Boston (1833-1850)

EA-9

Boston, a chestnut stallion, was America’s most accomplished racehorse in an era when thoroughbred racing was the nation’s most popular sport. Bred by Richmond attorney John Wickham and foaled near here, Boston was known for his vicious temperament as well as his speed and endurance. He was tamed by an enslaved horseman named Ned and trained in the stable of William R. Johnson, known as the “Napoleon of the Turf.” Ridden by the enslaved jockey Cornelius until 1839, Boston won about 40 of 45 known races between 1836 and 1843 on tracks from Georgia to New York, once in front of a crowd of 70,000. Later a renowned sire, he was an inaugural inductee into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame.

Department of Historic Resources, 2023

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Spirit of the Times, 7 March 1840, 29 Oct. 1942, 16 Feb. 1850, 10 Dec., 23 July 1853, 6 Aug., 19 Nov. 1859. American Turf Register, July 1837, Dec. 1841, Dec. 1842. Edward Hotaling, The Great Black Jockeys: The Lives and Times of the Men Who Dominated America’s First National Sport (Crown Publishing, 1999). Katherine C. Mooney, Race Horse Men: How Slavery and Freedom Were Made at the Racetrack (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014). National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame: https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/horse/boston-va Thoroughbred Heritage Portraits: Boston, http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Boston.html “Boston: The Story of a Racehorse,” Henrico County Public Relations and Media Services (2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wpLWeyY-cA