Henry Clay

Henry Clay, known in history for his political acumen in such matters as the Treaty of Ghent and for his four attempts at becoming president, was also an avid agriculturalist. At Ashland in Lexington, a graceful old house with lovely gardens and grounds that he built to some 2,000 acres, he also kept Thoroughbreds. He was a member of the Lexington Jockey Club and its successor, the Kentucky Association, which conducted racing in Lexington for more than a century. One of Clay's law partners was Gen. Leslie Combs I, great-grandfather of the Leslie Combs who made Spendthrift Farm on Iron Works Pike a thriving 20th-Century Thoroughbred farm for many years. Clay entertained at Ashland such figures as Marquis de La Fayette, Martin Van Buren, and Daniel Webster. In the custom of the day, horses were often presented as gifts among the wealthy and prominent, and Wade Hampton II gave Clay the mare Margaret Wood. The mare became a granddam of Day Star, the first of three Kentucky Derby winners foaled at Ashland and bred by Clay's descendants.

Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky · United States