August Belmont, Jr.

Infobox_Person
name = August Belmont, Jr.


imagesize = 150px
caption = August Belmont, Jr.
birth_date = birth date|1853|2|18
birth_place = New York, New York
USA flagicon|USA
death_date = death date and age|1924|12|10|1853|2|18|mf=y
death_place = Manhattan, New York
resting_place = Island Cemetery
Newport, Rhode Island
residence = Manhattan, New York & North Babylon, New York
education = Harvard University
occupation = Businessman
Racehorse owner/breeder
party = Democrat
spouse = 1) Elizabeth Hamilton Morgan (1862-1898)
2) Eleanor Robson (1879-1979)
children = August III (1882-1919)
Raymond (b.c.1888)
Morgan (1892-1953)
parents = August Belmont &
Caroline Slidell Perry
religion = Episcopal Church

August Belmont, Jr, (February 18, 1853 - December 10, 1924), was an American financier, the builder of New York's Belmont Park racetrack, and a major owner/breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses.

Born in New York City, he was the son of the wealthy banker, August Belmont. An 1875 graduate of Harvard University, where, as a sprinter, he introduced spiked track shoes to the United States. Upon his father's death, he inherited a position as head of the Belmont banking house and served as a Director of the National Park Bank. August Belmont, Jr. was an important early investor in the New York Subway, serving as president of the Interborough Rapid Transit. Belmont holds the distinction of owning the world's only purposely built private subway car. Named "Mineola", she was used by Belmont to give tours of the IRT.

World War I

Following the United States' entry into World War I, August Belmont, Jr., at age 65, volunteered to assist and was sent to France by the United States Army. He received a commission as major in the U. S. flying corps. His wife, Eleanor, also devoted much time to raising funds in aid of Belgian relief efforts and for the Red Cross, she made a number of trans-Atlantic trips as an inspector of United States Army camps. [ [http://www.metoperafamily.org/guild/about/belmont.aspx The Met Opera Guild ] at www.metoperafamily.org]

Cape Cod Canal

August Belmont was instrumental in making the Cape Cod Canal a reality. Throughout the nineteenth century, many plans were made, but none succeeded. It took Belmont and modern engineering to finally make the pilgrims' dream a reality.

The grand opening of the Cape Cod Canal took place on July 29, 1914, and it was soon plagued with troubles. Belmont's canal was expensive for mariners, costing as much as $16.00 for a trip by schooner, a considerable sum in those days. The narrow convert|140|ft|m|sing=on width and shallow convert|25|ft|m|sing=on depth of the canal made navigation difficult, and tidal flows created dangerous currents, so many mariners continued to use the routes around the cape. As a result, tolls did not live up to expectations and the Cape Cod Canal became a losing proposition. As a result, the Canal was purchased by the U.S. Government on March 30, 1928. Fact|date=July 2008

Thoroughbred horse racing

Like his father, August Belmont, Jr, was an avid thoroughbred racing fan. According to his "TIME" magazine obituary, August Belmont, Jr. "is credited with having saved thoroughbred racing when it was at its lowest ebb in the East, after the repeal of the racing law in New York State."

August Belmont, Jr. served as the first president of The Jockey Club and was chairman of the New York State Racing Commission. In 1895 he was one of the nine founding members of the National Steeplechase Association.

August Belmont, Jr. inherited Nursery Stud, a Thoroughbred breeding operation established in 1867 by his father at his convert|1100|acre|km2|sing=on Babylon, New York estate. There, Belmont, Jr. raised polo ponies and played on a polo team with Harry Payne Whitney. In the early 1880s, Belmont, Sr. leased a farm property in Kentucky, located about three miles outside Lexington. After transferring all of the breeding business there, August Belmont, Jr. developed a very important stud farm whose influences are still felt today. Given the same name as the New York operation, at the Kentucky Nursery Stud he bred 129 American Stakes winners. The greatest of the horses he bred was Man o' War, born while he was serving overseas in World War I. In his absence, his wife Eleanor named the new foal "My Man o' War" in honor of her husband but because of his age and the uncertainty as to the war's end, August Belmont, Jr. decided to disband the stable and with the "My" dropped from the name, Man o' War was sold to Glen Riddle Farm in Maryland.

August Belmont, Jr. organized the Westchester Racing Association in 1895. In 1905 he built Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, on Long Island which operates to this day as the largest thoroughbred racing facility in the state. In the year of its opening, the prestigious Belmont Stakes, inaugurated in 1867 and named in his father's honor, was transferred from the financially troubled Morris Park Racecourse. Three times, horses from August Belmont, Jr.'s stable won the Belmont Stakes, the first coming in 1902 followed by back-to-back wins in 1916 and 1917.

Belmont, Jr. also had horses competing in England and in 1908 his American-bred colt Norman III won a British Classic Race, the 2,000 Guineas. In addition to his Kentucky horse farm, in 1908 Belmont established Haras de Villers, a breeding operation near Foucarmont in Upper Normandy, France. Following the cessation of racing in New York State as a result of legislation banning parimutuel betting, Belmont, Jr. stood American stallions at Haras de Villers such as Flint Rock, Ethelbert, and the sire of Norman III, Octagon. At his French farm, he bred notable horses such as Prix de Diane winner Qu'elle est Belle as well as Vulcain, one of the best three-year-olds of his generation in France. [ [http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/RockSand.html Rock Sand ] at www.tbheritage.com]

August Belmont, Jr. operated the Kentucky farm until his death in 1924 after which the business was broken up and its bloodstock sold. According to "Thoroughbred Heritage", today the property is home to a condominium development. Its horse cemetery, which became part of Hurstland Farm then the Nuckols Farm, is now occupied by the Rood and Riddle Veterinary Clinic.

His son, Raymond, owned Belray Farm near Middleburg, Virginia where the Hall of Fame horse Colin lived out his final years, dying there in 1932 at the age of 27.

Family

In 1881, August Belmont, Jr. married childhood sweetheart and next-door neighbor, Elizabeth Hamilton Morgan. She died at age thirty-six while visiting Paris, France. A widower for twelve years, in 1910 August Belmont, Jr. remarried to actress Eleanor Robson.

August Belmont, Jr. died in 1924, after living much of his life on a convert|1100|acre|km2|sing=on estate in North Babylon, New York. He was buried in the Belmont family plot at Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island. After his death, his widow, Eleanor, sold most of the estate to a property developer. Eleanor Belmont outlived her husband by fifty-five years, dying at 100 in 1979. The remaining convert|158|acre|km2--including the family mansion, lake, and main farm buildings--fell into the hands of the New York State Government. Under the control of planner Robert Moses, the estate was enlarged back to convert|459|acre|km2 and turned into Belmont Lake State Park. The mansion served as headquarters for the Long Island State Park Commission until 1935 when it was leveled to make way for the current building.

References

*Case, Carole - "The Right Blood: America's Aristocrats in Thoroughbred Racing" (2000) Rutgers University Press ISBN 0813528402
* Hollingsworth, Kent. "The Kentucky Thoroughbred" (1985) University Press of Kentucky ISBN 0813115477
* [http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=956 August Belmont, Jr. at the National Horse Racing Museum, Newmarket, England]
* cite news
author=
title=BELMONT HORSES IN FRANCE.; Octagon and Ethelbert Placed at Disposal of Breeders.
date=
work=New York Times
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F01E5DF1131E733A2575AC0A9659C946897D6CF
accessdate=2008-08-08
* cite news
author=
title=August Belmont
date=1924-12-22
work=Time Magazine
url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719669,00.html
accessdate=2008-08-08