Herman B. Duryea

Infobox Person
name = Herman B. Duryea
caption =
birth_date = 1862
birth_place = United States
death_date = 1916
death_place = United States
occupation = Businessman:
Animal breeding farm
Racehorse owner/breeder

Herman L. B. Duryea (1862-1916) was an American thoroughbred race horse owner and breeder.

Herman Duryea built an estate in Old Westbury on Long Island, New York known as "Knole". Completed in 1903, it was designed by Carrere and Hastings. In 1910 he sold the property to Henry Phipps who bought it as a wedding gift for his daughter Helen's marriage to Bradley Martin.

Haras du Gazon

Herman Duryea also owned a large estate in Tennessee where he bred dogs and gamecocks. In 1902 he began breeding race horses and soon became one of the leading thoroughbred racing owners in the United States. However, when many states began passing anti-betting legislation that ended most racing, Duryea moved his breeding and racing operations to "Haras du Gazon" in Normandy, France.

Among Duryea's horses were Sweeper II who won the English 2,000 Guineas in 1912 and Dunbar II who won the 1914 Epsom Derby. He also owned the American-born mare, Frizette (1905-1929) purchased from friend James R. Keene and Payne Whitney. Frizette, a granddaughter of Hindoo, was one of the most important foundation matrons of the twentieth century whose offspring includes Seattle Slew and Mr. Prospector. The annual Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park is named in her honor.

One of the other very important fillies to race under Duryea's colors was the champion, Tanya. Foaled in 1902 by William Collins Whitney, she was leased along with several other horses to race for Duryea in 1904 as a 2-year-old and won the Hopeful Stakes, the National Stallion Stakes, and the Spinaway Stakes. Unfortunately for Herman Duryea, she was purchased that fall by Whitney's son, Harry Payne Whitney, for she is best known for her win the following spring in the Belmont Stakes.

After Henry Duryea died in 1916 his widow maintained some of the French breeding farm's stallions but much of the operation would eventually be sold to Marcel Boussac.

References

* [http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=982 Herman B. Duryea at the United Kingdom's National Horseracing Museum]