August Belmont bred Beldame at his farm near Lexington, Kentucky. He leased her to a friend of his, Newton Bennington, because he was very busy building Belmont Park and the New York City Subway system. Also, he was irritated with Beldame's trainer who refused to take Belmont's worries about a skin condition she suffered seriously. I can relate! Poor Belmont worried that she had shingles and the trainer couldn't care less! Anyway, under Bennington at age 3, she was magnificent (as reported in the Blood Horse Top 100 Race Horses of the 20th Century publication). In 14 starts, she only lost twice to much older boys, and she was winning at short and long distances. She was a macho machine!!! But she did love a little snack or two -- every day she liked to nosh on corn cobs!! In 1904, she spanked very famous boys in the Saratoga Cup, and in that year, she even beat Broomstick in another race. She was all about the business of beating the boys! And she was only the third filly to win over $100,000. She was so white hot in her third year that she was severely weighted and handicapped in her fourth year. Belmont and Bennington thought that was not fair to their super girl, so they let her retire early in triumphant style! She was the Eclipse Horse of the Year winner in 1904, voted #98 of the top 100 race horses of the 20th century, and was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1956 . She also has the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park as an honor!! My girls are related to her through Bend Or, Touchstone, Pocahontas, Macaroni, and Stockwell. You can read more about this high-powered, trouble-making, boy-spanking girl at the following links:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beldame
or
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=27
or
http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/beldame.html