Isabella Stewart Gardner (New York, 1840 - 1924, Boston)
Check Ledger for Payment to Harry K. Vingut for the Race Horse "Halton", 9 June 1894
Ink on paper
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Commentary
This is a record of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s purchase of a racehorse named Halton from the sportsman and horse broker Harry K. Vingut in 1893. An avid equestrian herself, Isabella was a huge fan of horse racing, and was immensely proud of Halton’s successes in the sport—entries in her guestbooks indicate that she closely followed Halton’s racing career. In one guestbook entry, Vingut writes “Win as though you were used to it and lose as though you liked it.” Halton certainly was used to winning—a newspaper clipping that Isabella saved in another guestbook describes him as the “best of the lot” of racehorses!