Robert A. Alexander

Robert A. Alexander established the 2,000-acre Woodburn Stud in Woodford County, in part with the inheritance left by an uncle in Scotland. By creating a commercial breeding operation, Alexander introduced a degree of professionalist to breeding horses that was instrumental in Kentucky's surpassing Tennessee as the center of the American Thoroughbred. Woodburn auctions produced four Kentucky derby winners and 10 Belmont Stakes winners. In 1855, Alexander purchased the young stallion Lexington from Richard Ten Broeck. Standing at Woodburn, Lexington became America's leading sire for 16 years and the success of his progeny spanned both Ante Bellum and post-Civil War eras. He was a pivotal link in the development of the American race horse., Lexington had been bred by Dr. Elisha Warfield, and raced under the name of Darley. Ten Broeck and partners bought him and changed his name for the horse to represent Kentucky in the Great Post Stakes in Louisiana. Lexington won that event and lost only once in two years of competition. At the time Alexander bought Lexington, he was chided for spending as much as $15,000 for a nearly-blind, unproven stallion. He vowed that one day he would sell a son of the horse for a higher price. With the sale of the great horse Kentucky, for $15,001, he made good his vow.