Belle Mahone is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 best known for winning the 1917 King's Plate

Queen's Plate

The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...

, Canada's most prestigious race and North America's

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 oldest annually run stakes race.

Bred and raced by Canada's preeminent owner/breeder, distilling magnate Joseph E. Seagram

Joseph E. Seagram

Joseph Emm Seagram was a British Canadian distillery founder, politician, philanthropist, and major owner of thoroughbred racehorses....

, Belle Mahone was sired by Ypsilanti, an American grandson of the British runner Galopin

Galopin

Galopin was a good British Thoroughbred racehorse and a prominent sire.-Pedigree:Galopin's sire, Vedette, had a very good racing career, winning the Great Yorkshire Stakes, the Doncaster Cup , and the 1857 2,000 Guineas Stakes. Vedette's value as a stallion had declined to such an extent that he...

, winner of the 1875 Epsom Derby

Epsom Derby

The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...

 and a three-time Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland. Belle Mahone's dam was Irish Lass, imported from Great Britain by Joseph Seagram. She was a daughter of Donovan

Donovan (horse)

Donovan was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from 1947 to 1948 he ran twenty-one times and won eighteen races. He was the leading British two-year-old of 1888 when he won eleven of hifs thirteen starts...

 who in 1889 won two of the British Classic Races, the Epsom Derby

Epsom Derby

The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...

 and St. Leger Stakes

St. Leger Stakes

The St. Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain which is open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 132 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.Established in 1776, the St. Leger...

.

On May 19, 1917 Belle Mahone won the 59th running of the King's Plate, equaling the stakes record for the mile and a quarter race. She was ridden by star American jockey Frank Robinson

Frank Robinson (jockey)

Frank Robinson was an American Champion Thoroughbred horse racing jockey.A native of Cleveland, Ohio, riding in the pre U.S...

 who travelled by train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

 from Baltimore, Maryland to Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

 then by taxi

Taxicab

A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...

 to Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 in order to keep his word to owner Joseph Seagram that he would ride the filly.

Belle Mahone was still racing at age five in 1919 when she won the Trenton Handicap at Havre de Grace Racetrack

Havre de Grace Racetrack

The Havre de Grace Racetrack was an American horse racing track on Post Road in Havre de Grace, Harford County, Maryland which operated from August 24, 1912 to 1950...

 in Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

.

The Belle Mahone Stakes

Belle Mahone Stakes

The Belle Mahone Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Run in early to mid August, the ungraded event is open to fillies and mares, age three and older...

 at Woodbine Racetrack

Woodbine Racetrack

Woodbine Racetrack is a Canadian racetrack for Thoroughbred horse races located at 555 Rexdale Blvd. in the city of Toronto, Ontario. It is the only horseracing track in North America which stages, or is capable of staging, thoroughbred and standardbred horseracing programs on the same day...

is named in her honor.