Saxon (horse)
Encyclopedia
Saxon was an American 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 that won the 1874 Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

, the eighth running of that stakes race.

Saxon was a brown stallion
Stallion
A Stallion is a male horse.Stallion may also refer to:* Stallion , an American pop rock group* Stallion , a figure in the Gobot toyline* Stallion , a character in the console role-playing game series...

 sired by Beadsman, and was bred in England, by Joseph Hawley
Sir Joseph Henry Hawley, 3rd Baronet
Sir Joseph Henry Hawley Bt. was a noted Thoroughbred race horse owner and breeder in nineteenth century England.Four of his horses won the Epsom Derby: Teddington , Beadsman , Musjid and Blue Gown...

. He was imported into the United States by Pierre Lorillard, along with his dam. Saxon's dam was the imported mare Girasol, who was sired by Asteroid and out of the mare Gillyflower. Gillyflower was sired by Venison.

As a two-year-old, Saxon won the 1873 August Stakes.

Saxon won the 1874 Belmont while owned by Pierre Lorillard. This was the eighth running of the stakes race. The race was run on June 13, 1871 at a distance of miles (i.e. 12 furlongs (2,414 m)) on a fast track. He finished first by a neck over Grinstead, and third place went to Aaron Pennington. All the horses in the race carried 110 pounds (49.9 kg), and the value to the winner was $4,200 (about $ today), with the winning time being 2 minutes and seconds. The winning jockey was G. Barbee, and the winning trainer was W. Prior.

In his racing career, Saxon won 2 times out of 8 starts, with total earnings of $5,150 (about $ today).

As a breeding stallion, he sired three stakes winners: Gerald out of Girl of the Period by Virgil
Virgil (horse)
Virgil was an American thoroughbred racehorse that was bred in Kentucky by Hyman C. Gratz. He was a brown to dark bay stallion, was approximately 16 hands high and had a prominent white star on his forehead.[2] His sire, Vandal, was the second leading sire of the time, behind the great Lexington...

, Hiawasse out of Vandalite by Vandal, and Zamora out of Zoo Zoo by imported Australian. Gerald, an 1879 brown stallion, won the 1881 Foam Stakes. Hiawasse, a 1879 brown mare, won the 1882 Ladies Handicap
Ladies Handicap
The Ladies Handicap is a historic American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies three years of age and older that is held annually at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. Inaugurated at the Jerome Park Racetrack in 1868, it is the oldest stakes race in the U.S. exclusively for fillies and mares...

, 1881 Monmouth Oakes, and the 1881 Mermaid Stakes. Hiawasse was undefeated as a three-year-old racehorse. Zamora, an 1881 gray mare, won the 1884 Tennessee Oaks.

Saxon was used as a breeding stallion by his owner, Pierre Lorillard. Once, Lorillard's brother George, teased Pierre that Saxon's get were not as good as expected. Pierre then challenged George to a match race between one of Saxon's offspring against any racehorse that George owned. The result was that Hiawasse won the match race by four horselengths.

Saxon died in February 1895 at the Cliff Lawn Stud, the farm of W.B. Cheatham, in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

.
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