Edward R. Bradley - Thoroughbred Horse Racing

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

In 1898 Edward Bradley purchased his first race horse which quickly led to the acquisition of others and in 1906 he bought Ash Grove Stock Farm, a 400-acre (1.6 km2) property near Lexington, Kentucky which he renamed Idle Hour Stock Farm. Acquiring additional land, the expanded 1,000 acre (4 km²) farm became the leading Thoroughbred breeding operation in the American South and added greatly to the rise of Kentucky as the most important horse breeding state in America and the Kentucky Derby as the country's premier race.

At Idle Hour Stock farm, Bradley built first class stables and breeding and training facilities. The Colonial style architecture of its barns featured vita glass windows, designed to be transparent to ultraviolet rays of the spectrum. Bradley also established an equine cemetery where horses each received a marble headstone. A constant innovator, Bradley introduced the fibre skullcap worn by jockeys and as a racetrack owner made improvements to the starting gates.

All of his horses were given a name that began with the Bradley "B". His stallion Black Toney, purchased from James R. Keene in 1912, became the farm's first important sire. In December 1930, Bradley purchased the French mare La Troienne, who had been consigned by owner Marcel Boussac to the Newmarket, England Sales. La Troienne became one of the most influential mares to be imported into the U.S. in the 20th century.

Over the years, Bradley's horses were conditioned for racing by several trainers such as Willie Knapp and Edward Haughton, but William J. "Bill" Hurley and future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer Herbert J. Thompson met with the most success.

Bill Hurley trained Kalitan, who won the 1917 Preakness Stakes, and Bagenbaggage, who won the 1926 Latonia and Louisiana Derbys and was second to Bradley's own Bubbling Over in the Kentucky Derby. Hurley won the 1935 Florida Derby, Coaching Club American Oaks and American Derby with the great filly and 1991 Racing Hall of Fame inductee Black Helen. Another of Bill Hurley's important Hall of Fame horses was Bimelech, who earned U.S. Champion 2-Yr-Old Colt and 3-Year-Old honors in 1939 and 1940 respectively, and just missed winning the U.S. Triple Crown when he finished second in the 1940 Kentucky Derby, then won both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

Known as "Derby Dick", Herbert Thompson trained Bradley horses that won numerous important stakes race including four Kentucky Derbys, two of which were the first ever back-to-back wins by a trainer or by an owner. Thompson won one of the Derbys with Burgoo King in 1932, who also won that year's Preakness Stakes. The most important horse Thompson trained for Edward Bradley was Blue Larkspur. The colt won the 1929 Belmont Stakes and was voted United States Horse of the Year honors and in 1930, U.S. Champion Older Male Horse.

Edward Bradley's wins in the American Classic Races were as follows:

Kentucky Derby

• 1921 - Behave Yourself
• 1926 - Bubbling Over
• 1932 - Burgoo King
• 1933 - Brokers Tip

Preakness Stakes

• 1917 - Kalitan
• 1932 - Burgoo King
• 1940 - Bimelech

Belmont Stakes

• 1929 - Blue Larkspur
• 1940 - Bimelech

Edward Bradley raced horses at Arlington Park in Chicago as well as in New York, where Thoroughbred racing flourished at several race tracks near New York City and on Long Island. In addition to two wins in the prestigious Belmont Stakes, his horses won other important New York area races such as the:

• Jerome Handicap (1920)
• Withers Stakes (1929)
• Matron Stakes (1930, 1932, 1935, 1944)
• Alabama Stakes (1933)
• Adirondack Stakes (1934, 1935, 1944)
• Champagne Stakes (1934)
• Saratoga Special Stakes (1934, 1939)
• Test Stakes (1934)
• Coaching Club American Oaks (1935)
• Belmont Futurity (1939)
• Saranac Handicap (1942)
• Beldame Stakes (1946)
• Frizette Stakes (1946)
• Gazelle Handicap (1946)

For a time Edward Bradley served as president of the Thoroughbred Horse Association of the United States and in recognition of his substantial contribution to the prosperity of the State of Kentucky, he was honored with a Kentucky colonel title by the Governor.