, and more mark this era as the beginning of modern horse racing as we know it. The goal of Foxes of Belair: Gallant Fox, Omaha, and the Quest for the Triple Crown is to capture the exploits of these two Hall of Fame horses, their breeder/owner, and the forces that brought the Triple Crown to the forefront of American horse racing.
This blog will accompany the research and writing of this amazing story. I hope you will join me on this journey into the 1930s, a fascinating time for the sport of kings.
