Allaire du Pont
Encyclopedia
Allaire du Pont was an American sportswoman and a member of the prominent French-American Du Pont family
of chemical manufacturers who is most remembered as the owner of the Thoroughbred
horse racing
Hall of Fame
champion, Kelso
.
Born Helena Allaire Crozer, in 1934 she married Richard C. du Pont
with whom she had a son, Richard Jr. and a daughter Helena. An avid sports person, she was an Olympic Trap
shooter and a champion tennis
player. Allaire du Pont and her husband were both glider
and powered aircraft pilot
s. She set a national endurance record for women gliders in 1935. In the early days of flying when it was still a novelty, doing stunts was popular and she once flew her plane under the Chesapeake City bridge. Her husband died in 1943 while working for the War effort
when a U.S. government experimental glider in which he was a passenger crashed during a demonstration flight. In 1947, she established the Richard C. du Pont Memorial Trophy
to be awarded annually to the United States National Open Class Soaring Champion.
and raced under the nom-de-course Bohemia Stable. She hired future Hall of Fame trainer
Carl Hanford to condition her horses for racing.
Bohemia Stables produced a number of top horses such as multiple stakes winner Politely
and Shine Again, winner of the 2001 and 2002 Grade I
Ballerina Handicap
. However, it was her gelding
Kelso who brought her wide recognition during the 1960s when he was voted U.S. Horse of the Year
honors for an unmatched five consecutive years from 1960 through 1964 and was a 1967 Racing Hall of Fame inductee. A Fox hunting
participant, after Kelso was retired Allaire du Pont rode him in hunts.
A member of The Jockey Club
, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association
, and the Thoroughbred Charities of America, she was also a founding member of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. Good friends with Canadian business magnate and Thoroughbred owner and breeder E. P. Taylor
, when he visited her home she convinced Taylor to build his planned American branch of Windfields Farm
in the area. A preservationist
, du Pont was among the first to commit some of her property to Maryland's Agricultural Land Preservation Program. Following the death of E. P. Taylor in 1989, Allaire du Pont was instrumental in having 2500 acres (10.1 km²) of his property go into permanent preservation rather than be sub-divided into building lots by real estate
developers.
Du Pont was also a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors
of Thoroughbred Charities of America, an organization whose activities include raising funds to save retired horses. Among the other charitable causes to which she devoted both time and money were Paws for Life, Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue, Greener Pastures, and the Union Hospital of which she was an honorary member of the Board of Directors
.
In 1983, Allaire du Pont, Martha F. Gerry
, and Penny Chenery
became the first women to be admitted as members of The Jockey Club
.
The Grade III
Pimlico Breeders' Cup Distaff Handicap at Pimlico Race Course
was renamed the Allaire du Pont Breeders' Cup Distaff in her memory.
Allaire du Pont died January 6, 2006 at her Woodstock Farm near Chesapeake City, Maryland
.
Du Pont family
The Du Pont family is an American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours . The son of a Paris watchmaker and a member of a Burgundian noble family, he and his sons, Victor Marie du Pont and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, emigrated to the United States in 1800 and used the resources of...
of chemical manufacturers who is most remembered as the owner of the Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
champion, Kelso
Kelso (horse)
Kelso was an American thoroughbred race horse considered among the best racehorses of the 20th century. In the list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century by The Blood-Horse magazine Kelso ranks 4th, behind only Man o' War , Secretariat and Citation...
.
Born Helena Allaire Crozer, in 1934 she married Richard C. du Pont
Richard C. du Pont
Richard Chichester du Pont was an American businessman and an aviation and glider pioneer who was a member of the prominent Du Pont family....
with whom she had a son, Richard Jr. and a daughter Helena. An avid sports person, she was an Olympic Trap
Olympic Trap
Officially referred to only as trap, and also known in the United States as international trap, bunker trap, trench or international clay pigeon, the single-target Olympic trap shooting event has a history over a hundred years old...
shooter and a champion tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player. Allaire du Pont and her husband were both glider
Glider (sailplane)
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the sport of gliding. Some gliders, known as motor gliders are used for gliding and soaring as well, but have engines which can, in some cases, be used for take-off or for extending a flight...
and powered aircraft pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
s. She set a national endurance record for women gliders in 1935. In the early days of flying when it was still a novelty, doing stunts was popular and she once flew her plane under the Chesapeake City bridge. Her husband died in 1943 while working for the War effort
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when a U.S. government experimental glider in which he was a passenger crashed during a demonstration flight. In 1947, she established the Richard C. du Pont Memorial Trophy
Richard C. du Pont Memorial Trophy
The Richard C. du Pont Memorial Trophy is an American competitive award given annually by the Soaring Society of America to the U.S. National Open Class Soaring Champion, as determined at the annual U.S. National Open Class Soaring Championship....
to be awarded annually to the United States National Open Class Soaring Champion.
Thoroughbred horse racing
Always a lover of animals, Allaire du Pont operated Woodstock Farm in Chesapeake City, MarylandChesapeake City, Maryland
Chesapeake City is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 787 at the 2000 census.The town was originally named by Bohemian colonist Augustine Herman the Village of Bohemia , but the name was changed in 1839 when the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal was built...
and raced under the nom-de-course Bohemia Stable. She hired future Hall of Fame trainer
Horse trainer
In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...
Carl Hanford to condition her horses for racing.
Bohemia Stables produced a number of top horses such as multiple stakes winner Politely
Politely
Politely was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. She was bred by Allaire du Pont and raced under her Bohemia Stable banner. Her sire, Amerigo, a son of the great Nearco, was a stakes winner of races in England and the United States including the Coventry Stakes, New York Handicap and the San Juan...
and Shine Again, winner of the 2001 and 2002 Grade I
Graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...
Ballerina Handicap
Ballerina Handicap
The Ballerina Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race. The Grade I event is contested each year during the last week of August at Saratoga Race Course and is open to fillies and mares, ages three and up...
. However, it was her gelding
Gelding
A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, and the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday...
Kelso who brought her wide recognition during the 1960s when he was voted U.S. Horse of the Year
Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year
The American Award for Horse of the Year is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. It has been awarded since 1887 to the horse, irrespective of age, whose performance during the racing year is deemed the most outstanding....
honors for an unmatched five consecutive years from 1960 through 1964 and was a 1967 Racing Hall of Fame inductee. A Fox hunting
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
participant, after Kelso was retired Allaire du Pont rode him in hunts.
A member of The Jockey Club
The Jockey Club
The Jockey Club, formed on February 9, 1894, is the keeper of The American Stud Book. It came into existence after James R. Keene spearheaded a drive in support of racehorse trainers who had complained about the Board of Control that governed racing in New York State.-History:On its formation, The...
, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association
Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association
The American Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association based in Lexington, Kentucky is a trade organization for Thoroughbred racehorse owners and breeders...
, and the Thoroughbred Charities of America, she was also a founding member of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. Good friends with Canadian business magnate and Thoroughbred owner and breeder E. P. Taylor
E. P. Taylor
Edward Plunket Taylor was a Canadian business tycoon and famous breeder of thoroughbred race horses. Known to his friends as "Eddie", he is universally recorded as "E. P...
, when he visited her home she convinced Taylor to build his planned American branch of Windfields Farm
Windfields Farm
Windfields Farm is a six square kilometre thoroughbred horse breeding farm founded by businessman E. P. Taylor in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The first stable and breeding operation of E. P. Taylor originated with a property near the city of Toronto known as Parkwood Stable when it was owned by...
in the area. A preservationist
Preservationist
Preservationist is generally understood to mean historic preservationist: one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects or sites from demolition or degradation...
, du Pont was among the first to commit some of her property to Maryland's Agricultural Land Preservation Program. Following the death of E. P. Taylor in 1989, Allaire du Pont was instrumental in having 2500 acres (10.1 km²) of his property go into permanent preservation rather than be sub-divided into building lots by real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
developers.
Du Pont was also a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of Thoroughbred Charities of America, an organization whose activities include raising funds to save retired horses. Among the other charitable causes to which she devoted both time and money were Paws for Life, Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue, Greener Pastures, and the Union Hospital of which she was an honorary member of the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
.
In 1983, Allaire du Pont, Martha F. Gerry
Martha F. Gerry
Martha B. Farish Gerry was an American Thoroughbred racehorse owner named an Exemplar of Racing by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame....
, and Penny Chenery
Penny Chenery
Helen Bates "Penny" Chenery Tweedy is an American sportswoman who bred and raced Secretariat, the 1973 winner of the Triple Crown...
became the first women to be admitted as members of The Jockey Club
The Jockey Club
The Jockey Club, formed on February 9, 1894, is the keeper of The American Stud Book. It came into existence after James R. Keene spearheaded a drive in support of racehorse trainers who had complained about the Board of Control that governed racing in New York State.-History:On its formation, The...
.
The Grade III
Graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...
Pimlico Breeders' Cup Distaff Handicap at Pimlico Race Course
Pimlico Race Course
Pimlico Race Course is a horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Olde Ben Pimlico's Tavern in London...
was renamed the Allaire du Pont Breeders' Cup Distaff in her memory.
Allaire du Pont died January 6, 2006 at her Woodstock Farm near Chesapeake City, Maryland
Chesapeake City, Maryland
Chesapeake City is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 787 at the 2000 census.The town was originally named by Bohemian colonist Augustine Herman the Village of Bohemia , but the name was changed in 1839 when the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal was built...
.