Elmendorf Farm

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Elmendorf Farm has been a Kentucky Thoroughbred horse racing fixture in Fayette County, Kentucky since the early 1800s. Once the North Elkhorn Farm near Lexington, Kentucky, many owners and tenants have occupied the splendid spread of blue Kentucky grassland, straight through from the American Civil War--which proved havoc for the sport of horse racing--to this very day.

In the mid-1800s, Milton H. Sanford moved his Preakness Stables (named for the town Preakness after which he also named his horse Preakness, the very horse the Preakness Stakes is named for) from New Jersey to North Elkhorn. Here, he continued to use the name Preakness Stables.

Eventually, in 1881, Sanford sold the land as well as his bloodstock (including the great stallions Virgil and Glenelg), to Daniel Swigert who had been the manager of the Woodburn Stud as well as a pinhooker, someone who buys horses only to quickly sell them again. Under Swigert, who renamed the farm Elmendorf for his mother-in-law, Elmendorf was a pre-eminent establishment growing to perhaps ten thousand acres. For years Swigert ran Elmendorf, breeding many exceptional horses. One was Spendthrift which he named after his wife’s spending habits. A while later, Mrs. Swigert responded by naming Spendthrift’s younger brother, Miser. Other horses were the 1870 Belmont Stakes winner Kingfisher, the 1873 Belmont Stakes winner Springbok, and the 1877 Kentucky Derby winner Baden-Baden. Swigert bred Salvator, Firenze, and the Kentucky Derby winners Ben Ali and Apollo. The horse he not only bred, but raced, was the great Hindoo. In 1893, the great financial panic of the entire country seems to have led to his selling of Elmendorf.

James Ben Ali Haggin, who already had had much success with Thoroughbreds in his Rancho Del Paso spread in California, bought not only Elmendorf, but expanded it by also buying quite a few of the farms surrounding Elmendorf. Haggin built a $300,000 mansion on a small hill overlooking Elk Horn which he called “Green Hills,” a great Southern Mansion in style and feeling. He also built a model dairy farm and a greenhouse which he filled with exotic plants. In buying Elmendorf, he bought Salvatore, Miss Woodford, Firenzi, Star Ruby, Water Boy, Hamburg Bell and quite a few other good horses. He stood the great Salvator here until the horse’s death in 1909. No one knows for sure, but many believe Salvator lies in an unmarked grave at Elmendorf.

When Haggin himself died in 1914, the estate was broken up. Throughout the Twenties, Thirties, and Forties, the main part of Elmendorf was owned by Joseph E. Widener and then by his son Peter A. B. Widener. The elder Widener tore down Green Hills in 1929 not wishing to pay taxes on an unoccupied house, but left the marble pillars as a landmark. Widener bought the stallion Fair Play as well as the broodmare Mahubah at the dispersal sale of August Belmont. Fair Play and Mahubah were the sire and dam of Man o' War.

By 1951, Elmendorf was reduced bit by bit as various parcels were sold off. E. Barry Ryan bought the section with the cemetery, calling it Normandy Farm. Here stood the statue of Fair Play erected by Widener. Buried in front of the statue are both Fair Play and Mahubah as well as many of their best sons and daughters bred by Widener, along with quite a few other of his great runners.

Other farms were sliced from Elmendorf: Old Kenney Farm (owned by George Widener), Clovelly Farm (owned by Robin Scully), and the original section bought by Maxwell Gluck who retained the name Elmendorf. Gluck owned what remained of Elmendorf right into the 1990s. The pillars of Green Hills were on his land and in front of them Gluck buried the juvenile champion Protagonist (by Prince John), Speak John (also by Prince John), and Verbatim.

Clovelly Farm still exists, as does the 262 acre Normandy Farm. Green Gates Farm, once Spendthrift Farm, once the Old Kenney Farm, also still functions today.

In 1984, Jack Kent Cooke purchased Elmendorf Farm. It was most recently acquired in 1997 for $5 million U.S. by Dinwiddie Lampton, the president of American Life and Accident Co.[1] Mr and Mrs Lampton are longtime coaching and pleasure driving enthusiasts with a collection of carriages and carriage horses. Dinwiddie's wife, Elizabeth Whitcomb Lampton, died March 22, 2008 from a carriage accident on the property.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Elmendorf owner Elizabeth Lampton dies - Thoroughbred Times
  2. ^ Elmendorf owner Elizabeth Lampton dies - Thoroughbred Times