|
|
Horse breeding/Racing Stable | |
Industry | Thoroughbred Horse racing |
Founded | c. 1873 |
Headquarters | Jobstown, New Jersey, U.S. |
Key people
|
Owners: Pierre Lorillard IV Lilly A. Livingston Harry F. Sinclair William G. Helis, Sr. |
Rancocas Farm was an American thoroughbred horse racing stud farm and racing stable located on Monmouth Road (County Road 537) in the Jobstown, section of Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey.
The farm was founded in the 1870s by the wealthy tobacco manufacturer Pierre Lorillard IV (1833-1901) who had a home in the town of Rancocas, now a part of Westampton Township, New Jersey. Lorillard built his stable into one of the premier thoroughbred breeding and training operations in the United States. Lorillard bred Parole, one of the three greatest runners of the 1870s. In 1881, Lorillard's horse Iroquois became the first American-owned and -bred horse to win a European classic race. Ridden by the champion English jockey, Fred Archer, Iroquois won the Epsom Derby then went on to also capture the St. Leger Stakes.
On the death of Pierre Lorillard, Rancocas Stable was inherited by Lilly A. Livingston. She later sold it to Kansas oil industrialist Harry F. Sinclair and moved to Canada where she set up her own breeding and racing operation that would see her inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2011. Harry Sinclair would invest considerable funds to continue the Rancocas breeding and racing success, making it one of the dominant racing stables in the United States during the 1920s. For Sinclair, trainer Sam Hildreth brought the stable victories in the Kentucky Derby and in three Belmont Stakes. Between 1923 and 1929 the stable had six horses compete in the Preakness Stakes but never managed a win. Two of the stable's colts, Grey Lag and Zev, are in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. After their racing careers, both Purchase and Lucullite stood there. Such was the fame of Rancocas Stable that the Pennsylvania Railroad named baggage car #5858 in its honor.