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.