Hall of Fame

Ben Brush

Bramble - Roseville, by Reform
Bay colt, 1893

Owner: Mike Dwyer
Trainer: Ed Brown
Race Record
Year Age Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings
1895 2 16 13 1 1 $21,398
1896 3 8 4 1 1 $26,755
1897 4 16 8 3 3 $17,055
Totals   40 25 5 5 $65,208

As a yearling, Ben Brush was sold to Eugene Leigh and Hall of Fame trainer Ed Brown for $1,200. His new owners named the colt in honor of Ben Brush, a highly regarded track superintendent of the Gravesend track in Brooklyn.

Ben Brush began his racing career in the Midwest. After winning his first five races, he was shipped to New York where he won his last six races as a two-year-old, including the Prospect Handicap, Nursery, Albany and Champagne Stakes. This winning season led to championship honors for the two-year-old.

Midway through his first season of racing, Ben Brush was purchased by Mike Dwyer. For his new owner Ben Brush won the Kentucky Derby and the Latonia Derby.

At four, Ben Brush demonstrated his racing prowess by defeating top handicap horses in a number of races, including the Suburban, Brighton and Citizen's Handicaps.

Ben Brush was then retired to stud and sold to James R. Keene. A successful sire, Ben Brush led the sire list in 1909. He sired champions Delhi, Sweep and Pebbles, and founded a significant American sire line represented by stallions Broomstick, Sweep, The Porter, Whisk Broom II, Jack High and Rosemont.

Ben Brush was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1955.

National Museum of Racing: Ben Brush


Hanover

Hindoo - Bourbon Belle, by *Bonnie Scotland
Chestnut colt, 1884

Owner: Phil and Mike Dwyer
Trainer: Frank McCabe
Race Record
Year Age Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings
1886 2 3 3 0 0 $14,335
1887 3 27 20 5 1 $87,632
1888 4 3 0 3 0 $1,450
1889 5 17 9 6 1 $15,470
Totals   50 32 14 2 $118,887

Hanover was bred at Runnymede Farm and then sold to Phil and Mike Dwyer for $1,350. The Dwyer brothers' new chestnut colt had been sired by Hindoo out of the mare Bourbon Belle, by *Bonnie Scotland. He was trained by Frank McCabe.

In his first two years of racing, Hanover won 17 races in a row, at varied distances, against his peers and older horses. During a 17-day period at two, Hanover won the Hopeful, July, and Sapling Stakes. He was then put away to rest while his stablemate Tremont won the remaining major races of the season.

Hanover's period of rest had its benefits. When he came back to the races at three, he won the Withers Mile, and then won the Belmont and the Brooklyn Derby, both by 15 lengths. Four days after the Brooklyn, he won the Swift by 10 lengths; three days later he won the Tidal by six, and two days later the Coney Island Derby by 10. Hanover won 5-of-6 stakes in July but was worn out from the effort.

Hanover was a first-class horse, but his grueling scheduled weakened him. He raced on but never regained his earlier form, although he did retire as America's greatest money winner for that time.

Hanover spent several successful years at stud and topped the sire list four consecutive years before his early death in 1899. His best progeny included Hamburg, David Garrick, Halma, Handspring, Half Time, and Yankee.

Hanover was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1955.

National Museum of Racing: Hanover


Miss Woodford

*Billet - Fancy Jean, by Neil Robinson
Brown filly, 1880

Owner: Phil and Mike Dwyer
Trainer: James Rowe, Sr.
Race Record
Year Age Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings
1882 2 8 5 1 2 $6,600
1883 3 12 10 1 0 $51,230
1884 4 9 9 0 0 $21,070
1885 5 12 7 4 0 $19,370
1886 6 7 6 1 0 $20,000
Totals   48 37 7 2 $118,270

Racing in the 1880s, Miss Woodford was the first horse in America to win $100,000, a feat she accomplished over five seasons, against the best colts of her day, at distances up to 2 ½ miles. She won two of her three career match races.

At three, four and five, Miss Woodford won 16 consecutive races. It comes as no surprise that Hall of Fame trainers such as "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons, Thomas Healy, Jack Joyner, R.W. Walden and James Rowe considered her the best filly of all.

Highlights of her three-year-old campaign were many, and they included Miss Woodford's victory in the Pimlico Stakes, where she defeated George Kinney, the best colt of her crop.

Miss Woodford, who died in 1899, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1967.

National Museum of Racing: Miss Woodford


Roamer

Knight Errant - Rose Tree II, by Bona Vista
Chestnut colt, 1884

Owner: Andrew Miller
Trainer: Jack Goldsborough
Race Record
Year Age Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings
1913 2 17 4 6 1 $8,480
1914 3 16 12 1 2 $29,105
1915 4 13 8 1 0 $15,320
1916 5 13 1 6 1 $5,705
1917 6 17 7 4 2 $16,501
1918 7 16 6 6 2 $21,950
1919 8 6 1 2 1 $1,767
Totals   98 39 26 9 $98,828

Roamer was sired by a farm teaser out of a blind mare. Legend has it that the mating resulted when either the sire or the mare jumped a fence - giving rise to the name Roamer. In either case, perseverance was clearly in his background.

Roamer had excellent speed and weight-carrying abilities. As the leading money earner of 1914, he placed in the money in 15 out of his 16 starts and set five track records. Notable wins included the Washington and the Carter Handicaps, Brooklyn Derby, and the Travers Stakes.

Roamer went on to win the Saratoga Cup three times. At seven, he broke Salvator's mile record to become the first horse to run a mile in under 1:35 (1:34 4/5).

In 1919, Roamer's owner, Andrew Miller, died of a heart attack. In a strange coincidence, a few hours later Roamer slipped on a patch of ice, broke his leg and had to be put down.

Roamer was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1981.

National Museum of Racing: Roamer

Trainer of Runnymede Greats honored by Racing Hall of Fame

Frank McCabe, trainer for some key Runnymede notables including Champion and Leading Sire Hanover, was one of eight legendary members of the Thoroughbred community inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in August 2007.

In a long-overdue recognition, McCabe was saluted for a career that spanned several decades during American racing's formative years. McCabe trained fellow Hall of Famer Hanover, a Runnymede-bred, who was a Belmont and Withers Stakes winner and four-time Leading Sire in North America. McCabe trained three consecutive Belmont winners, including Sir Dixon, another Runnymeder who was also a Travers Stakes champ and a Leading Sire in 1901. Sir Dixon's "get" included Agile, the 1905 Kentucky Derby winner. Agile was one of three Kentucky Derby winners to be bred at Runnymede.