After setting a stakes record in the Ashland Oaks while racing at 20-1 odds, Jewel Ban was favored against a short field for the Kentucky Oaks and won easily by four lengths. She continued on to win a sweepstakes at Latonia but showed nothing of her previous form when sent to New York to race (at least partly due to injury) and went lame not long after her return to Kentucky. She was a fairly successful broodmare in a short producing career.
Race record
Complete record unavailable
1889:
As an individual
A chestnut mare, Jewel Ban stood about 15 hands in the spring of 1889 and was “of remarkably handsome appearance, and is what might be called a race horse all over” per the Louisville Courier-Journal of May 17, 1889. Unfortunately, she pulled up lame at Lexington in September 1889.
As a producer
Jewel Ban produced five named foals. Her important foals are as follow:
Connections
Jewel Ban was bred and owned by Major Barak G. Thomas and was foaled at his Dixiana Farm. She was a starter in the inaugural Futurity Stakes in 1888 and was well enough thought of that when Thomas sold most of his racing and breeding stock in New York, she was retained. She ran in the silks of her trainer, John T. Clay, in the Ashford Oaks although still Thomas' property at that time. By the time of the Kentucky Oaks, she reportedly belonged to Clay. She was listed as belonging to Thomas when shipped east in June to try her luck in New York, but after a disastrous performance in the Realization Stakes in which she suffered cuts to her legs, she went back to Kentucky and was once again listed as being Clay's property. The true arrangement appears to have been either a lease or a partnership, with Thomas listed as owner at those tracks where Clay (a black man) would not have been permitted to enter horses in his own right. Following her retirement from racing, Jewel Ban was a broodmare at Dixiana Farm until Thomas dispersed his stock in November 1897 due to his failing health. Milton Young bought her for US$1,500 from the auction, then in foal to Himyar. There is no record of any further produce for her after the Himyar filly was born in 1898, and this filly was never named.
Pedigree notes
Jewel Ban is inbred 4x4x5 to eight-time American champion sire Glencoe. Sired by the King Tom horse King Ban, she was produced from Jewel, whose dam Morgiana (by John Morgan) is a half sister to juvenile stakes winner Ratan (by Lexington); to Nellie Knight (by Hunter's Lexington), dam of multiple juvenile stakes winner Lost Cause (by King Alfonso); and to Maud Hampton (by Hunter's Lexington), dam of 1885 American champion 2-year-old male Ban Fox (by King Ban) and the good juvenile King Fox (by King Ban). Maud Hampton is also the second dam of 1893 Belmont Stakes winner Comanche.
Morgiana and her siblings were produced from the Glencoe mare Lizzie Morgan, whose half sister Blue Bell (by Chorister) is the second dam of 1878 Kentucky Oaks winner Belle of Nelson. The female line traces back to an unnamed daughter of Jack of Diamonds who has traditionally been included among the produce of Family 12-b foundation mare Diana; however, modern mitochondrial DNA research indicates that the Jack of Diamonds mare had a different dam.
Fun facts
Last updated: September 8, 2022
Race record
Complete record unavailable
1889:
- Won Kentucky Oaks (USA, 12FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Ashland Oaks (USA, 10FD, Lexington)
- Won a 3-year-old sweepstakes (USA, 8f+70yD, Latonia)
As an individual
A chestnut mare, Jewel Ban stood about 15 hands in the spring of 1889 and was “of remarkably handsome appearance, and is what might be called a race horse all over” per the Louisville Courier-Journal of May 17, 1889. Unfortunately, she pulled up lame at Lexington in September 1889.
As a producer
Jewel Ban produced five named foals. Her important foals are as follow:
- Rose Ban (1894, by Himyar) produced the stakes winner Question Mark (by Goldcrest).
- Frohman (1895, by Himyar) won the 1897 Eclipse Stakes and Laureate Stakes.
Connections
Jewel Ban was bred and owned by Major Barak G. Thomas and was foaled at his Dixiana Farm. She was a starter in the inaugural Futurity Stakes in 1888 and was well enough thought of that when Thomas sold most of his racing and breeding stock in New York, she was retained. She ran in the silks of her trainer, John T. Clay, in the Ashford Oaks although still Thomas' property at that time. By the time of the Kentucky Oaks, she reportedly belonged to Clay. She was listed as belonging to Thomas when shipped east in June to try her luck in New York, but after a disastrous performance in the Realization Stakes in which she suffered cuts to her legs, she went back to Kentucky and was once again listed as being Clay's property. The true arrangement appears to have been either a lease or a partnership, with Thomas listed as owner at those tracks where Clay (a black man) would not have been permitted to enter horses in his own right. Following her retirement from racing, Jewel Ban was a broodmare at Dixiana Farm until Thomas dispersed his stock in November 1897 due to his failing health. Milton Young bought her for US$1,500 from the auction, then in foal to Himyar. There is no record of any further produce for her after the Himyar filly was born in 1898, and this filly was never named.
Pedigree notes
Jewel Ban is inbred 4x4x5 to eight-time American champion sire Glencoe. Sired by the King Tom horse King Ban, she was produced from Jewel, whose dam Morgiana (by John Morgan) is a half sister to juvenile stakes winner Ratan (by Lexington); to Nellie Knight (by Hunter's Lexington), dam of multiple juvenile stakes winner Lost Cause (by King Alfonso); and to Maud Hampton (by Hunter's Lexington), dam of 1885 American champion 2-year-old male Ban Fox (by King Ban) and the good juvenile King Fox (by King Ban). Maud Hampton is also the second dam of 1893 Belmont Stakes winner Comanche.
Morgiana and her siblings were produced from the Glencoe mare Lizzie Morgan, whose half sister Blue Bell (by Chorister) is the second dam of 1878 Kentucky Oaks winner Belle of Nelson. The female line traces back to an unnamed daughter of Jack of Diamonds who has traditionally been included among the produce of Family 12-b foundation mare Diana; however, modern mitochondrial DNA research indicates that the Jack of Diamonds mare had a different dam.
Fun facts
- According to the December 4, 1904, edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal, Major Thomas and his friend Mac Richardson engineered a major betting coup with Jewel Ban by keeping her form in the dark prior to the Ashland Oaks. While the amount the two won was not specified in the article, it was said to have been the largest such coup ever pulled off at the Lexington Association track. The Cincinnati Enquirer of May 8, 1889, reported that the two had bet some US$1,000 at odds ranging from 20-1 to 30-1.
- Jewel Ban was reported to have run a mile in 1:37 flat in a private trial at Latonia in preparation for the Kentucky Oaks, but this report came under considerable dispute and may be a misreported version of a mile and one-half trial that she ran in 2:37 at the same track while training for the Oaks. At the time, the American record for the mile was 1:39-3/4, set in a Churchill Downs time trial on May 24, 1877, by the great Ten Broeck.
- Jewel Ban's trainer and sometime owner, former jockey John T. Clay, practiced his craft so successfully that he became one of the wealthiest men of his race in Lexington after investing his earnings in real estate. His association with Major Thomas (a former Confederate officer) was apparently marked by mutual trust and respect, to the extent that Clay helped the old gentleman out with a loan when Thomas ran into financial difficulties late in life. Clay also named one of his sons for Major Thomas and was a frequent visitor in Thomas's home even after Thomas had ceased racing horses.
Last updated: September 8, 2022