Robert Wyndham Walden (August 2, 1844 – April 28, 1905) was one of the most successful American

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thoroughbred horse racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and Horse industry, industry involving the Horse racing, racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter know ...

during the last quarter of the 19th century. He was inducted in the

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 horse racing, Thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and Horse trainer, trainers. In 1955, the museum ...

in 1970. Known by his middle name, Wyndham, in 1872 Walden and his wife Caroline moved from

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to Middleburg in

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where they established "Bowling Brook Farm" to breed and train

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race horses. Wyndham Walden trained his first

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held annually on Armed Forces Day, the third Saturday in May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland (except in 2026 when it will move to Laurel Park (race track), Laurel Park dur ...

winner in 1875, Tom Ochiltree, then two years later began a streak of five straight victories, all of which came with horses owned by George L. Lorillard. Walden won the Preakness for a seventh time in 1888 with his own horse, Refund. The win set a record for a trainer which stood until 2023, when it was broken by Bob Baffert. During a career spanning thirty-one years between 1872 and 1902, he also won the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...

four times and trained more than 100

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winners. His son Robert J. Walden won the 1899 Kentucky Derby with

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, owned by the Morris brothers,

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and

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. His daughter, Minnie Walden, married jockey Fred Littlefield who rode Refund to his 1888 Preakness Stakes victory and was aboard Bowling Brook for the win in the 1898 Belmont Stakes. On Wyndham Walden's death in 1905, Bowling Brook Farm was taken over by his wife, then on her death by their son Robert, who lived there until his death in 1951. Over the Walden family's eighty-year history in racing they raised and trained winners of more than one thousand races.

Classic Race winning horses

Kentucky Derby: *

(1899) Preakness Stakes: * Tom Ochiltree (1875) * Duke of Magenta (1878) *

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(1879) *

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(1880) * Saunterer (1881) *

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(1882) * Refund (1888) Belmont Stakes: * Duke of Magenta (1878) *

(1880) * Saunterer (1881) * Bowling Brook (1898)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walden, R. Wyndham 1844 births 1905 deaths American racehorse trainers American racehorse owners and breeders Owners of Preakness Stakes winners Breeders of Preakness Stakes winners United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees