Rokeby Stables was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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...

 breeding

Horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

 farm in Upperville, Virginia

Upperville, Virginia

Upperville is an unincorporated community in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States, located along U.S. Route 50 fifty miles from downtown Washington, D.C.. Founded in the 1790s along Pantherskin Creek, it was originally named Carrstown by first settler Josephus Carr...

 involved with both steeplechase

Steeplechase (horse racing)

The steeplechase is a form of horse racing and derives its name from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside...

 and flat racing

Flat racing

Flat racing is a form of Thoroughbred horse racing which is run over a level track at a predetermined distance. It differs from steeplechase racing which is run over hurdles...

. The operation was established in the late 1940s by Paul Mellon

Paul Mellon

Paul Mellon KBE was an American philanthropist, thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame...

 (1907-1999) who won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder

Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder

Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor for breeders. Created in 1971, it is part of the Eclipse Awards program and is awarded annually.Its Canadian counterpart is the Sovereign Award for Outstanding Breeder....

 in 1971 and again in 1986. Under Mellon the stable had more than 1,000 stakes race winners with total earnings in excess of US$30 million.

Steeplechase racing

Rokeby Stables' American Way was the 1948 American Steeplechase Champion

Eclipse Award for Outstanding Steeplechase horse

The American Champion Steeplechase Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded as part of the Eclipse Award program since its inception in 1971. It is awarded annually to the top horse in steeplechase racing....

 and in 1990 Molotov won the American Grand National steeplechase.

Flat racing

Among its many successful horses, the stable owned the good runner Winter's Tale

Winter's Tale (horse)

Winter's Tale was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Regally bred by owner Paul Mellon, his sire was U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Arts and Letters, a son of a European superstar, the undefeated runner and British Champion sire, Ribot. His dam, Christmas Wind, was a Canadian daughter of E. P...

, 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, Sea Hero

Sea Hero

Sea Hero is an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the 1993 Kentucky Derby as an almost 13:1 longshot. It marked the first Derby win for jockey Jerry Bailey and for 71-year-old trainer MacKenzie Miller...

 and the Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an champions, Mill Reef

Mill Reef

Mill Reef was a Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was bred in the United States but was trained in the United Kingdom throughout his racing career which lasted from 1970 to 1972. Mill Reef won twelve of his fourteen races and finished second in the other two...

, Glint of Gold, and Gold and Ivory. Mill Reef's wins include the Epsom Derby

Epsom Derby

The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...

 and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...

. Glint of Gold, a son of Mill Reef, won six European Group One

Group One

Group One or Group 1 is the term used for the highest level of Thoroughbred and Standardbred stakes races in many countries. Group One races may be run under handicap conditions in Australia but in Europe weight-for-age conditions always apply. Races may be also restricted to age groups or a...

 races including the 1981 Derby Italiano

Derby Italiano

The Derby Italiano is a Group 2 flat horse race in Italy open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Capannelle over a distance of 2,200 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in May....

, Grand Prix de Paris

Grand Prix de Paris

The Grand Prix de Paris is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in July.-History:...

 and Preis von Europa

Preis von Europa

The Preis von Europa is a Group 1 flat horse race in Germany which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at the Cologne-Weidenpesch Racecourse, Cologne over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late September.The event was established...

. Paul Mellon is one of only four men to have raced both a Kentucky Derby winner and an Epsom Derby winner. The others are John W. Galbreath, Michael Tabor

Michael Tabor

Michael B. Tabor is a businessman and owner of Thoroughbred racehorses.-Thoroughbred racing career:...

 and Prince Ahmed bin Salman

Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

Prince Ahmed bin Salman was a member of the royal family of Saudi Arabia and a media executive who also was a major figure in international Thoroughbred horse racing....

. Mellon, however, is the only one to ever win the Kentucky Derby, Epsom Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

In England, Mellon kept his horses at trainer Ian Balding's

Ian Balding

Ian Balding emigrated with his family to England in 1945. He is the son of the polo player and racehorse trainer Gerald Barnard Balding, Sr. and the younger brother of trainer Toby Balding. Kingsclere became his home at the age of 26 and it is here that earned his reputation as an internationally...

 Park House Stables at Kingsclere

Kingsclere

Kingsclere is a large village and civil parish in the county of Hampshire, England. Kingsclere is located near to Watership Down, the setting of Richard Adams' 1972 novel Watership Down.-Geography:...

 and raced under his own name. In the United States, Rokeby Stables employed a number of prominent horse 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...

s including Hall of Fame inductee Elliott Burch

J. Elliott Burch

John Elliott Burch was an American National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Four of his horses were inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.-Biography:...

 who trained the stable's champions

Eclipse Award

The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...

 Arts and Letters

Arts and Letters

Arts and Letters was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.Owned and bred by American sportsman and noted philanthropist Paul Mellon, and trained by future Hall of Famer Elliott Burch, the colt began racing at age two...

, Quadrangle

Quadrangle (horse)

Quadrangle was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1964 Belmont Stakes. Bred in Virginia by Paul Mellon, he was out of the mare Tap Day, a daughter of the Calumet Farm Champion stallion, Bull Lea...

, Fort Marcy

Fort Marcy (horse)

Fort Marcy was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. His grandsire was the important Italian horse, Nearco. In 1970 he earned three Champion titles including Co-Horse of the Year honors. He competed for six years until his retirement at the end of the 1971 racing season.Fort Marcy died in 1991 at...

, Run the Gantlet

Run the Gantlet

Run the Gantlet was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and noted sire. He was out of the mare First Feather, whom owner Paul Mellon had purchased as a yearling at a then record price of $90,000 for a filly. He was sired by the 1965 Preakness Stakes winner, Tom Rolfe, a son of the...

, and Key to the Mint

Key to the Mint

Key to the Mint was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.-Background:Bred by Paul Mellon and raced under his Rokeby Stable colors, Key to the Mint was trained by future Hall of Fame inductee, Elliott Burch.-Racing Career:...

. Another Hall of Fame inductee, Mack Miller

MacKenzie Miller

Mackenzie Todd Miller was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and owner/breeder. During his forty-six year career, he conditioned seventy-two stakes winners, including four Eclipse Award champions....

, took over as the Rokeby trainer in 1977. Miller's accomplishments include winning the Kentucky Derby with Sea Hero and the New York Handicap Triple

New York Handicap Triple

The New York Handicap Triple is the name used to refer to three American handicap races for older Thoroughbred racehorses run by the New York Racing Association at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York...

 in 1984 with Fit To Fight

Fit to Fight

Fit to Fight was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the New York Handicap Triple in 1984.-Background:...

. Once Miller retired from training, in 1997, the then 90-year-old Paul Mellon decided to give up racing but still maintained his breeding operations.