Foxhall Parker Keene (December 18, 1867 – September 25, 1941) was an American

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. Thoroughbreds are ...

race horse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic ...

owner and

breeder A breeder is a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates, normally of the same breed to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics. This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist ...

, a world and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medallist in polo and an amateur

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

player. He was rated the best all-around polo player in the United States for eight consecutive years, a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er who competed in the U.S. Open, and a pioneer

racecar driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

who vied for the Gordon Bennett Cup. In addition to his substantial involvement in

flat racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

, he was also a founding member of the

National Steeplechase Association The National Steeplechase Association is the official sanctioning body of American steeplechase horse racing. The National Steeplechase Association was founded on February 15, 1895 by August Belmont Jr., the first president of The Jockey Club a ...

Biography

He was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

on December 18, 1867 to Sarah Jay Daingerfield and James Robert Keene. At the time of his birth, his father was president of the San Francisco Stock Exchange. James R. Keene was also a major owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses and a founder of

The Jockey Club The Jockey Club is the breed registry for Thoroughbred horses in the United States and Canada. It is dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing and fulfills that mandate by serving many segments of the industry through its s ...

from whom Foxhall Keene inherited

Castleton Farm Castleton Lyons near Lexington, Kentucky, is an American horse-racing stable and breeding business best known by the name Castleton Farm. History The farm was established in 1793 when Virginian John Breckinridge, a future U.S. senator and attorn ...

, an important breeding operation near

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the second-largest city in Kentucky and 57th-largest city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 28th-largest ...

. Keene was an avid

er who competed in the 1897 U.S. Open and who made it to the quarterfinals in the 1898 U.S. Amateur. Although he played at a high level in a number of sports, he excelled at the game of polo. A 10-goal player, he was a member of the

Rockaway Hunting Club The Rockaway Hunting Club is a country club and sporting venue established in 1878 in Cedarhurst, New York (now Lawrence). In 1893 the original clubhouse was lost in a fire. In 1917 the golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the s ...

Lawrence, Nassau County, New York Lawrence is a village in Nassau County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village population was 6,483. The Village of Lawrence is in the southwestern corner of the Town of Hempstead, adjoining the border with ...

, today the oldest country club in the United States. With team captain Tommy Hitchcock, in 1886 he was part of the first U.S. international polo team that competed in the inaugural

International Polo Cup The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup, is a trophy in polo that was created in 1876 and was played for by teams from the United States and United Kingdom. The match has varied in length over the years ...

matches against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He was rated the best all-around polo player in the United States for eight consecutive years and won the Gold Medal in

Polo at the 1900 Summer Olympics At the 1900 Summer Olympics, a polo tournament was contested. Matches were held on 28 May, 31 May, and 2 June. Five teams competed. Most of the teams were of mixed nationality, with British and French athletes competing on three teams. There ...

. Following its formation, he was inducted posthumously into the

Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame The Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization to celebrate the sport of polo.Horace Laffaye, Dennis J. Amato, ''Polo in the United States: A History'', Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2011, p. 28/ref> Overview ...

in 1992. Keene also competed as a top-level tennis player, reaching the semifinals of the 1883 U.S. National Championships and the quarterfinals in

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 &ndash ...

. With the advent of automobile racing, Keene competed in the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup at

Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 9,677 (as of the 2016 census) makes it the sixth largest town in Ki ...

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

driving a Mercedes. In a race won by

Camille Jenatzy Camille Jenatzy (1868, Schaerbeek – 8 December 1913, Habay la Neuve) was a Belgian race car driver. He is known for breaking the land speed record three times and being the first man to break the 100 km/h barrier. He was nicknamed ''Le D ...

, he did not finish after his car experienced axle problems. Keene maintained a country home at

Monkton, Maryland Monkton is an unincorporated community in northern Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It has a population of approximately 4,856 people. The community is in area, with approximately . As an unincorporated area, Monkton has no lega ...

and a home in England with a stable at

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes pro ...

where he kept up to ten field hunters for

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of h ...

. In addition, he had a seasonal residence at Ayer's Cliff, Quebec on

Lake Massawippi Lake Massawippi is a freshwater lake in Memphrémagog Regional County Municipality in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada. The Tomifobia River is the source of the lake at its southern tip, near the village of Ayer's Cliff, Quebec. In early rec ...

. He died in poverty on September 25, 1941 at Ayer's Cliff, Quebec.

Legacy

His father named one of his horses Foxhall who won the 1882

Ascot Gold Cup The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards (4,01 ...

in England. Recently, two Thoroughbred racehorses, one born in 1983 and another in 2002, were named after Foxhall Keene. Several publications, including ''The American Heritage Cookbook and Illustrated History of American Eating and Drinking'' and the ''Encyclopedia of North American Eating and Drinking Traditions, Customs and Rituals'' claim that '' Chicken à la King'' was prepared at Keene's suggestion.

References

External links

* Hatch, Alden and Foxhall Keene. ''Full Tilt. The Sporting Memoirs of Foxhall Keene''. (1938)

The Derrydale Press The Derrydale Press was an American book publishing company founded in 1927 with headquarters on Park Ave. in Manhattan, New York. It was the creation of Princeton University graduate Eugene V. Connett III (1891–1969). He told ''Time'' magazin ...

Eclipse Press story of James and Foxhall Keene

Foxhall Keene racing in his Mercedes
(

Vanderbilt Cup The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. History An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County on Long Island, ...

)
Rockaway Hunting Club information on Foxhall Keene
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keene, Foxhall P. 1867 births 1941 deaths American male equestrians American male golfers American male tennis players American polo players American racehorse owners and breeders Golfers from San Francisco International Polo Cup Medalists at the 1900 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States Olympic medalists in polo Olympic polo players of the United States Owners of Kentucky Derby winners People from Monkton, Maryland Polo players at the 1900 Summer Olympics Racing drivers from San Francisco Tennis players from San Francisco