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Allaire du Pont | |
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Born | Helena Allaire Crozer May 4, 1913 United States |
Died | January 6, 2006 92) | (aged
Occupation(s) | Aviator Racehorse owner/breeder |
Known for | Kelso |
Board member of | Jockey Club (United States), Greener Pastures |
Spouse | Richard Chichester du Pont |
Children | Richard Jr. (1937–1986) Helena A. (b. 1939) |
Parent(s) | Samuel A. Crozer & Helena Rutgers |
Allaire du Pont (May 4, 1913 – January 6, 2006) was an American sportswoman and a member of the prominent French-American Du Pont family of chemical manufacturers who is most remembered as the owner of the Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame champion, Kelso.
Born Helena Allaire Crozer, in 1934 she married Richard C. du Pont with whom she had a son, Richard Jr. and a daughter Helena. An avid sportsperson, she was an Olympic Trap shooter and a champion tennis player. Allaire du Pont and her husband were both glider and powered aircraft pilots. She set a national endurance record for women gliders in 1935. In the early days of flying when it was still a novelty, doing stunts was popular and she once flew her plane under the Chesapeake City bridge. Her husband died in 1943 while working for the War effort when a U.S. government experimental glider in which he was a passenger crashed during a demonstration flight. In 1947, she established the Richard C. du Pont Memorial Trophy to be awarded annually to the United States National Open Class Soaring Champion.
Always a lover of animals, Allaire du Pont operated Woodstock Farm in Chesapeake City, Maryland and raced under the nom de course Bohemia Stable. She hired future Hall of Fame trainer Carl Hanford to condition her horses for racing.
Bohemia Stables produced a number of top horses such as multiple stakes winner Politely and Shine Again, winner of the 2001 and 2002 Grade I Ballerina Handicap. However, it was her gelding Kelso who brought her wide recognition during the 1960s when he was voted U.S. Horse of the Year honors for an unmatched five consecutive years from 1960 through 1964 and was a 1967 Racing Hall of Fame inductee. A Fox hunting participant, after Kelso was retired Allaire du Pont rode him in hunts.
A member of the Jockey Club (United States), the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, and the Thoroughbred Charities of America, she was also a founding member of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. Good friends with Canadian business magnate and Thoroughbred owner and breeder E. P. Taylor, when he visited her home she convinced Taylor to build his planned American branch of Windfields Farm in the area. A preservationist, du Pont was among the first to commit some of her property to Maryland's Agricultural Land Preservation Program. Following the death of E. P. Taylor in 1989, Allaire du Pont was instrumental in having 2,500 acres (10 km2) of his property go into permanent preservation rather than be sub-divided into building lots by real estate developers.
Du Pont was also a co-founder and member of the board of directors of Thoroughbred Charities of America, an organization whose activities include raising funds to save retired horses. Among the other charitable causes to which she devoted both time and money were Paws for Life, Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue, Greener Pastures, and the Union Hospital, of which she was an honorary member of the board of directors.
In 1983, Allaire du Pont, Martha F. Gerry, and Penny Chenery became the first women to be admitted as members of The Jockey Club.
The Grade III Pimlico Breeders' Cup Distaff Handicap at Pimlico Race Course was renamed the Allaire du Pont Breeders' Cup Distaff in her memory.
Allaire du Pont died January 6, 2006, at her Woodstock Farm near Chesapeake City, Maryland.
Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Olde Ben Pimlico's Tavern in London. The racetrack is nicknamed "Old Hilltop" after a small rise in the infield that became a favorite gathering place for thoroughbred trainers and race enthusiasts. It is currently owned by the Stronach Group.
Kelso was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is considered one of the greatest racehorses in history. He ranks fourth on the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century. He defeated more champions and Hall of Fame horses than any other racehorse, and he often carried great handicaps. Some of the champions he defeated are Carry Back, Gun Bow, Bald Eagle, Tompion, Never Bend, Beau Purple, Quadrangle, Roman Brother, Crimson Satan, Jaipur, Ridan and Pia Star.
Go For Wand was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse.
Laurel Park, formerly Laurel Race Course, is an American thoroughbred racetrack located just outside Laurel, Maryland which opened in 1911. The track is 1+1⁄8 miles in circumference. Its name was changed to "Laurel Race Course" for several decades until returning to the "Laurel Park" designation in 1994.
Richard Chichester du Pont was an American businessman and an aviation and glider pioneer who was a member of the prominent Du Pont family. He was the founder of the major US legacy carrier US Airways, after serving as a special assistant to General Henry H. Arnold, the chief of the United States Air Forces.
Alice Frances du Pont Mills was an American aviator, thoroughbred race horse breeder and owner, environmentalist, philanthropist and a member of the prominent du Pont family.
Harry Allen Jerkens was an American thoroughbred race horse Hall of Fame trainer.
Nearctic was a Canadian-bred Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse.
Serena's Song is an American Thoroughbred race horse. She won 17 graded stakes races, including 11 Grade I, in three seasons for $3,286,388 in earnings.
Silmaril is an American thoroughbred mare racehorse. She is sired by stakes winner, Diamond, who in turn was sired by leading North American sire, Mr. Prospector. She was out of the mare, Kattebuck, whose sire was the 1985 United States Horse of the Year, Spend A Buck.
The Allaire DuPont Stakes is a Listed American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares age three and older over a distance of 1+1⁄8 miles run annually in mid May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.
Escena is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. She had her best season as a five-year-old in 1998 when her wins included the Breeders' Cup Distaff. In that season she was voted American Champion Older Female Horse at the Eclipse Awards.
Spain is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who retired as the most financially successful mare in North American racing history in her time.
Politely was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. She was bred by Allaire du Pont and raced under her Bohemia Stable banner. Her sire, Amerigo, a son of the great Nearco, was a stakes winner of races in England and the United States including the Coventry Stakes, New York Handicap and the San Juan Capistrano Handicap. Her dam was Morn Again, a daughter of Calumet Farm's multiple stakes winner Sun Again.
This is a listing of the horses that finished in either first, second, or third place and the number of starters in the Allaire duPont Distaff Stakes, a grade 3 American Thoroughbred horse race run at 1-1/16 miles over dirt at Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Shine Again Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Contested over a distance of one mile and one sixteenth on the dirt, it is open to fillies and mares three-years-old and up that are Registered Maryland-breds.
Jane du Pont Lunger was an American heiress, philanthropist, and an owner/breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses. A sixth-generation member of Delaware's prominent Du Pont family, her father, Philip Francis du Pont, was a major benefactor to the University of Virginia.
What A Summer was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse who defeated both male and female competitors. She was bred in Maryland by Milton Polinger. She was a gray out of the mare Summer Classic who was sired by Summer Tan. Her sire was What Luck, a multiple stakes winning son of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Bold Ruler. What A Summer is probably best remembered for her win in the Grade II $65,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes over stakes winners Dearly Precious and Artfully on May 14, 1976.
Calipha is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. The daughter of Two Punch is best remembered for posting a two-length score over the favorite, Bunting, in the mile and an eighth Grade II $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on May 20, 1994.
Stopchargingmaria is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. The daughter of Tale of the Cat won the mile and an eighth Grade II $500,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on May 16, 2014. and the Grade I 2014 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. In 2015 she won the Allaire duPont Distaff Stakes and the Shuvee Handicap before recording her biggest success in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. She is owned by Town and Country Farms and trained by Todd Pletcher.