Philanthropist, Horse Breeder, called Brose by his friends, was born at Cooperstown, N. Y., the son of Alfred Corning Clark, whose father had been lawyer for the Singer Manufacturing Company. Since money was tight in the sewing machine business at first, the company paid its lawyer in stock. The result was that Ambrose Clark, three brothers and their mother shared a $30‐million trust fund. Young Clark never went to college and he had no taste for business. “I’m not a money maker,” he once remarked. “All I know is horses. Why should I go puttering down to an office to meddle in something another man can do 100 times better?” His own executive ability was devoted to managing the stable and running the Westbury home, as well as a 5,000‐acre farm at Cooperstown. In his younger days, Mr. Clark was an enthusiastic “gentleman jockey” who attracted wide interest by the number and variety of his falls. He was recognized as an inspired rider with technical faults.
It was said at one time that Mr. Clark had broken every bone in his body. This was doubtless an exaggeration. Nonetheless, he certainly fractured some bones several times over. A newspaper clipping of 1910 records an accident with the comment that “he is a skilled rider, the trouble has always come from the horse.” Mr. Clark married Florence L. Stokes, an equally fervent racing enthusiast, in 1902. The peak achievement he attained at the track was, officially, hers. It happened in 1933 when Kellsboro Jack won the Grand National steeplechase at Aintree in England. Before the race Mr. Clark, who felt his horses were jinxed that year, “sold” Kellsboro Jack to his wife for a one‐pound note (then about $5). The British were delighted, and so was Mr. Clark, when she asked him to lead in the winner. From 1923 on, Mr. Clark went to England annually for many years and hunted with packs there. In this period, both here and abroad, he rode with the Prince of Wales, now the Duke of Windsor, who was often his house guest. As an owner and breeder over the years, Mr. Clark favored horses that were vivid and speedy, but seldom great. This never bothered him, for he was in the sport for the pure exhilaration. At Cooperstown, Mr. Clark entered upon a gentleman farmer's life with comparable zest. There, too, he drove a coach‐and‐four. Mr. Clark was so devoted to his horses that he had a rocking chair put aboard a box car so he could ride with a favorite mount to Bryn Mawr, Pa. But he was also capable of irritation, and he once put a hot potato under the tail of a balky horse to speed him along. Among the horses that carried Mr. Clark's colors were Killy Moon, Birmingham, TeaMaker, London Town, Amber Diver and Irish Town. TeaMaker, which he bought from his first wife's estate, earned a total of $211,530. Thirty years ago it was written of him: “Life is inevitably swift for a man like that, but the pattern of it remains serene. Each day is a tribute, honest and unaffected, to an earlier day that, as long as Brose Clark drives along the sunny lanes, is not, perhaps, quite gone.” Mr. Clark was a former president of the United Hunts Racing Association and a member of the Turf and Field, Piping Rock, Meadowbrook, and Racquet and Tennis Clubs.
(Via New York Times)
It was said at one time that Mr. Clark had broken every bone in his body. This was doubtless an exaggeration. Nonetheless, he certainly fractured some bones several times over. A newspaper clipping of 1910 records an accident with the comment that “he is a skilled rider, the trouble has always come from the horse.” Mr. Clark married Florence L. Stokes, an equally fervent racing enthusiast, in 1902. The peak achievement he attained at the track was, officially, hers. It happened in 1933 when Kellsboro Jack won the Grand National steeplechase at Aintree in England. Before the race Mr. Clark, who felt his horses were jinxed that year, “sold” Kellsboro Jack to his wife for a one‐pound note (then about $5). The British were delighted, and so was Mr. Clark, when she asked him to lead in the winner. From 1923 on, Mr. Clark went to England annually for many years and hunted with packs there. In this period, both here and abroad, he rode with the Prince of Wales, now the Duke of Windsor, who was often his house guest. As an owner and breeder over the years, Mr. Clark favored horses that were vivid and speedy, but seldom great. This never bothered him, for he was in the sport for the pure exhilaration. At Cooperstown, Mr. Clark entered upon a gentleman farmer's life with comparable zest. There, too, he drove a coach‐and‐four. Mr. Clark was so devoted to his horses that he had a rocking chair put aboard a box car so he could ride with a favorite mount to Bryn Mawr, Pa. But he was also capable of irritation, and he once put a hot potato under the tail of a balky horse to speed him along. Among the horses that carried Mr. Clark's colors were Killy Moon, Birmingham, TeaMaker, London Town, Amber Diver and Irish Town. TeaMaker, which he bought from his first wife's estate, earned a total of $211,530. Thirty years ago it was written of him: “Life is inevitably swift for a man like that, but the pattern of it remains serene. Each day is a tribute, honest and unaffected, to an earlier day that, as long as Brose Clark drives along the sunny lanes, is not, perhaps, quite gone.” Mr. Clark was a former president of the United Hunts Racing Association and a member of the Turf and Field, Piping Rock, Meadowbrook, and Racquet and Tennis Clubs.
(Via New York Times)
Philanthropist, Horse Breeder, called Brose by his friends, was born at Cooperstown, N. Y., the son of Alfred Corning Clark, whose father had been lawyer for the Singer Manufacturing Company. Since money was tight in the sewing machine business at first, the company paid its lawyer in stock. The result was that Ambrose Clark, three brothers and their mother shared a $30‐million trust fund. Young Clark never went to college and he had no taste for business. “I’m not a money maker,” he once remarked. “All I know is horses. Why should I go puttering down to an office to meddle in something another man can do 100 times better?” His own executive ability was devoted to managing the stable and running the Westbury home, as well as a 5,000‐acre farm at Cooperstown. In his younger days, Mr. Clark was an enthusiastic “gentleman jockey” who attracted wide interest by the number and variety of his falls. He was recognized as an inspired rider with technical faults.
It was said at one time that Mr. Clark had broken every bone in his body. This was doubtless an exaggeration. Nonetheless, he certainly fractured some bones several times over. A newspaper clipping of 1910 records an accident with the comment that “he is a skilled rider, the trouble has always come from the horse.” Mr. Clark married Florence L. Stokes, an equally fervent racing enthusiast, in 1902. The peak achievement he attained at the track was, officially, hers. It happened in 1933 when Kellsboro Jack won the Grand National steeplechase at Aintree in England. Before the race Mr. Clark, who felt his horses were jinxed that year, “sold” Kellsboro Jack to his wife for a one‐pound note (then about $5). The British were delighted, and so was Mr. Clark, when she asked him to lead in the winner. From 1923 on, Mr. Clark went to England annually for many years and hunted with packs there. In this period, both here and abroad, he rode with the Prince of Wales, now the Duke of Windsor, who was often his house guest. As an owner and breeder over the years, Mr. Clark favored horses that were vivid and speedy, but seldom great. This never bothered him, for he was in the sport for the pure exhilaration. At Cooperstown, Mr. Clark entered upon a gentleman farmer's life with comparable zest. There, too, he drove a coach‐and‐four. Mr. Clark was so devoted to his horses that he had a rocking chair put aboard a box car so he could ride with a favorite mount to Bryn Mawr, Pa. But he was also capable of irritation, and he once put a hot potato under the tail of a balky horse to speed him along. Among the horses that carried Mr. Clark's colors were Killy Moon, Birmingham, TeaMaker, London Town, Amber Diver and Irish Town. TeaMaker, which he bought from his first wife's estate, earned a total of $211,530. Thirty years ago it was written of him: “Life is inevitably swift for a man like that, but the pattern of it remains serene. Each day is a tribute, honest and unaffected, to an earlier day that, as long as Brose Clark drives along the sunny lanes, is not, perhaps, quite gone.” Mr. Clark was a former president of the United Hunts Racing Association and a member of the Turf and Field, Piping Rock, Meadowbrook, and Racquet and Tennis Clubs.
(Via New York Times)
It was said at one time that Mr. Clark had broken every bone in his body. This was doubtless an exaggeration. Nonetheless, he certainly fractured some bones several times over. A newspaper clipping of 1910 records an accident with the comment that “he is a skilled rider, the trouble has always come from the horse.” Mr. Clark married Florence L. Stokes, an equally fervent racing enthusiast, in 1902. The peak achievement he attained at the track was, officially, hers. It happened in 1933 when Kellsboro Jack won the Grand National steeplechase at Aintree in England. Before the race Mr. Clark, who felt his horses were jinxed that year, “sold” Kellsboro Jack to his wife for a one‐pound note (then about $5). The British were delighted, and so was Mr. Clark, when she asked him to lead in the winner. From 1923 on, Mr. Clark went to England annually for many years and hunted with packs there. In this period, both here and abroad, he rode with the Prince of Wales, now the Duke of Windsor, who was often his house guest. As an owner and breeder over the years, Mr. Clark favored horses that were vivid and speedy, but seldom great. This never bothered him, for he was in the sport for the pure exhilaration. At Cooperstown, Mr. Clark entered upon a gentleman farmer's life with comparable zest. There, too, he drove a coach‐and‐four. Mr. Clark was so devoted to his horses that he had a rocking chair put aboard a box car so he could ride with a favorite mount to Bryn Mawr, Pa. But he was also capable of irritation, and he once put a hot potato under the tail of a balky horse to speed him along. Among the horses that carried Mr. Clark's colors were Killy Moon, Birmingham, TeaMaker, London Town, Amber Diver and Irish Town. TeaMaker, which he bought from his first wife's estate, earned a total of $211,530. Thirty years ago it was written of him: “Life is inevitably swift for a man like that, but the pattern of it remains serene. Each day is a tribute, honest and unaffected, to an earlier day that, as long as Brose Clark drives along the sunny lanes, is not, perhaps, quite gone.” Mr. Clark was a former president of the United Hunts Racing Association and a member of the Turf and Field, Piping Rock, Meadowbrook, and Racquet and Tennis Clubs.
(Via New York Times)
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