Pillar of the Turf: August Belmont II was an American original
August Belmont II’s legacy survives today, evidenced by his installment this month as one of the first two “Pillars of the Turf” in the Racing Hall of Fame.
Mark SimonAug 06, 2013
August Belmont II’s legacy survives today, evidenced by his installment this month as one of the first two “Pillars of the Turf” in the Racing Hall of Fame.
Paul Mellon, an inaugural Pillars of the Turf inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, found great success that belied his self-professed “amateur” label. Racing under his Rokeby Stable banner, the noted philanthropist campaigned four North American champions and the great Mill Reef overseas and earned two Eclipse Awards as the nation’s outstanding breeder. He is the only individual ever to own a winner of the Kentucky Derby, Epsom Derby, and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Historic Saratoga Race Course kicked its summer meeting into high gear last weekend with the Grade 1 Whitney Invitational Handicap on Aug. 3 and the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap on Aug. 4. Those races preceded a busy week in Saratoga Springs, with two Fasig-Tipton yearling sales scheduled and the annual National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday, Aug. 9.
King Cyrus was much the best in his debut effort, powering down the final eighth of a mile of the Saratoga Race Course stretch on Monday to best a maiden special weight field by 11 lengths.
Silver Ray, winner of the Grade 3 Hoist The Flag Stakes and sire of 13 crops, will be sent to Old Friends Equine Retirement in Lexington, Ky. after being purchased for $30 out of a livestock auction in Mira Loma, Calif.
L.R. “Bob” French Jr., a successful owner and breeder of Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, died August 2 at the age of 86.
Rockport Harbor, a Grade 2 winner and leading Pennsylvania sire, was euthanized on Friday at New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., due to complications from laminitis at age 11.
A federal judge issued a restraining order on Friday in a lawsuit against two proposed slaughterhouses in New Mexico and Iowa, temporarily halting plans to open both facilities next week.
Taylor Made Stallions has purchased an interest in Grade 1 winner Graydar, now co-owned by the Nicholasville, Ky. stallion farm and Twin Creeks Racing Stable.
Grade 1 winner Champ Pegasus has been retired from racing and will stand the 2014 breeding season at Legacy Ranch in Clements, Calif.