NOTE:  This article was published in the BlueGrass Historian.  It is written by Eclipse Award winner equine expert Arnold Kirkpatrick, a charter member of the Museum.  Kirkpatrick originally research Lexington for a series on great American thoroughbred published in The Thoroughbred Record

Arnold Kirkpatrick on the Nation’s Leading Sire for 16 Years . . .
Most Famous Thoroughbred of the 1850s, Lexington, Was Foaled, Raced, Off Loudon

. . .There the hero blind is sleeping, but his mem’ry lives today,
Ever in the hearts of turfmen, fresh as hawthorn buds in May. . .
Whispers fly about the race-tracks when some mighty deed is done:
“ ‘Tis no more than we expected from the blood of Lexington!”
From Lexington, A Fragment

   by Richard A. Cary, Jr.

Lexington was the kind of horse who inspired poetry, not only from the pens of Richard Cary and other writers of the time, but in the hearts and minds of the racegoing public and racetrackers as well.  A light blood bay with four white feet and a large white stripe extending to his nostril, Lexington began his career racing under the name “Darley”.  He carried the colors of his breeder, Transylvania medical college professor Dr. Elisha Warfield but actually his racing qualities had been leased to “Burbridge’s Harry”, a former slave and trainer who was unable to enter the horse in his own right. 

Lexington made his first start May 23, 1853 at the old Kentucky Association track racing mile heats for a purse of $1,700.  A total of 12 came to the post, with Darley among the less fancied of the starters.  There was a false start, when Darley, a filly named Madonna and the favoured Garrett David ran off for nearly 2¾ miles before their riders were able to pull them up.  Garrett David was withdrawn, but Darley and Madonna were both permitted to run after a rest of 5 minutes.  According to B.G. Bruce’s Memoir of Lexington:

The track was nearly knee deep in mud, and raining hard during the pendency of the race.  Not five minutes were given between the run away and start.  When the drum tapped, Darley led off, was never headed, and distanced all but three.  The second heat was a duplicate of the first, Madonna being distanced in the second heat.
His next start came only four days later in the Citizen’s Stakes run over two-mile heats for a purse of $1,300.  After placing second in the first heat, Darley came back to gallop home easily and impressively in the second heat