Lindsay Coleman Howard (March 31, 1904 – September 6, 1971) was an American sportsman.

Early life

Lindsay was born on March 31, 1904, in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He was the son of Fannie May Howard and

Charles S. Howard Charles Stewart Howard (February 28, 1877 – June 6, 1950) was an American businessman. He made his fortune as an automobile dealer and became a prominent thoroughbred racehorse owner. Biography Howard was dubbed one of the most successful Bui ...

, a prominent businessman and

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, 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 bas ...

owner. His siblings were Charles Howard Jr., Robert Stewart Howard, and Frank R. Howard.

Polo and thoroughbred racing

Lindsay Howard began riding horses at a young age and by the early 1930s had developed into a top class

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

player. He captained the San Mateo Hurricanes that played in the Pacific Coast Inter-circuit Cup Polo Championship against such teams as the Midwick Country Club, captained by Neil McCarthy. Lindsay Howard and his brother Robert frequently played matches in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, the polo capital of the world, and they and friend

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

decided to establish "Caballeriza Binglin Stock Farm" near

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

where they purchased a number of locally bred horses and shipped them back to the United States. In the latter part of the 1930s. Lindsay Howard became nationally known when he and Bing Crosby bought and raced horses together under the name

Binglin Stable Binglin Stable in Moorpark, California, Moorpark, Ventura County, California, was a Livestock, stock farm established during the latter part of the 1930s to race and horse breeding, breed Thoroughbred horses. The stable was owned by entertainer Bi ...

. at the same time as his father Charles Howard owned the superstar runner,

Seabiscuit Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933 – May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-hors ...

. In 1939, Lindsay Howard took over as trainer of the Binglin racing stable. The Binglin Stable partnership came to an end in 1953 as a result of a liquidation of assets by Bing Crosby in order to raise the funds necessary to pay the federal and state inheritance taxes on his deceased wife's estate.

Personal life

In 1925, Lindsay Howard married Anita Zabala of

Salinas, California Salinas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Salt pan (geology), Salt Flats") is a city in the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Monterey County, California, Monterey County. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is ...

, a descendant of one of California's first Spanish families, and sister to Marcela Zabala, second wife of his father

. The couple had three children before divorcing in 1938. Howard served with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, rising to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. The divorce involved much bitterness and on December 13, 1943, Lindsay Howard faced a

court martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

for conduct unbecoming an officer. The charges were brought against him a result of his missed

alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide ...

payments but in the military trial he was acquitted. Anita Howard remarried to George Vanderbilt. In 1940, Lindsay Howard married a second time to actress Judith Barrett (1909–2000) with whom he had two children before their much publicized divorce in 1952. Lindsay Howard died in 1971 at age sixty-seven at his home in

Moorpark, California Moorpark is a city in Ventura County in Southern California. Moorpark was founded in 1900. The town grew from just over 4,000 citizens in 1980 to over 25,000 by 1990. In 2006, Moorpark was one of the fastest-growing cities in Ventura County. Th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Lindsay C. 1904 births 1971 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II Businesspeople from San Francisco American polo players American racehorse trainers American racehorse owners and breeders Sportspeople from Moorpark, California 20th-century American businesspeople United States Army personnel who were court-martialed