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Joseph Early Widener (August 19, 1871 – October 26, 1943) was a wealthy American art collector who was a founding benefactor of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. A major figure in Thoroughbred horse racing, he was head of New York's Belmont Park and builder of Miami, Florida's Hialeah Park racetrack. Born in Philadelphia, he was the second son of Hannah Josephine Dunton (1836 – 1896) and the extremely wealthy transportation and real estate magnate Peter A. B. Widener (1834 – 1915). Joseph Widener attended Harvard University, and for a short time studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He married Ella Pancoast with whom he had two children, Peter A. B. Widener II, born in 1895, and Josephine "Fifi" Pancoast Widener, born in 1902. Fifi's daughter Joan Widener Leidy (1923–1988) was married from 1941 to 1950 to State Senator George Eustis Paine (1920–1991). Joseph Widener raised his family at Lynnewood Hall, his father's 110-room Georgian-style mansion in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. Designed by Horace Trumbauer and Jacques Greber, the mansion, along with its extensive and important art collection, was part of the huge fortune he inherited. ==Thoroughbred horse racing== Joseph Widener used his great wealth to pursue his interest in Thoroughbred horse racing on a large scale. Not only did he become an owner of a large stable of racehorses, Widener acquired the Elmendorf Farm in Lexington, Kentucky and the Belmont Park racetrack in New York, plus he built Hialeah Park racetrack in Miami, Florida. In 1901, thirty-year-old Joseph Widener began purchasing Thoroughbred horses to compete in both flat racing and steeplechase events. He hired future U. S Racing Hall of Fame horse trainer, J. Howard Lewis. For the next four decades they combined to race fourteen Champions, two in flat racing and twelve Steeplechase Champions. Widener's steeplechase horses won numerous important races including three editions of the American Grand National with Relluf (1914), Arc Light (1929), and Bushranger (1936). His steeplechasers Bushranger and Fairmount were both elected to the U. S Racing Hall of Fame. Following the death of August Belmont, Jr., Joseph Widener and friends W. Averell Harriman and George Herbert Walker, purchased much of Belmont's Thoroughbred breeding stock. For his Elmendorf Farm breeding operation, Widener acquired Belmont's very important sire Fair Play and the broodmare Mahubah, the parents of Man o' War. He also purchased a son of Fair Play named Chance Shot who would go on to win the 1927 Belmont Stakes and following the 1929 death of Fair Play would become Elmendorf Farm's leading sire. Widener had a life-size statue of Fair Play erected by his grave at Elmendorf Farm. As part of the selloff of the August Belmont, Jr. estate, in 1925 Joseph Widener also acquired majority control of Belmont Park in Elmont, New York and would serve as the race track's president until 1939 when failing health necessitated his stepping down. In 1930, he imported the stallion Sickle from Lord Derby in England who came to visit the U.S. that year and was Widener's guest at the 1930 Kentucky Derby. A son of the very important sire Phalaris, Sickle would produce 45 Graded stakes race winners and be the Leading sire in North America in 1936 and 1938. Following Chance Shot's win in the 1927 Belmont Stakes, Widener's racing stable won the race two more times with Hurryoff in 1933 and with a son of Chance Shot in 1934 named Peace Chance. He also had five horses compete in the Kentucky Derby with his best finishes a second place earned by Osmand in 1927 and by Brevity in 1936. Joseph Widener's father had had business interests in France and like other wealthy elite Americans of that era, maintained a place in fashionable Paris. In addition to racing horses in the United States, Widener also kept a stable of Thoroughbreds in France. Competing in French grass racing, his horses won the 1923 and 1926 editions of the Prix La Rochette and the 1923, 1924, and 1937 runnings of the Prix d'Aumale. Widener also owned English Hackney horses who competed at various shows. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Joseph E. Widener」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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