Brookmeade Stable was a thoroughbred horse racing stable owned by Dodge automobile heiress and socialite Isabel Dodge Sloane . Sloane first won using the name Brookmeade Stable at the Manly Memorial Steeplechase at Pimlico in 1924.
15-549: In 1929, Sloane divorced and expanded her interest in horse racing. She purchased 850 acres (3.4 km) in Upperville, Virginia , again using the name Brookmeade Stable. Sloane later developed the estate into a breeding farm, Brookmeade Stud, producing several successful race horses, including Sword Dancer . Brookmeade Stable won each of the three races constituting the American Triple Crown series. The first win came in
30-628: Is a Virginia Historic Landmark that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places . Also listed are Blue Ridge Farm , Oakley , and Rose Hill Farm . Situated eight miles to the west of Middleburg and part of Virginia's famous Piedmont horse country, the Upperville/Middleburg area is home to a number of prominent Thoroughbred horse breeding farms and country estates. The Upperville Colt & Horse Show , conceived by Colonel Richard Henry Dulany and first held in 1853, remains
45-617: The 1934 Kentucky Derby with Cavalcade then his stablemate High Quest won that year's Preakness Stakes . Bold gave Brookmeade Stable its second Preakness win in the 1951 event . In 1959, Sword Dancer completed the triple with a victory in the final leg of the series, the Belmont Stakes . Brookmeade Stable also won the most prestigious steeplechase event in the United States, the American Grand National . High Boots won
60-418: The 2020 U.S. Census . Bertram R. Firestone Bertram Robert Firestone (August 18, 1931 – July 12, 2021) and Diana Melville Johnson Firestone (January 26, 1932 – February 12, 2023) of Newstead Farm in Upperville, Virginia were major owner/breeders of Thoroughbred equestrian and flat racing horses. They were voted the 1980 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Owner and in 1982 were inducted in
75-670: The Loudoun County line. Founded in the 1790s along Pantherskin Creek, it was originally named Carrstown by first settler Josephus Carr. Through an 1819 act passed by the Virginia General Assembly , the name was changed to Upperville. John Updike wrote of Upperville in his sardonic 1961 poem "Upon Learning That a Town Exists Called Upperville". Upperville has been designated as the Upperville Historic District and
90-563: The Kentucky Derby. They also bred and raced Secretariat's son, General Assembly , whose Saratoga track record time in winning the 1979 Travers Stakes stood until 2016. Trained by Dermot Weld , the Firestones' Blue Wind won the 1981 Epsom Oaks and Flash of Steel won the 1986 Irish 2000 Guineas . In November 1982, they won the Japan Cup with 3-year-old colt Half Iced . They were
105-477: The National Register of Historic Places. Over the years, others who came to live in the area included heiress Isabel Dodge Sloane , who built the highly successful Brookmeade Stud , Llangollen estate where Liz Whitney Tippett lived for nearly six decades, Bertram and Diana Firestone's Newstead Farm , Sandy Lerner's , and the very prestigious Rokeby Farm of Paul Mellon . It was Mellon who donated
120-663: The Newstead Farm in Upperville, Virginia . For racing in Europe, they operated the 1,200 acre Gilltown Stud farm in Kilcullen , County Kildare , Ireland near the famous Curragh , which they sold in 1989 to the Aga Khan IV for $ 14.2 million. Among their many successes in Thoroughbred racing, in 1980, their Hall of Fame inductee Genuine Risk became only the second filly to ever win
135-890: The Polly Drummond Stakes at the Delaware Park Racetrack . Bertram bought the colt King's Company for 35,000 guineas, that won the Irish 2,000 Guineas Turf Classic in May 1971 at the Curragh Racecourse . The horse went on to win the Cork and Orrery Stakes at the Royal Ascot in 1972. Bertram bought the Catoctin Stud farm in Waterford, Virginia , in 1973. In 1991, he and Diana acquired
150-574: The Virginia Thoroughbred Association Hall of Fame. They are former owners of Calder Race Course and Gulfstream Park in Florida . Their Genuine Risk was known for winning the 1980 Kentucky Derby . Bertram Firestone was a highly successful industrial real estate developer . Diana Johnson is the daughter of John Seward Johnson I and Ruth Dill. One of the couple's six children, her paternal grandfather, Robert Wood Johnson I ,
165-798: The breeders of Vintage Crop that won Australia's Melbourne Cup in 1993. In 1983, they were honored by the Keeneland Association with its Mark of Distinction for their contribution to Keeneland and the Thoroughbred industry. Bertram married Diana in 1973. They were each previously divorced with three children by a previous marriage. Firestone had been married twice before his marriage to Diana, to Lynn Belnap in 1955 and to Dariel Henderson in 1962. Bertram died July 12, 2021, in West Palm Beach , Florida after deterioration of his health. Diana died on February 12, 2023, in West Palm Beach at
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#1732886676705180-537: The money to build Trinity Episcopal Church in 1960, which is at the center of the small community's social activities. For two days each year more than ten horse farms and centers in Upperville and Middleburg open their gates to visitors. Since 1960, the Hunt Country Stable Tour has raised money for the outreach programs of Trinity Episcopal Church . Upperville first appeared as a census designated place in
195-565: The oldest such event in America. A Dulany family member owned Oakley Farm . It was the site of two battles during the American Civil War . Near Upperville, Californian Henry T. Oxnard built a horse breeding operation in 1903 that he named Blue Ridge Farm . It was bought by Rear Admiral Cary Travers Grayson in 1928, and members of the Grayson family still own the property, which is listed in
210-519: The race in 1949 and again in 1953. Brookmeade's success allowed Sloane to become the first woman to lead the United States in race earning in 1934, with $ 251,138. The stables of Brookmeade in Upperville, Virginia now constitute Lazy Lane Farms . Upperville, Virginia Upperville is a small unincorporated village in Fauquier County , Virginia , United States, along U.S. Route 50 fifty miles from downtown Washington, D.C. and near
225-488: Was the founder of the health-related products manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson . Her maternal grandfather, Colonel Thomas Melville Dill , was a prominent Bermudian soldier, lawyer and politician. The Firestones raced horses in the United States and in Europe. Bertram Firestone bought the thoroughbred Ridin' Easy in 1966 from a Keeneland sale for $ 15,000 and in 1969 won the Fashion Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack and
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