The Memphis Jockey Club

Silks & Heritage

The Memphis Jockey Club silks

Royal blue, scarlet, and white — our silks carry the crest of the Memphis Jockey Club, established 1882. A deliberate act of remembrance for a city that was once the epicenter of American racing, and for a family with five generations of Memphis roots.

For most of the nineteenth century, Tennessee was the center of horse breeding and racing in the United States, and Memphis was the heart of it. The track southeast of the city was first laid out in 1851; in 1882, Colonel Henry A. Montgomery organized the New Memphis Jockey Club, which purchased the course and christened it Montgomery Park — a one-mile dirt oval, sixty-five feet wide at every point.

Its signature race, the Tennessee Derby, rivaled the Kentucky Derby for prestige and purse money. Joe Cotton and Agile each won both Derbies. Then, in 1907, the Tennessee legislature outlawed wagering, and racing in Memphis went silent. The grandstand's ground became the Mid-South Fairgrounds — today's Liberty Park.

When these colors go to post at Saratoga, Keeneland, or Deauville, the Memphis Jockey Club races again.

• 1851

  Race track first constructed on plantation land southeast of Memphis.

• 1882

  Col. Henry A. Montgomery organizes the New Memphis Jockey Club; the course becomes Montgomery Park.

• 1884

  First Tennessee Derby, won by Ten Strike — a son of the great Ten Broeck.

• 1906

  Final race meet at Montgomery Park before Tennessee outlaws wagering.

• Today

  Kisber Thoroughbred Racing carries the Memphis Jockey Club silks on both sides of the Atlantic.