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Gifford A. Cochran (died 1930) [1] was an American entrepreneur and sportsman from New York City. During the latter part of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, he became wealthy in the carpet making industry.
Gifford was a major owner of Thoroughbred racehorses and in 1925, with two different horses, he won two of the most prestigious races in the United States, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.
Cochran maintained a stable at Long Island's Belmont Park and in 1915 set up a stable in New Orleans for winter racing. In the mid-1910s, William Midgley trained for Cochran then in the early 1920s Edward Evans and later former star jockey Frank Keogh.
In August 1922, Gifford Cochran purchased Goshawk from Harry Payne Whitney for $50,000. At the time, the son of the U.S. Hall of Fame horse Whisk Broom was considered one of the best two-year-olds in the United States but he failed to perform beyond that age level. Nevertheless, Cochran owned horses that won a number of important New York races:
However, Cochran's most remembered success came with two different horses in 1925 after Bill Duke returned to America as his trainer. Duke, a future U.S. Hall of Fame inductee had been a champion trainer in France where he had worked since 1888, notably for the Haras du Quesnay racing stable of American Willie K. Vanderbilt, a friend of Gifford Cochran. Under Dukes guidance, Gifford's colt Flying Ebony won the Kentucky Derby and another colt, Coventry, captured the Preakness Stakes. Unfortunately, Cochran's successful partnership with Bill Duke lasted only a short time as Duke died in January 1926 of pneumonia.
Gifford Cochran married Mabel H. Taylor, daughter of Dr. John Madison Taylor. They divorced in 1927. Their son, Gifford Cochran, Jr., was an artist who was married to actress/author Dorothy Fletcher who in the 1930s wrote novels under the pseudonym, Lady Mary Cameron.
Greentree Stable, in Red Bank, New Jersey, was a major American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm established in 1914 by Payne Whitney of the Whitney family of New York City. Payne Whitney operated a horse farm and stable at Saratoga Springs, New York with his brother Harry Payne Whitney, who also had a large stable of horses. Greentree Stable had a training base at Aiken, South Carolina, while Greentree Farm in Lexington, Kentucky was established in 1925 as its breeding arm.
Robert A. Baffert is an American racehorse trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, eight Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks. He has been the subject of significant controversy regarding repeated incidents of his horses failing drug tests or dying under his care.
Wheatley Stable was the nom de course for the thoroughbred horse racing partnership formed by Gladys Mills Phipps and her brother, Ogden Livingston Mills. The horses were raised at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky.
Cavalcade (1931–1940) was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career which lasted from 1933 until 1936 he ran twenty-two times and won eight races. He was best known for his performances as a three-year-old in 1934 when his wins included the Kentucky Derby, the American Derby, and the Arlington Classic. His subsequent career was disappointing and he failed to make a significant impact in a brief stud career.
Joseph A. Notter was an American Hall of Fame Champion jockey and winner of two of the American Classic Races.
Edward Riley Bradley was an American steel mill laborer, gold miner, businessman and philanthropist. As well as a race track proprietor, he was the preeminent owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses in the Southern United States during the first three decades of the 20th century. Testifying before a United States Senate committee in April 1934, Bradley identified himself as a "speculator, raiser of race horses and gambler". He appeared on the cover of Time magazine on May 7, 1934. In the year 2000, the Florida Department of State honored him as one of their Great Floridians.
Albert M. Johnson was an American Hall of Fame jockey and trainer. Born in the rural community of Milan, Washington, Albert Johnson began his career in 1917 at Playfair Race Track in nearby Spokane.
Peter Pan (1904–1933) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, bred and raced by prominent horseman, James R. Keene. As winner of the Belmont Stakes, the Brooklyn Derby and the Brighton Handicap, he was later inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. His progeny included many famous American racehorses, including several winners of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.
Bull Lea was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is best known as the foundation sire responsible for making Calumet Farm one of the most successful racing stables in American history. In their article on Calumet Farm, the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington, Kentucky wrote that Bull Lea was "one of the greatest sires in Thoroughbred breeding history."
Coventry was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1925 edition of the Preakness Stakes.
Victorian (1925–1934) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that was bred in Kentucky. He was bred and raced by Harry P. Whitney and is best known as the winner of the 1928 Preakness Stakes in which he was ridden by future Hall of Fame jockey Sonny Workman.
Flying Ebony (1922–1943) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1925 Kentucky Derby.
Ponder was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Kentucky Derby in 1949.
Milkmaid was an American two-time Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. She was bred by J. Hal Woodford at his farm in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Woodford had bred and raced the 1907 Kentucky Derby winner, Pink Star. Out of the mare, Nell Olin, her sire was the British import, Peep o' Day, a son of the great Ayrshire who won the 1888 2,000 Guineas Stakes and Epsom Derby then just missed winning the British Triple Crown when he ran second in the St. Leger Stakes.
Thomas J. Healey was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame trainer.
Vander Pool was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won all eleven of his starts at age two in 1930 and won his first four races in 1931, tying the twenty-three-year-old North American record for most consecutive wins without a loss set by Colin in 1907/1908.
Flying Heels (1927–1940) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won stakes races at age two through six, including a number which are Grade I events today. Bred and raced by Gifford A. Cochran, he was sired by the 1925 Kentucky Derby winner, Flying Ebony and out of the racemare Heeltaps.
The Empire City Derby was an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually from 1917 through 1933 at Empire City Race Track in Yonkers, New York. A race for three-year-old horses of either sex, the event was contested at a mile and one-eighth at inception until 1920 when it was set at what became known as the "Derby distance" of a mile and one-quarter. With the Brooklyn Derby at Belmont Park having changed its name to the Dwyer Stakes, the Empire City Derby was then the only Derby event in the Northeastern United States.
The Eastern Shore Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run between 1913 and 1949 at Havre de Grace Racetrack, in Havre de Grace, Maryland. A race for two-year-old horses of either sex, it was inaugurated and run for most of its existence as the Eastern Shore Handicap.
William Lloyd Kelsay was one of the top jockeys in American Thoroughbred racing during the 1920s who was widely respected for his ability to handle two-year-old horses during their first year of racing.