James R. Keene

Last updated

James Robert Keene
Portrait of James Robert Keene.jpg
Born(1838-02-08)February 8, 1838
DiedJanuary 3, 1913(1913-01-03) (aged 74)
Resting place Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx
Occupation(s)Businessman:
Stockbroker
Racehorse owner/breeder
Known for Castleton Farm
SpouseSara Jay Daingerfield (b. 1840, d. 1916)
Children Foxhall Parker Keene, Jessica Keene
Honors U.S. Racing Hall of Fame,
Pillar of the Turf
(2019)
Signature
Signature of James Robert Keene.png

James Robert Keene (February 8, 1838 - January 3, 1913) was a Wall Street stockbroker and a major thoroughbred race horse owner and breeder.

Contents

Biography

He was born in London, England in 1838. He was fourteen years of age when his family immigrated to the United States in 1852. As a young man he made a fortune through shrewd investments in California and Nevada mining companies and was eventually appointed president of the San Francisco Stock Exchange.

Wanting to expand his business opportunities, in 1876 he relocated to the heart of the country's financial center in New York City. While living there, he became interested in horse racing and began investing heavily in a stable of Thoroughbred race horses. His colt Spendthrift won the 1879 Belmont Stakes, and after Pierre Lorillard had shipped some of his American-bred horses to race in England and became the first American owner to win The Derby, Keene followed suit. In 1881, his horse Foxhall, named for his son, became the first American horse to win the Grand Prix de Paris, then the most important race in France. The following year Foxhall, trained in England by William Day, won England's Ascot Gold Cup.

However, in 1884 huge losses in the Chicago grain market cost him everything he owned, leaving him with nothing but heavy debts. He began a remarkable comeback a few years later after being hired by Wall Street investor William Havemeyer to manage a stock fund. Such were his talents at market manipulation that he was soon engaged by J. P. Morgan and William Rockefeller to manage funds for them and Keene emerged once again as a wealthy and powerful force in the New York financial community. [1]

By 1891 James R. Keene was back to investing in racehorses and his Castleton Farm near Lexington, Kentucky became one of the most important breeding operations in the history of American horse racing. In the early 1890s, Keene bought over forty English mares and shipped them to Castleton for breeding. Keene hired his brother-in-law, Major Foxhall Daingerfield, to run Castleton Farm and for his racing stable he hired James G. Rowe Sr. as a trainer. He returned to racing in England, this time involving his son Foxhall P. Keene in the racing stable. Their filly Cap and Bells II won the 1901 Epsom Oaks. In 1908, London Sportsman magazine wrote that Keene possessed, "the greatest lot of racehorses ever owned by one man."

James R. Keene bred National Museum of Racing and Hall of Famer Kingston and owned Domino, as well as breeding and owning future Hall of Famer inductees Colin, Peter Pan, Commando, Maskette, and Sysonby. Keene owned six Belmont Stakes winners but at a time when transporting horses south to other racetracks via railroad was a long, costly, and often risky venture, he never entered his horses in the Kentucky Derby, and won the Preakness Stakes only once.

He died on January 3, 1913, of an acute stomach ailment at Miss Alston's House for Private Patients in Manhattan. He was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. [2] He was vice-Chairman of The Jockey Club at the time of his death.

Family

In 1863 he married Sara Jay Daingerfield of Virginia with whom he had son Foxhall and a daughter, Jessica. Sara Keene died in 1916 and is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery next to her husband. Biographer Alden Hatch collaborated with Foxhall Keene to write James R. Keene's biography titled Full Tilt that was published in 1938 by Derrydale Press.

Racing

In 2019, James R. Keene was voted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame as one of its esteemed Pillars of the Turf. [3]

Preakness Stakes winner
Belmont Stakes winners

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin (horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Colin was an undefeated champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won all his 15 races including the 1908 Belmont Stakes and was the 1907 and 1908 Horse of the Year as well as the 1907 Champion Two-Year-Old Male and 1908 Champion 3-Year-Old Male and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

The Jockey Club is the breed registry for Thoroughbred horses in the United States and Canada. It is dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing and fulfills that mandate by serving many segments of the industry through its subsidiary companies and by supporting numerous industry initiatives.

Castleton Lyons near Lexington, Kentucky, is an American horse-racing stable and breeding business best known by the name Castleton Farm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lexington (horse)</span> American Thoroughbred racehorse and sire (1850–1875)

Lexington was a United States Thoroughbred race horse who won six of his seven race starts. Perhaps his greatest fame, however, came as the most successful sire of the second half of the nineteenth century; he was the leading sire in North America 16 times, and broodmare sire of many notable racehorses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foxhall P. Keene</span> American thoroughbred race horse owner

Foxhall Parker Keene was an American thoroughbred race horse owner and breeder, a world and Olympic gold medallist in polo and an amateur tennis player. He was rated the best all-around polo player in the United States for eight consecutive years, a golfer who competed in the U.S. Open, and a pioneer racecar driver who vied for the Gordon Bennett Cup. In addition to his substantial involvement in flat racing, he was also a founding member of the National Steeplechase Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingston (horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Kingston (1884–1912) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He won 89 races, the most in the history of the sport of thoroughbred racing. Of his 138 starts, he was out of the money only on four occasions. He was later inducted into the United States Racing Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commando (horse)</span> 20th-century American Thoroughbred race horse and member of the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame

Commando (1898–1905) was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maskette</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Maskette (1906–1930) was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse who never lost a race against other fillies.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Pan (American horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spendthrift (horse)</span> 19th-century American Thoroughbred racehorse

Spendthrift was a successful American Thoroughbred racehorse and an outstanding sire.

Meddler (1890–1916) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who was a leading two-year-old in England, when he won all three starts including the Dewhurst Plate. He was then sold to America where he became the leading sire in 1904 and 1906.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delhi (horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Delhi (1901–1925) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1904 Belmont Stakes. He was the top money-winner of 1904 and was consequently named the co-historical American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse with Ort Wells. The following year, he was also the historical American Champion Older Male Horse, co-champion once again with Ort Wells. While Delhi did have limited success in the stud, he is not considered to be an influential sire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foxhall (horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Foxhall (1879–1904) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was trained in Britain during a racing career that lasted from 1880 until June 1882 during which he ran eleven times and won seven races. As a three-year-old in 1881 he proved himself to be the outstanding colt of the season in Europe, winning the Grand Prix de Paris and becoming the second of only three horses to complete the Autumn Double of the Cesarewitch and the Cambridgeshire.

Old England (1899–1908) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1902 Preakness Stakes. Owned and trained by Green B. Morris, he was sired by Goldfinch. Old England was out of the mare Queen Bess, a daughter of Marden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cap and Bells (horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Cap and Bells was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. After showing promising form in the United States as a juvenile in 1900 she was set to race in England. In June 1901 on her British debut she recorded an extraordinary win in the Epsom Oaks, becoming the first American horse to do so. She never recaptured her Epsom form and was retired from racing in 1903. After returning to United States she had some success as a broodmare.

The Keene Memorial Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run for twenty years from 1913 through 1932 at Belmont Park, in Elmont, New York. The race was created to honor James R. Keene who died on January 3, 1913. A Wall Street stockbroker, Keene was a major owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses and would become one of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame's Pillars of the Turf.

Disguise was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1900 Jockey Club Stakes in England but is best remembered for his success as a sire.

Authentic is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic, where he set a new Keeneland track record. He also won the Sham Stakes, San Felipe Stakes, and Haskell Invitational, and was second in the Preakness Stakes and Santa Anita Derby. He was the Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Male in 2020 and was the second highest ranked racehorse in the world. He also won the Secretariat Vox Populi Award.

Voter was a Thoroughbred racehorse bred in England that competed in the United States where his racing success led to his selection as the American Champion Older Male Horse of 1899. When his racing career was over, Voter became an influential sire.

References

  1. Lefèvre, Edwin (July 1901). "James R. Keene, Manipulator". The World's Work. II (3). New York, NY: Doubleday, Page & Co.: 997–999. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
  2. "James R. Keene Left $15,000,000. Many Veteran Financiers and Turfmen Expected to Attend His Funeral on Monday". New York Times . January 4, 1913. Retrieved April 13, 2011. Foxhall Keene, son of James R. Keene, who died early yesterday morning, as printed in the later editions of The Times, after undergoing an operation for an acute stomach ailment at Miss Alston's House for Private Patients in West Sixtyfirst Street, announced last night that the Rev. Percy S. Grant would have charge of the funeral services to be held on Monday morning at 10 o'clock at Grace Episcopal Church, Broadway and Eleventh Street.
  3. "James R. Keene". Racingmuseum.org. January 1, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.