Lexington

Lexington (March 17, 1850 – July 1, 1875) 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. Background Lexington was a bay colt bred by Elisha Warfield at Warfield's stud farm, The Meadows, near Lexington, Kentucky. Lexington was by the Hall of Fame inductee, Boston (by Timoleon by Sir Archy) from Alice Carneal by Sarpedon. He was inbred in the third and fourth generations (3m × 4f) to Sir Archy. Lexington stood and was described as having good conformation though he had a distinctive "moose head" profile. At stud, he developed a willful and somewhat vicious temperament. Racing record Under the name of "Darley" Lexington easily won his first two races for Warfield and his partner, "Burbridge's Harry", a.k.a. Harry Lewis, a former slave turned well-known horse trainer. Harry's son, Jarret, (Jarret is a composite speculative fictional character the author Geraldine Brooks invented for her novel "Horse" and the rest of this paragraph is fiction from the same novel, see below citation #2) had formed a bond with the colt. The two were inseparable. Jarret trained and prepared Darley for many of his races and acted as his groom as well. Lewis, being black, was not allowed to enter "Darley" in races in his own name, so the horse ran in Warfield's name and colors. Darley and Jarret caught the eye of Richard Ten Broeck who asked Warfield to name his price. "Darley", the son of Boston, and Jarret were sold in 1853 to Ten Broeck acting on behalf of a syndicate who would rename him Lexington. Affixed to Lexington's pedigree Warfield wrote: "The colt was bred by me, as was also his dam, which I now and will ever, own...E. Warfield." A syndicate made up of Richard Ten Broeck, General Abe Buford, Captain Willa Viley, and Junius R. Ward, bought Lexington for $2,500 between heats (or during the running of his race), so tried claiming the purse money when he won. Failing that, he tried to deduct the purse money from the sale price. But Warfield held out. His new owners immediately sent Lexington to Natchez, Mississippi to train under J. B. Pryor.