Edward R. Bradley
American businessman and racehorse breeder (1859–1946)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward Riley Bradley (December 12, 1859 – August 15, 1946), commonly known as Col. E. R. Bradley, was an American businessman, professional gambler, Thoroughbred owner and breeder, racetrack proprietor and philanthropist. He established Idle Hour Stock Farm near Lexington, Kentucky, which became one of the leading American Thoroughbred breeding operations of the first half of the twentieth century.[1]
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December 12, 1859
Edward R. Bradley | |
|---|---|
Bradley at Saratoga in 1940 | |
| Born | Edward Riley Bradley December 12, 1859 Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | August 15, 1946 (aged 86) Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. |
Resting place | Calvary Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky |
| Occupations | Businessman, gambler, racehorse owner and breeder, racetrack proprietor |
| Known for | Idle Hour Stock Farm |
| Spouse | Agnes Cecilia Curry |
| Awards | Kentucky colonel Fair Grounds Racing Hall of Fame (1971) |
Bradley owned four winners of the Kentucky Derby—Behave Yourself in 1921, Bubbling Over in 1926, Burgoo King in 1932 and Brokers Tip in 1933—as well as three winners of the Preakness Stakes and two winners of the Belmont Stakes.[1] His four Derby victories were a record for an owner until Calumet Farm won its fifth in 1952.[1]
As a breeder, Bradley produced 128 stakes winners and 15 champions, including Blue Larkspur, Bimelech, Black Helen and Busher.[1] His acquisition of the French mare La Troienne in 1930 had an enduring influence on the American Thoroughbred, with her female family becoming one of the most important in modern breeding.[2]
Bradley also owned Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans and was an investor in the redevelopment of Hialeah Park Race Track in Florida. Outside racing, he operated gambling establishments, most prominently Bradley's Beach Club in Palm Beach, Florida.[1][3]
He was posthumously inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame as a Pillar of the Turf in 2014.[1]
Early life
Bradley was born on December 12, 1859, in the steel-producing city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He worked in steel mills while young before leaving Pennsylvania.[1]
Accounts of Bradley's subsequent early life contain a mixture of documented events and later legend. Stories associated with him describe periods working as a cowboy, gold prospector and military scout in the American West and acquaintanceships with figures including Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid. The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame characterizes these stories as part of the legend surrounding Bradley rather than treating all of them as established fact.[1]
His involvement in gambling is substantially better documented. Bradley operated gambling establishments in several parts of the United States, including the Southwest, Memphis and Chicago, and accumulated considerable wealth through gambling and related businesses.[1]
Bradley married Agnes Cecilia Curry of St. Louis. The couple had no children.[4]
Gambling and business career
Bradley's Beach Club
Bradley became particularly associated with Palm Beach, Florida, where he and his brother John "Jack" Bradley established Bradley's Beach Club in 1898. Located near the present-day Flagler Memorial Bridge, the establishment combined a restaurant with a private gambling casino.[3]
Although gambling was illegal in Florida, the Beach Club operated as a private membership club. Games included roulette, hazard and later chemin de fer. The club catered largely to wealthy winter visitors to Palm Beach and developed a national reputation for exclusivity.[3]
Bradley eventually acquired his brother's interest in the establishment and became its dominant proprietor.[3] The Beach Club remained closely identified with him for several decades.
Bradley's gambling career attracted national attention. During testimony before a United States Senate committee investigating gambling in 1934, he described himself as a "speculator, racehorse breeder, and gambler".[5]
The publicity surrounding Bradley and his testimony led to his appearance on the cover of Time dated May 7, 1934.[6]
Thoroughbred racing
Entry into racing
Bradley's involvement in Thoroughbred racing began comparatively late in his life. According to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, a physician recommended that he pursue an outdoor interest as a counterbalance to his gambling businesses.[1]
Bradley began acquiring racehorses during the 1890s. His first recorded winner was Friar John at Harlem Race Track in Illinois in 1898.[5]
His interest soon expanded from racing horses to breeding them.
Idle Hour Stock Farm
In 1906, Bradley purchased a farm near Lexington, Kentucky. His wife named the property Idle Hour Stock Farm.[1] Bradley enlarged and developed the farm over the following decades, and it eventually encompassed approximately 1,500 acres.[5]
Idle Hour became one of the most successful American Thoroughbred breeding establishments of its era. By Bradley's death in 1946, the farm had bred 128 stakes winners, including 15 recognized champions.[1]
Bradley developed a practice of giving nearly all of the horses he named names beginning with the letter B. The tradition was associated with one of his early successful runners, Bad News.[7] Among the resulting champions were Blue Larkspur, Black Helen, Bimelech, Busher, Baba Kenny, Balladier and Bridal Flower.[1]
Bradley's principal trainer for much of Idle Hour's most successful period was Herbert J. Thompson, who trained all four of Bradley's Kentucky Derby winners.[8]
Breeding program
Black Toney
One of the foundation horses of Bradley's breeding operation was Black Toney, a son of Peter Pan bred by James R. Keene.
Bradley acquired Black Toney as a yearling during the dispersal of Keene's bloodstock. Although only moderately successful as a racehorse, Black Toney became an important sire at Idle Hour and was responsible for much of the farm's early breeding success.[7]
Among his offspring were Kentucky Derby winners Black Gold and Brokers Tip, as well as Black Servant and champion filly Black Helen. His daughters also became significant broodmares.
After Black Toney's death in 1938, Bradley commissioned a bronze statue over the stallion's grave. The memorial survives on land that later became part of Darby Dan Farm.[9]
La Troienne
Bradley's most consequential bloodstock purchase was the French-bred mare La Troienne.
La Troienne, bred and raced by Marcel Boussac, had failed to win in Europe. Bradley purchased her at the December 1930 Newmarket sales and imported her to Idle Hour.[2][7]
Despite her unsuccessful racing career, La Troienne became one of the most influential broodmares in American Thoroughbred history. At Idle Hour she produced stakes winners including Hall of Fame horses Black Helen and Bimelech.[2]
Her daughters and later female descendants became even more influential. Numerous champions and major-race winners descended from the La Troienne family, and her importation came to be regarded as one of Bradley's most important contributions to American breeding.[2]
American Classic races
Bradley's stable won nine races now recognized as American Classics.
Kentucky Derby
Bradley won the Kentucky Derby four times:
- 1921 – Behave Yourself
- 1926 – Bubbling Over
- 1932 – Burgoo King
- 1933 – Brokers Tip
Bradley and trainer Herbert J. Thompson also finished first and second with stablemates in both 1921 and 1926. Behave Yourself defeated Bradley's Black Servant in 1921, while Bubbling Over defeated stablemate Bagenbaggage in 1926.[8]
The victories by Burgoo King in 1932 and Brokers Tip in 1933 made Bradley a back-to-back Derby-winning owner and Thompson the first trainer to win consecutive editions of the race.[10]
Brokers Tip's victory became one of the most notorious finishes in Derby history. Jockeys Don Meade aboard Brokers Tip and Herb Fisher aboard Head Play physically struggled with one another during the stretch run before Brokers Tip was declared the winner by a nose. The race became known as the Fighting Finish.[1] It was the only victory of Brokers Tip's career.
Preakness Stakes
Bradley's horses won the Preakness Stakes three times:
- 1917 – Kalitan
- 1932 – Burgoo King
- 1940 – Bimelech
Burgoo King's victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness made him a contender for the Triple Crown, but he did not contest the Belmont Stakes.
Bimelech entered the 1940 Kentucky Derby undefeated but finished second to Gallahadion. He rebounded to win both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.[1]
Belmont Stakes
Bradley won the Belmont Stakes twice:
- 1929 – Blue Larkspur
- 1940 – Bimelech
Blue Larkspur had finished fourth in the 1929 Kentucky Derby before winning the Withers Stakes and Belmont Stakes. He was subsequently recognized as the 1929 Horse of the Year and became an influential sire.[11]
The National Museum of Racing later described Blue Larkspur as the best of Bradley's 128 stakes winners.[11]
Other notable horses
Bradley's breeding program produced several horses subsequently inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Black Helen, by Black Toney out of La Troienne, won the Florida Derby, American Derby and Coaching Club American Oaks in 1935.[12]
Busher was bred by Idle Hour from War Admiral and La Troienne's daughter Baby League. She raced for Bradley as a two-year-old before being sold to film producer Louis B. Mayer. Busher later became the 1945 Horse of the Year.[13]
Bradley's champions and their descendants helped establish Idle Hour as one of the dominant breeding programs of its period.
Racetrack ownership
Bradley's racing interests extended beyond ownership and breeding.
In 1926, he purchased Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans. Bradley invested heavily in improving the historic racetrack, including its facilities and purses, in an effort to make it a leading winter racing center.[1] He sold Fair Grounds eight years later.[1]
Bradley also became an important investor in Hialeah Park Race Track. He and Joseph E. Widener financed a major reconstruction of Hialeah after Widener acquired the property in 1930.[14] The rebuilt track reopened in January 1932 and became one of the principal winter Thoroughbred racing venues in the United States.[14]
The Colonel E. R. Bradley Stakes at Fair Grounds was later named in his honor.
Philanthropy
Bradley was a practicing Roman Catholic and contributed extensively to religious and charitable organizations.[1]
At Idle Hour, he staged charity race meetings whose proceeds were distributed to orphanages in Kentucky.[1][4] The events became one of the best-known examples of Bradley's philanthropy.
In Palm Beach, Bradley contributed most of the cost of constructing St. Edward Catholic Church in 1926. He also contributed to organizations outside his own denomination and assisted local institutions following the destructive 1928 hurricane.[15]
His wife Agnes died in 1926. Bradley remained widowed for the remainder of his life.[4]
Death and dispersal of Idle Hour
Bradley died at Idle Hour Stock Farm in Lexington on August 15, 1946, at the age of 86.[1] He was buried beside his wife at Calvary Cemetery in Lexington.[16]
Following his death, Idle Hour and much of its bloodstock were dispersed. Major portions of Bradley's breeding stock were acquired by interests associated with Greentree Stable, King Ranch and Ogden Phipps.[17]
The dispersal extended Bradley's influence far beyond Idle Hour itself, as the families he had developed became foundations of several other major American breeding programs.
Portions of the former Idle Hour property were subsequently divided among new owners. The historic core eventually became part of Darby Dan Farm.[2]
Legacy and honors
Bradley's record of four Kentucky Derby victories as an owner stood until Calumet Farm recorded its fifth in 1952.[1]
He was inducted into the Fair Grounds Racing Hall of Fame in 1971.
In 2014, Bradley was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame as a Pillar of the Turf, a category recognizing individuals whose contributions to Thoroughbred racing were made primarily outside riding and training.[1]
His long-term influence as a breeder is particularly associated with La Troienne. Descendants of her family continued to produce prominent American and international racehorses for generations after Bradley's death.[2]