Black Toney

Black Toney (foaled 1911 – died 1938) was bred by James R. Keene's Castleton Farm. Keene, whose health was failing (he died in 1913), sold all his holdings in 1912 to Colonel Edward R. Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. Some confusion occurred over this sale, and Bradley resold most of the lot, but one of those he kept was a very dark brown yearling he named Black Toney. The price tag for the son of Hall of Famer Peter Pan, whose own sire was another Hall of Famer, Commando, by the great Domino, was $1,600. Black Toney's dam was Belgravia, the best daughter of Hall of Famer Ben Brush. This meant that the almost black yearling with no white markings and a fine head and body was a member of the last crop bred by Keene from his famous Domino/Ben Brush cross.

Black Toney was a good racehorse but far from a great one. He raced for four years, coming in the money in 31 of his 40 starts. But it was not Black Toney’s ability on the track that made his name; it was his success as a stallion. Black Toney became the most important stallion Bradley ever owned and one of the most important sires in American Thoroughbred history, siring many of the horses for which the Idle Hour Stock Farm became famous. The names of Bradley’s horses all began with a “B,” a quirk of Bradley's (perhaps because his own name began with a B, or perhaps because of Black Toney.)

Briefly retired from the races due to injury, Black Toney sired one crop of horses. Of the resulting handful, one was Miss Jemima, an immediate stakes winner.

Once Black Toney was truly retired, Bradley bred him sparingly and yet, even from 21 small crops and a total of 221 foals, the quality of his get was very high. Overall, he sired 40 stakes winners, which amounts to 18 percent of his foals.

Black Toney was 10 times among the top 20 American sires by earnings. He was second on the general sire list in 1933 and fifth in 1939.