Herbert M. Woolf
Encyclopedia
Herbert M. Woolf was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 businessman and 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...

 racehorse
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...

 owner.

Herbert Morris Woolf was born on October 11, 1880, graduated from Central High School in 1898. He was the president of Woolf Brothers, the Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

 based luxury goods department store founded in 1865 by his father, Alfred Woolf and his uncle, Samuel Woolf. Woolf was also the owner of Woolford Farm
Woolford Farm
Woolford Farm raised thoroughbred race horses in eastern Kansas, in what is now the city of Prairie Village, a suburb of Kansas City. The was owned by Herbert M. Woolf. Trainer Ben A. Jones worked there before going to Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky....

, which produced the only ever Kansas bred Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 winner, Lawrin
Lawrin
Lawrin was an American thoroughbred racehorse owned by Herbert M. Woolf who won the Kentucky Derby in 1938. He was the son of Insco. Lawrin also won the Flamingo Stakes and American Invitational. He is the only Kansas-bred winner of the Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Derby winner ridden by...

 of 1938 along with several other champion race horses. Woolf is also a cousin of British political theorist and husband of Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....

, Leonard Woolf
Leonard Woolf
Leonard Sidney Woolf was an English political theorist, author, publisher and civil servant, and husband of author Virginia Woolf.-Early life:...


Woolf Brothers

Samuel and Alfred Woolf came to Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth is the largest city and county seat of Leavenworth County, in the U.S. state of Kansas and within the Kansas City, Missouri Metropolitan Area. Located in the northeast portion of the state, it is on the west bank of the Missouri River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...

 in 1865, after the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, from their native New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. There, they established a store where fine men's shirts were made and sold. By June 1879, Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

 had become the region's urban commercial center and the business was accordingly relocated there, where it prospered. Herbert Woolf began working for the business in 1912 and was president three years later. He worked his way up from collector to window decorator to buyer, and junior partner in his twenties. For over thirty years, Woolf Brothers expanded and thrived under Herbert to become one of the largest and most revered luxury goods department stores in the Midwest, with branches in five other major cities. Alfred Lighton assumed control of the business in 1962 and remained there until 1992 when major changes in the retail clothing industry and other economic factors caused Woolf Brothers to permanently close its doors.

Woolford Farm

Herbert Woolf was a passionate horseman and his greatest accomplishments lay in horse racing which he pursued at his 200 acre (0.809372 km²) Woolford Farm
Woolford Farm
Woolford Farm raised thoroughbred race horses in eastern Kansas, in what is now the city of Prairie Village, a suburb of Kansas City. The was owned by Herbert M. Woolf. Trainer Ben A. Jones worked there before going to Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky....

 in eastern Kansas. In addition to being a Thoroughbred horse farm, it was a country retreat where Woolf threw extravagant parties whose guests included Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 and the infamous Tom Pendergast
Tom Pendergast
Thomas Joseph Pendergast controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri as a political boss. "Boss Tom" Pendergast gave workers jobs and helped elect politicians during the Great Depression, becoming wealthy in the process.-Early years:Thomas Joseph Pendergast, also known to close friends as...

.

In 1933, Woolf paid $500 for Insco (1928–1939), a son of the great sire Sir Gallahad III
Sir Gallahad III
Sir Gallahad III was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and a very important Sire in the United States.Racing at age two in France for his British breeder/owner, Jefferson Davis Cohn, Sir Gallahad earned victory in three of his five starts but was overshadowed by the 1922 Champion colt, Epinard...

. Insco would sire a number of successful stakes winners including two by the mare
Mare (horse)
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine.In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger. However, in Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old; in harness racing a mare is a...

, Margaret Lawrence. Their first was the 1938 Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 winner, Lawrin
Lawrin
Lawrin was an American thoroughbred racehorse owned by Herbert M. Woolf who won the Kentucky Derby in 1938. He was the son of Insco. Lawrin also won the Flamingo Stakes and American Invitational. He is the only Kansas-bred winner of the Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Derby winner ridden by...

, and the second the 1940 Kentucky Oaks
Kentucky Oaks
The Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers 1⅛ miles at Churchill Downs; the horses carry 121 pounds . The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Friday before the Kentucky Derby each year...

 winner, Inscolassie. Lawrin won the 64th running of the Kentucky Derby, beating C. V. Whitney's
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was an American businessman, film producer, writer, and government official, as well as the owner of a leading stable of thoroughbred racehorses....

 colt, Dauber
Dauber (horse)
Dauber was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1938 Preakness Stakes. Bred by Sonny Whitney, he was sired by Harry Payne Whitney's 1913 Futurity Stakes winner, Pennant. His dam was Ship of War, a daughter of the legendary Man o' War.Dauber was purchased by William duPont,...

. Lawrin's jockey was U.S. Racing 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...

 inductee, Eddie Arcaro
Eddie Arcaro
George Edward Arcaro , known professionally as Eddie Arcaro, was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who won more American classic races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice...

. His trainer was another Hall of Fame inductee, Ben A. Jones
Ben A. Jones
Benjamin Allyn Jones was a thoroughbred horse trainer.Born in Parnell, Missouri, Ben Jones went into the business of breeding and training of thoroughbreds during the first decade of the 20th century, racing his horses on small circuits in the American West and in Mexico...

. Lawrin is buried next to his sire at the former Woolford Farm, now Prairie Village, Kansas
Prairie Village, Kansas
Prairie Village is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 21,447.- History :...

.
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