F. Ambrose Clark

Frederick Ambrose Clark (August 1, 1880 - February 26, 1964) (or more commonly listed as F. Ambrose Clark) was an American equestrian.

Clark was the son of Alfred Corning Clark and a grandson of Edward Clark, a lawyer and later 50% owner of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Brother of Edward Severin Clark, Robert Sterling Clark, and Stephen Carlton Clark.

Family

Married in 1902 to Florence L. Stokes who died October 2, 1950. According to Time Magazine [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,820311,00.html Time Magazine] ] she was regarded "a model sportswoman" for her zest and attitude. He remarried November 9, 1952 to Augusta Davis Miller who died in 1980. His only child, Ethel Stokes Clark, never married and predeceased him.

Activities

Referred popularly and with affection as “Brose” he was perhaps not only the quintessential equestrian sportsman of his generation, but perhaps in all of 20th century America. Brose was indelibly linked with horses throughout his life until his ailing heath in 1963 marked the disbanding of his horse stables after 60 years of racing the light blue and yellow silks.

Visually it was often quoted that he looked to be a man who stepped right out of a 19th century sporting print. He was almost always seen in a tweed English cap, waistcoat, breeches and tall boots throughout his life in person and in captured images.

Never having attended college he did however pour himself into his passion for all things equestrian. He himself a gentleman rider who owned, bred and trained horses for steeplechase, polo, flat racing, driving, show jumping, and fox hunting.

Properties

He owned a convert|5000|acre|km2|sing=on estate in Cooperstown, New York known as Iroquois Farm, a convert|400|acre|km2|sing=on estate in Westbury, LI known as Broad Hollow, an apartment in the Manhattan, New York building The Dakota built by his grandfather, a sprawling estate in Aiken, South Carolina (acquired in 1929, known as Habersham House [ [http://library2.usca.edu/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album734&id=Habersham_House_726_Grace_Ave_2 Habersham House] )] , and had a seasonal residence at Melton Mowbray, England.

He privately published in 1958 a limited catalog of his sporting paintings: "The F. Ambrose Clark Collection of Sporting Paintings" Which included select works by artists Sir. Alfred Munnings and George Stubbs among many others.

Ambrose was master of hounds for the Meadow Brook Hounds in the 1920s. [ [http://www.steeplestakes.com/2004/races/8mb.html was the Master of Fox Hounds (MFH)] ] That hunt annually held a well-attended steeplechase race meeting on Mr. Clark's property, Broad Hollow in Westbury (Long Island), starting in 1919. Always the consummate horseman with a disdain for automobiles, famously Brose would not allow NBC radio to drive their equipment truck onto the estate to broadcast the races. Rather they had to use a team of horses to haul the equipment in.

Mrs. Clark owned Foshalee Plantation, a convert|11456|acre|km2|sing=on quail hunting property in northern Leon County, Florida just north of Tallahassee from 1938 until 1949. [Paisley, Clifton, "From Cotton To Quail: An Agricultural Chronicle of Leon County, Florida, 1860-1967", University of Florida Press, 1968. p. 88 ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-0718-2]

Noted horses

The most famous horse under Brose was a gelding he sold to his wife Florence] for $5.00 (1 pound) at the time just prior to the 1933 English Grand National was Kellsboro Jack (Ireland). Trained by Ivor Anthony, the American-bred horse would become, at the time, just the 3rd American owned horse to win the grueling English steeplechase race at Aintree Racecourse [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753645,00.html Time Magazine: Kellsboro Jack] ] . In the same race Ambrose had entered Chadd's Ford who finished next to last. Kellsboro Jack's time of 9 minutes 38 seconds set a new record for the event.

Inducted into the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum, January 23, 1977, was his horse Tea Maker who raced from 1948 to 1953 and was bred by Mrs. F. Ambrose Clark. [ [http://www.aikenracinghalloffame.com/Tea_Maker.html Aiken Racing Hall Of Fame: Tea Maker] ]

Legacy

Brose would upon his death be buried beside his beloved Kellsboro Jack just outside the village of Cooperstown, NY on a hillside overlooking the community.

Today the very selective F. Ambrose Clark Award is highest honor given in steeplechasing by the National Steeplechase Association. A coveted award, it is give to “individuals who have done the most to promote, improve, and encourage the growth and welfare of steeplechasing.”

Upon his death, his estate donated Broad Hollow to become the State University of New York at Old Westbury. Its main sports venue, the Physical Education and Recreation Center, was renamed for Clark in 1988. The Clark Center is the home of the Old Westbury basketball programs and the Nassau County men's high school basketball championships.

Iroquois Farm remained with the Clark family, Habersham House (bought in 1929 by Clark and renamed Kellsboro after the Grand National victory) in Aiken went to nephew George H. "Pete" Bostwick. The bulk of his financial estate remained with the family trusts: [ [http://www.thedailystar.com/opinion/columns/simonson/2005/05/simonson0509.html The Clark Foundation] ] , The Clark Estates and Scriven Foundation.

The manor house at Iroquois Farm was razed in 1981 to make was for what was planned to be the relocation of the Clark Sports Center [ [http://www.clarksportscenter.com/about/index.php Clark Sports Center] ] . Final changes resulted it being located in 1983 on what was the training track of Iroquois Farm. His significant collection of tack and historic carriage were put into The Carriage Museum of Cooperstown NY held in the Clark's Elk Street stables which closed in the late 1970s.

References