INDUSTRY · HISTORICAL MARKER
Idle Hour Farm
Industry
7
E. R. Bradley's Idle Hour Farm covered 1,292 acres on both sides of Old Frankfort Pike and set an almost unbelievable standard for the early 20th century Thoroughbred farm. Idle Hour raised four Kentucky Derby winners and dominated the American racetrack from 1903 to 1933. Bradley's horses' names all began with “B,” including Bubbling Over, Busher, Black Toney, and Broker's Tip. Idle Hour employed about 100 full-time workers with a yearly operating budget that would total about four-to-five million dollars today. Many African American staff lived north of the farm in Bracktown and crossed the private bridge over Elkhorn Creek to work, while others lived on the farm in dormitories. Besides breeding, raising, and training Thoroughbreds, Idle Hour maintained sheep and cattle herds and had its own water system, power station, firehouse, dairy, equine hospital, indoor arena, training tracks, and race track with a clock tower. Bradley was one of the most influential horsemen of his day, known for his gambling, uncommon generosity, and thoughtfulness, and he built Idle Hour Country Club when the Lexington Country Club denied him membership, supposedly because of his gambling. Thousands attended the Orphan's Day Races at Bradley's Idle Hour race track on the south side of Old Frankfort Pike from 1928 to 1932, and the proceeds funded contributions to Kentucky orphanages that today would exceed $1.5 million. Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm is now three separate Thoroughbred farms, including Darby Dan on the north side of Old Frankfort Pike, and many of its historic buildings and landscapes remain, some visible from the road.
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