Bowling Brook was a British-bred

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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...

. His sire, Ayrshire

Ayrshire (horse)

Ayrshire was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from 1883 to 1885 he ran sixteen times and won eleven races. After winning five races as a two-year-old he became the leading British three-year-old colt of 1884 when he won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Derby...

, won two of the British Classic Races, the 1888 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 2,000 Guineas. Grandsire Hampton

Hampton (horse)

Hampton was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and Champion sire. Bred by Lord Norreys, he was sired by 1863 St. Leger Stakes winner, Lord Clifden. His dam was Lady Langden whose sire, Kettledrum, won the 1861 Epsom Derby...

 was the Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland

Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland

The list below shows the leading sire of racehorses in Great Britain and Ireland for each year since 1751. This is determined by the amount of prize money won by the sire's progeny during the season.----- References :* -See also:...

 in 1887, and the Champion broodmare sire

Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland

The list below shows the leading sire of broodmares in Great Britain and Ireland for each year since 1899. This is determined by the amount of prizemoney won during the year by racehorses which were foaled by a daughter of the sire.-----References:*...

 in 1901 and 1905. Bowling Brook was out of the American mare Vacation who was sired by the 1875 Preakness Stakes

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

 winner, Tom Ochiltree

Tom Ochiltree

Tom Ochiltree , was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, one of the last by the great foundation stallion, blind Lexington, still standing at what by then was A. J. Alexander's Woodburn Stud in Kentucky. Tom Ochiltree was an enormous colt, eventually reaching 16 hands 2½ inches high with a girth of...

. He was bred by John A. Morris

John Albert Morris

John Albert Morris was an American businessman widely known as the "Lottery King" and a prominent figure in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing...

 who died the year he was foaled but was raced by his sons Alfred

Alfred Hennen Morris

Alfred Hennen Morris was an American businessman politician, and racehorse owner/breeder.The son of Louisiana Lottery "king" John Albert Morris and his wife Cora Hennen, he was named for his maternal grandfather, Judge Alfred Hennen, of New Orleans, a Justice on the Louisiana Supreme Court.In...

 and David

David Hennen Morris

David Hennen "Dave" Morris was an American lawyer, diplomat, and Thoroughbred racehorse owner who co-founded the International Auxiliary Language Association ....

.

Bowling Brook was trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

 inductee, R. Wyndham Walden. He was given the name of his trainer's Bowling Brook Farm at Middleburg

Middleburg, Maryland

Middleburg is an unincorporated community in Carroll County, Maryland, United States.-References:...

 in Carroll County, Maryland

Carroll County, Maryland

Carroll County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 167,134. It was named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton , signer of the American Declaration of Independence. Its county seat is Westminster....

.

Racing as a juvenile, his best result in a major race was as runner-up in the Tremont Stakes

Tremont Stakes

The Tremont Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually for 2-year-olds at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.Due to the troubled economy in 2008, the Tremont was canceled by the NYRA as they adjusted races to meet the new Grade I standard purse of $300,000. The Tremont Stakes was...

. As a three-year-old, at Morris Park Racecourse

Morris Park Racecourse

Morris Park Racecourse was an American thoroughbred horse racing facility from 1889 until 1904. It was located in a part of Westchester County, New York that was annexed into the Bronx in 1895 and later became known as Morris Park...

 in The Bronx

The Bronx

The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Bowling Brook handily won the 1898 Metropolitan Handicap

Metropolitan Handicap

The Metropolitan Handicap, frequently called the "Met Mile," is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the last week of May at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is contested on dirt over a distance of one mile .The Met Mile was first...

 then three weeks later at the same track, jockey Fred Littlefield rode him to victory in the 1 3/8 miles Belmont Stakes

Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

. Bowling Brook won on a muddy track by six lengths over the Mike Dwyer

Michael F. Dwyer

Michael F. Dwyer was an American businessman from Brooklyn, New York and prominent owner of Thoroughbred racehorses and racetracks...

-owned and Tod Sloan

Tod Sloan (jockey)

James Forman "Tod" Sloan was an American thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1955.-Early life and U.S. racing career:...

-ridden colt Previous with Hamburg

Hamburg (horse)

Hamburg was an American Thoroughbred race horse bred in Kentucky by James E. Kittson, brother to Norman W. Kittson who had been partners in Erdenheim Stud. His sire was the great Hanover by another great, Hindoo....

 approximately another ten lengths back in third place. Owned by Marcus Daly

Marcus Daly

Marcus Daly redirects here, see also Marcus Daly Marcus Daly was an Irish-born American businessman known as one of the three "Copper Kings" of Butte, Montana, United States.- Early life:...

 and ridden by Fred Taral

Fred Taral

Fred Taral was an American Hall of Fame jockey.Taral began his career in racing in the 1880s at small racetracks in Oklahoma. By 1889 he was among the 24-member jockey colony at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans and competed in his first Kentucky Derby...

, future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Hamburg had been the betting

Parimutuel betting

Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...

 favorite to win.

Retired to stud

Stud (animal)

A stud animal is a registered animal retained for breeding. The terms for the male of a given animal species usually imply that the animal is entire—that is, not castrated—and therefore capable of siring offspring...

duty, Bowling Brook met with limited success as a sire.