Harding Era Horses, (1807-1868)
After the war, General Harding was able to continue his horse farm and in 1867-1868, General Harding won more purses with his own horses than any man living at that time in the United States. He was also beginning his breeding activities in earnest, and in 1867, he held the first sale of horses bred on his farm. He was the first in Tennessee to use the auction system for selling thoroughbreds. Yearling sales began in 1867 and were held annually until 1902. With the auction system, he became the most successful thoroughbred breeding farm and distributor the in the State of Tennessee. When General Harding died in 1886, The Spirit of the Times praised him as having done as much to promote breeding interests as any American in the 19th century.
During and after Reconstruction, Belle Meade's reputation as a first-class breeding establishment attracted buyers from around the world for the annual yearling sales. Under the management of Hardin's sons-in-law, brothers William Hicks Jackson and Howell Edmunds Jackson, Belle Meade Stud flourished. The bloodlines of Belle Meade Plantation, primarily due to the success of "Bonnie Scotland, a Belle Meade foundation stud, include famous descendants such as Secretariat, Funny Cide, Seabiscuit, Giacamo, Mine That Bird, Smarty Jones, and Barbaro, Since the 1990s, every horse that has run the Kentucky Derby is a blood descendent of Belle Meade Plantation foundations.
As evidence of the success of this philosophy, by 1860 William Giles Harding was considered to have the largest collection of silver trophies and cups of anyone in America. The quality of the stallions standing at stud and his mares used for breeding made the annual crop of yearlings to be sold highly sought after. Starting in 1867, this annual sale attracted the most prominent horsemen of the day from across the country.
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