Ten Broeck (USA)
1872 – June 28, 1887
Phaeton (GB) x Fanny Holton (USA), by Lexington (USA)
American Family 14
1872 – June 28, 1887
Phaeton (GB) x Fanny Holton (USA), by Lexington (USA)
American Family 14
Comparing top racehorses from different eras is generally a debatable exercise, but Ten Broeck was undoubtedly the Man o' War or Secretariat of his day when it came to popularity. Like both those 20th-century heroes, he did not merely break previous standards, he smashed them, in one case clipping a full five seconds off a previously existing record. So great a public idol that the U.S. Congress adjourned a session early and boarded a special train to Pimlico so that members could watch him run, he racked up a 15-race winning streak and set an unparalleled number of 19th-century speed records while taking on the likes of Aristides, Parole and Tom Ochiltree. Unfortunately, he was less outstanding as a sire than as a racer and failed to get a successor although he did fairly well as a sire of winners.
Race record
30 starts, 23 wins, 3 seconds, 0 thirds, US$27,550
1874:
1875:
1876:
1877:
1888:
Honors
As an individual
A short-coupled bay horse standing about 16 or 16.1 hands, Ten Broeck had plenty of power and substance and was notably short-cannoned with strong hindquarters. He had great length from hip to hock, giving him excellent leverage.
As a stallion
Clio Hogan's Index to Stakes Winners 1865-1967 credits Ten Broeck with 13 stakes winners.
Notable progeny
Bersan (USA), Tenpenny (USA), Tolu (USA)
Connections
Ten Broeck was bred by John Harper at his Nantura Stock Farm. After Harper's death, Ten Broeck passed to the ownership of his nephew, Frank Harper. He was trained by Frank Harper and by Harry Colston.
Pedigree notes
Ten Broeck is inbred 5x5 to 1823 Derby Stakes winner and two-time English champion sire Emilius. He is out of Fanny Holton, a mare that the October 1, 1875, edition of the Owensboro Examiner described as “the best three-year-old of her day.” Also the dam of Lyttleton (by Leamington), a sweepstakes winner as a 3-year-old, she is a half sister to the great Longfellow (by Leamington) and to Bowen (by Vandal), a good racer of the 1860s.
Fanny Holton and her siblings were produced from Nantura, whose sire Brawner's Eclipse (by the undefeated champion American Eclipse) was also known as “Counterplot.” Her dam Quiz (by 1835 American champion sire Bertrand) also produced Sally Bowen (by Hooten), second dam of 1886 Clark Handicap winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up Blue Wing. Quiz, in turn, was a full sister to Queen Mary, who became the third dam of Thad Stevens. The last-named horse was a notable 4-mile runner who defeated the Eastern champion Joe Daniels (winner of the 1872 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes and 1873 Saratoga Cup as well as other important races) in the 1873 Pacific Jockey Club Purse for an unprecedented prize of US$20,000 in gold.
Quiz and Queen Mary were produced from Lady Fortune, a daughter of Fenwick's Brimmer. The female line traces back to Webb's Shepherdess (by Wormeley's King Herod) whose female ancestry is uncertain but may have been out of a mare by imported Whittington, in turn out of a mare by imported Traveller.
Fun facts
Last updated: January 15, 2021
Race record
30 starts, 23 wins, 3 seconds, 0 thirds, US$27,550
1874:
- 3rd a 2-year-old sweepstakes (USA, 6FD, Lexington)
1875:
- Won Phoenix House Hotel Stakes (USA, 9FD, Lexington)
- Won Post Stakes (USA, 24FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Merchants' Post Stakes (USA, 2-mile heats, Nashville; new track record 3:36-1/2 in first heat)
- Won Maxwell House Stakes (USA, 1-mile heats, Nashville; new track record 1:44 in first heat)
- 2nd Kentucky St. Leger (USA, 16FD, Churchill Downs)
- Also set an American record of 2:49-1/4 for 13 furlongs
1876:
- Won Louisville Cup (USA, 18FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Galt House Plate (USA, 20FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Post Stakes (USA, 24FD, Churchill Downs; new American record 5:26-1/2)
- Won an association purse (USA, 2-mile heats, Churchill Downs)
- 2nd a sweepstakes (USA, 17FD, Lexington; 2nd of 2)
- Also set an American record of 4:58-1/2 for 21FD at Lexington
- Also set an American record of 7:15-3/4 for four miles in a time trial at Churchill Downs
1877:
- Won Bowie Stakes (USA, 4-mile heats)
- 2nd Baltimore Special (three-way match race with Parole and Tom Ochiltree) (USA, 20FD, Pimlico)
- Also set an American record of 1:39-3/4 for one mile in a time trial at Churchill Downs
- Also set an American record of 3:27-1/2 for two miles at Churchill Downs
1888:
- Won a sweepstakes (USA, 12FD, Lexington)
- Won match race with Mollie McCarthy (USA, 4-mile heats, Churchill Downs)
Honors
- National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1982)
- American co-champion older male (1876, 1877)
As an individual
A short-coupled bay horse standing about 16 or 16.1 hands, Ten Broeck had plenty of power and substance and was notably short-cannoned with strong hindquarters. He had great length from hip to hock, giving him excellent leverage.
As a stallion
Clio Hogan's Index to Stakes Winners 1865-1967 credits Ten Broeck with 13 stakes winners.
Notable progeny
Bersan (USA), Tenpenny (USA), Tolu (USA)
Connections
Ten Broeck was bred by John Harper at his Nantura Stock Farm. After Harper's death, Ten Broeck passed to the ownership of his nephew, Frank Harper. He was trained by Frank Harper and by Harry Colston.
Pedigree notes
Ten Broeck is inbred 5x5 to 1823 Derby Stakes winner and two-time English champion sire Emilius. He is out of Fanny Holton, a mare that the October 1, 1875, edition of the Owensboro Examiner described as “the best three-year-old of her day.” Also the dam of Lyttleton (by Leamington), a sweepstakes winner as a 3-year-old, she is a half sister to the great Longfellow (by Leamington) and to Bowen (by Vandal), a good racer of the 1860s.
Fanny Holton and her siblings were produced from Nantura, whose sire Brawner's Eclipse (by the undefeated champion American Eclipse) was also known as “Counterplot.” Her dam Quiz (by 1835 American champion sire Bertrand) also produced Sally Bowen (by Hooten), second dam of 1886 Clark Handicap winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up Blue Wing. Quiz, in turn, was a full sister to Queen Mary, who became the third dam of Thad Stevens. The last-named horse was a notable 4-mile runner who defeated the Eastern champion Joe Daniels (winner of the 1872 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes and 1873 Saratoga Cup as well as other important races) in the 1873 Pacific Jockey Club Purse for an unprecedented prize of US$20,000 in gold.
Quiz and Queen Mary were produced from Lady Fortune, a daughter of Fenwick's Brimmer. The female line traces back to Webb's Shepherdess (by Wormeley's King Herod) whose female ancestry is uncertain but may have been out of a mare by imported Whittington, in turn out of a mare by imported Traveller.
Fun facts
- Ten Broeck was the family name of several men prominent in early American politics and racing. The most likely namesake is horseman Richard Ten Broeck, who had imported and stood the equine Ten Broeck's sire Phaeton and had also owned the horse's broodmare sire Lexington during his racing days.
- The Baltimore Special, in which Ten Broeck faced off against Parole and Tom Ochiltree (themselves both future members of the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame), was so heavily attended that Baltimore ran out of hotel rooms. Betting was equally heavy, with local bookmakers running out of tickets for placed bets.
- Ten Broeck's match race victory over Mollie McCarthy (who had come into the race off a 13-race win streak) was so outstanding that it became the subject of several Kentucky folk songs.
- Ten Broeck simultaneously held the American records for one, two, three, and four miles, a feat unlikely to ever be duplicated.
- Ten Broeck's headstone was said to have been the first erected for a Thoroughbred racehorse in the state of Kentucky.
Last updated: January 15, 2021