Exploring Kentucky’s Historic Runnymede Thoroughbred Farm

My readers all know my love for the “oldest” Kentucky history – the oldest town, oldest tavern, oldest cemetery, etc. So, when I came across the oldest continuously owned thoroughbred breeding farm in Kentucky, I had to make the trip! I grabbed up my mom and my daughter, and we headed for Paris, Kentucky on a beautiful June morning. Man, there is nothing like driving by the horse farms of Kentucky, and this time we drove through one! Before we get to our visit, let’s get to the history!

The Clay Family

Runnymede Farm was founded on family property in 1867 by Colonel Ezekiel Clay (1840 – 1920). The farm is still owned and operated today by Clay family descendants – Ezekiel’s grandson Catesby W. Clay and great grandson (Runnymede’s CEO) Brutus J. Clay III. Now, we’ll get to those gentlemen and their farm in a little bit. For now, I want to give you a little family lineage. The Clay family’s Kentucky roots run as deep as our natural springs. If you’ve done any reading on Kentucky history, you’ve heard the name a time or two, but let me help you connect the dots.

We’ll start with General Green Clay (1757 – 1828), grandfather of Colonel Ezekiel and namesake of Clay County, Kentucky.

General Clay was born in Powhatton County, Virginia on August 14, 1757. Clay served in the American Revolution and was commissioned as General to lead the Kentucky Militia during the War of 1812. He came to Kentucky County, Virginia in 1780 as a surveyor. As payment for his services, he received half the land he surveyed. By 1794, he owned a fourth of the land in Madison County, which had been established in 1786. He was the largest land and slave owner in Kentucky in the 1800s. He owned over 40,000 acres. He built a beautiful home in Richmond, KY that still stands today, known as White Hall. Of course, we’ve visited White Hall, and you can read more about General Green Clay and his home here.

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Now, another Clay you may have heard of was General Clay’s cousin, Henry Clay. Henry Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia in 1777. He arrived in Kentucky in 1791, just a year before it became a state. Clay was a major player in Kentucky’s early political realm along with our country, even running for president three times! He also built a beautiful home in Kentucky, still standing today. That home is known as Ashland – the Henry Clay Estate. Of course, you can read more about him, his home, and our visit here.

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Now, Colonel Ezekiel’s father was Brutus Junius Clay I, son of General Green Clay. Brutus was a businessman – a breeder of thoroughbred horses and champion cattle – and a politician.

Born at White Hall, BJC I [Brutus J. Clay, I] graduated from Centre College and settled in Bourbon County in 1827. He became a successful animal breeder. In 1840 he was elected state representative and in 1853 was president of the State Agricultural Association. In 1862 he was elected to Congress.

Eastern Kentucky University

Brutus’s farm and home was called Auvergne, located in Bourbon County. It still exists today. It, however, is not open to the public. The home is a private residence and owned by a 5th generation descendant. You can receive a virtual tour of the home through a video created in collaboration with the Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation. Watch that YouTube Video here.

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Brutus’s younger brother, and uncle to Ezekiel, was Union Army Major General Cassius Marcellus Clay. He too was born at White Hall, and the home was later handed down to him. As noted in my blog about White Hall, Cassius was an exact opposite of his father. He was an abolitionist and fought with the Union Army to end slavery. He was later appointed by President Lincoln to be the U.S. Minister to Russia. In 1867, he helped negotiate the purchase of Alaska, which ended Russia’s presence in North America.

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Another member of the Clay family was the son of General Cassius M. Clay, Brutus Junius Clay II. Brutus was the cousin of Ezekiel, whom we are about to get to next. Brutus was also a businessman, political figure, and diplomat – serving as the Minister to Switzerland.

Brutus Junius Clay II, received a degree from the University of Michigan in 1868 and worked as a wholesale and retail grocer. He married his first wife, Pattie Amelia Field. Mr. Clay was also the owner and operator of lumber mills, stone, kaolin, and potter clay quarries, among many other businesses…. Brutus was active in politics as a Republican. In 1897 he was offered the appointment as Minister to Argentina by President William McKinley, but declined. In 1900, he was a U.S. Commissioner at the Paris Exposition. In 1904, he was a Delegate to the Republican National Convention. In 1905, he was appointed Minister to Switzerland, serving until 1910.

Visit Richmond Kentucky

In 1926, he built a home on West Main Street in Richmond, KY. Today, it serves as the visitor center for the city. While we did not write a post about our visit, we did in fact visit his home, too! I can’t find a picture of Brutus II, but I do have pictures of his home that I took on our visit. Take a look!

Colonel Ezekiel Field Clay (1840 – 1920)

We’ve finally found our way back to Ezekiel, known as “Zeke,” the founder of Runnymede Thoroughbred Farm. Zeke was born on December 1, 1840. He received his education through the Bourbon County public school system, followed by higher-education at Bacon College in Harrodsburg. The Civil War began while Zeke was away at college, and feeling the call of duty, he left school for the Confederate Army. He enlisted as a private in the Kentucky Mounted Rifles, serving under General Humphrey Marshall.

Zeke moved up in rank quickly leading his battalion through numerous raids across Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In April 1864, at Puncheon Creek, near Paintsville, KY, he and his brigade came upon Union troops. He “had the misfortune to be again wounded, a rifle ball destroying the sight of one of his eyes.” (Newspapers.com) He was then captured by the Union Army and held at Johnson’s Island near Sandusky, Ohio until Lee’s surrender. At the end of the war, Zeke was released and returned home.

Marriage, Business, and Children

Zeke married Mary “Mollie” L. Woodford on May 8, 1866. Zeke’s father, Brutus, purchased a magnificent estate just north of Paris, KY, and gave it to the newly married couple as a wedding gift.

The manor house had been built in the 1830s by a relative of the Clay family, former Kentucky Governor James Garrard.

Runnymede Farm

Zeke named his estate Runnymede and began the business of raising cattle and breeding thoroughbred horses. He was considered a very knowledgable and compassionate man and was held in high regard in his social and business circles. Based on his true love for horses and racing, Zeke had influence on many reforms and laws protecting the integrity of horse racing in America. In addition, he became a widely known and popular breeder of American thoroughbreds. (Now, I’m wonderful at telling history, but not so wonderful at explaining business. If you’d like to read more about the building of his thoroughbred business, I recommend the Runnymede history page linked here.)

Zeke built not only a business, but a family, too. He and Mollie had six children together – Ezekiel F. Clay, Jr., Woodford Clay, Brutus Clay Jr., Buckner Clay, Amelia F. Clay, and Mary C. Clay. Life changed for Zeke and his children on August 8, 1900, when Zeke’s wife, Mollie passed away. Just two years later, Zeke married again taking Florence “Agnes” Lockhart as his wife. He continued living his life at Runnymede until his death on July 26, 1920.

The Next Generations

• After Ezekiel’s death, the business was passed to his son Brutus J. Clay. He, his wife, and five children moved to the estate to continue the family business.
• In the 1950s, Brutus’s son, Catesby W. Clay took over the business.
• Today, Catesby and his son, Brutus J. Clay III continue to run the family business together.

Their thoroughbred breeding business is just as well-known as when Zeke was in charge over 100 years ago. The awards the farm has received, as well as the number of thoroughbreds with winning records that have come from the farm is phenomenal.

Visiting the Farm

Runnymede is absolutely beautiful! I really didn’t know what to expect with this experience, but I was not disappointed. When we arrived, we met up with our tour guide, Hannah. She was absolutely delightful! After introducing herself, she jumped right into the history of the farm. The tour starts at the bottom of the hill near Stoner Creek where a beautiful stone building sits in the middle of a fenced field. I couldn’t help but wonder about the building, and Hannah answered my question before I could even ask it!

Cooper’s Run Baptist Church

The building was originally Cooper’s Run Baptist Church, that was built in 1803 along Stoner Creek. The church was home to the first Baptist congregation in Kentucky, established in 1789. (Their register dates to June 1787, but they didn’t gather in a house of worship until 1789.) Kentucky’s second Governor, James Garrard, (that I mentioned before) helped to establish the church and served as its minister for ten years. By 1816, the congregation had grown considerably and a new building was needed. The site of the church changed, and the limestone church on Stoner Creek was sold to the Garrard Brothers. (Remember, Brutus J. Clay I later purchased the land from Garrard.) Today, the stone building is used as a hay barn by Runnymeade.

After learning about the old stone church, Hannah turned our attention to the real reason for our visit, the horses! We headed up the hill to the various barns on the property, where she told us about the uses for the barns, the winning horses born on the property, and how the farm runs today.

Runnymede focuses on the mommas and babies, and is referred to as a nursery. Full grown stallions are not found on this farm. Instead, Runnymede has numerous mares (I forgot to ask how many) that they send out to other farms to be bred. Upon return, they watch carefully to see if the mare is pregnant. If so, she is moved to a different barn for extra love and care until the foal is born. Hannah explained the entire process to us, easily answering all of our questions. The entire process was fascinating! Timing is everything. They want the babies to be born during a certain time of the year, so that the foals will be a certain age by winter, able to go to the spring sale by a certain age, and have a chance at running the Kentucky Derby at three years old. Truly, I can’t imagine what it takes to keep up with all the schedules that take place on the farm!

Hannah then took us to the next barn where the mommas and their babies go to shortly after the foal is born. It was in this barn that we were able to meet several mares and their foals. Oh my goodness, they were adorable! Hannah even allowed us to feed a few peppermints to the horses.

We learned so many interesting facts from Hannah. Runnymede does not give names to their foals. Instead, they are referred to by their mother’s name. Once they are old enough, the foals are taken to be sold and the new owners will give the horse a name. Runnymede typically sells all of their male foals. The female foals are either kept by the farm for future breeding purposes or they are sold to other farms. The mares that are on the farm that are too old to be bred any longer are kept in another barn on the property. They have their own fields, too. That part of the farm is not on the tour. I imagine it like the Red Hat Society, though – all the old mares hanging out together chatting about the old days and complaining about their aches and pains. 🤣🤣 Can’t you just image what they say to each other?

We wrapped up our tour by watching the stable hands take the mommas and their babies out to the fields. It was like watching little kids run out the door for recess. The foals all ran off together to play while the mommas slowly followed them through the pasture. It was quite adorable watching the foals wait by the gate for their best friends to come out and play.

As we walked back down the hill toward our car, the horses followed us along the gate. Don’t you know all good southern hosts walk their guests to their car before saying goodbye? Runnymede is doing a great job at raising horses with wonderful southern hospitality. 😉

Reflection

I thoroughly loved this tour. Horses just make me happy, and babies are the icing on the cake! The farm was beautiful. Hannah was so very knowledgable. I’m honestly not sure how she has all that information memorized! The stable hands were so kind and friendly. And the history!!! I simply never imagined that there would be such deep Kentucky roots. Even though I knew it was the oldest, I didn’t know the farm was owned by the Clays, and I didn’t know the connection to Governor Garrard or the church. It was an awesome surprise.

The elephant in the room, of course, is the dark cloud that hangs over horse racing. I won’t get into a debate over that. I do know that the horses on Runnymede Farm are so loved and cared for, that some people would be lucky to live like those horses, and when you watch them run across the fields, you know that running is what they love to do. So, that will be all I will say on that subject.

If you love horse farms and thoroughbred horses, you must go out and take this tour.

I would like to think that my mom, my daughter, and I may very well have petted a future Derby winner. We’ll never know though. Those babies didn’t yet have names.

Until next time…

Happy Travels!