Dwyer Brothers Stable

Dwyer Brothers Stable
Company typeHorse breeding/Racing Stable
IndustryThoroughbred Horse racing
Founded1876 (148 years ago) (1876)
Defunct1890 (134 years ago) (1890) (dissolved)
HeadquartersBrooklyn, New York,
United States
Key people
Owners:
Philip J. & Michael F. Dwyer
Trainers:
Evert Snedecker
(1876-1878)
James G. Rowe Sr.
(1879-1885)
Frank McCabe
(1885-1890)

Dwyer Brothers Stable was an American thoroughbred horse racing operation owned by Brooklyn businessmen Phil and Mike Dwyer.

The Dwyer brothers hired trainer Evert Snedecker and purchased their first Thoroughbred, Rhadamanthus, in 1874.[1] In October of that same year they acquired Vigil from Col. David McDaniel who to that point had earned $5630. In the ensuing few months of 1876 the colt won another $20,160 and was chosen that year's retrospective American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse.[2]

Other trainers who worked for the Dwyers were James G. Rowe Sr. and Frank McCabe. The Dwyers won the 1881 Kentucky Derby with future U.S. Hall of Fame colt Hindoo and finished second with Runnymede the following year. However, they had their greatest racing success in the Belmont Stakes in their hometown, winning the classic event five times. One of the few major races at tracks in the New York/New Jersey area that they never won was the Brooklyn Handicap.[3]

The brothers, either together or individually, owned a number of prominent horses, including Hindoo, Bramble, Bella B., Luke Blackburn, Bonnie Scotland, George Kinney, Miss Woodford, Barnes, Hanover, Raceland, Tremont, Ben Brush, and Cleophus. Mike Dwyer was a partner in Kingston.[4]

In 1886 they were a key part of the group of investors who formed the Brooklyn Jockey Club[5] and built the Gravesend Race Track at Gravesend on Coney Island. The brothers racing partnership was dissolved in 1890 [2] and Mike Dwyer went on to enjoy further success. He won the Kentucky Derby for the second time in 1896 with Ben Brush, ridden by jockey Willie Simms.

The Brooklyn Derby, founded in 1887, was renamed the Dwyer Stakes in their honor in 1918.

  1. ^ The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 19, 1890
  2. ^ a b "The Dwyers to separate" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 August 1890. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  3. ^ "DWYERS NEVER WON A BROOKLYN HANDICAP; The One Race the Famous Firm Always Aimed to Land. FIRST TRIED WITH HANOVER Which Was the Nearest the Brothers Ever Came to Winning Since Its Establishment in 1887". The New York Times. 27 January 1907.
  4. ^ "A String of Fast Horses; Well Known Racers Owned by Dwyer Brothers. the Lucky Ventures of the Brooklyn Tradesmen--Engagements for the Coming Season of Bramble, Warfield, Luke Blackburn, Quito, Hindoo, and Others. the Six-Year Olds. the Four-Year Olds. the 3-Year Olds". The New York Times. 21 March 1881.
  5. ^ Barnes, Amanda (2018). The Butcher Boys. Lulu.com. ISBN 9781483485683.