Hall of Fame

 



goldsmith maid

Year of Birth: 
1857
Immortal: 
Yes
Elected as Immortal: 
1953
Year of Death: 
1885
Gait: 
Trotter
Record: 
t,2:14
Sire: 
Abdallah
Dam: 
Ab
Sire of Dam: 
Abdallah
Biography: 

"The Maid" was by Abdallah 15 out of Old Ab, foaled in 1857 on the farm of John B. Decker of Deckertown, New Jersey. She ran unbroken until she was eight years old and was sold to Alden Goldsmith of Washingtonville, New York for $650. Goldsmith raced her for the first time in 1865 at Goshen; she won easily in 2:36 and 2:37. A syndicate, including famed driver Budd Doble, paid $20,000 for Goldsmith Maid. In 1869 she was sold to H. N. Smith, a partner of Jay Gould, for $37,000. Still in the expert hands of Doble, the two made history. It was an amazing thirteen-year career. She won 350 heats and 95 of 123 races. Her estimated earnings of $364,200 were a record until the 1940s. Goldsmith Maid died in 1885 at Smith's Fashion Farm in Trenton, New Jersey, where a large monument still stands in her memory.

 Fashion Farm, Trenton, NJ

Published in the Harness Racing Museum's 1994 book, The Immortals