Isabel Dodge Sloane
1897 - 1962
Thoroughbred racing for many years has been graced by the participation of distinguished ladies. The first lady to top the list of money-winning owners in a given year was Mrs. Isabel Dodge Sloane, whose Brookmeade Stable earned $251,138 in 1934. Mrs. Sloane was a daughter of the founder of Dodge Motor Company, which in 1926 was purchased by a bank syndicate for $146 million. Mrs. Sloane's half-sister, Mrs. Fred Van Lennep, owned the great show horse champion Wing Commander. Beginning with her first purchase of a Thoroughbred in 1924, Mrs. Sloane built her Brookmeade Stable through astute yearling purchases which eventually supported her breeding operation. Brookmeade led the owner list again in 1951, the stable by then made up of horses she had bred. Mrs. Sloane won the Kentucky Derby with Cavalcade and the Preakness with High Quest in 1934 and won another Preakness with Bold in 1951. Near the end of her career she bred and raced perhaps her best horse, Sword Dancer, winner of the Belmont stakes and Horse of the Year in 1959.
Marker can be reached from the intersection of East Main Street (U.S. 60) and Midland Avenue (U.S. 60), on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
