Maine Chance Farm was an American

United States

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

 Thoroughbred horse racing stable

Stable

A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...

 in Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

 owned by cosmetics

Cosmetics

Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...

 tycoon, Elizabeth Arden

Elizabeth Arden

Florence Nightingale Graham , who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire in the United States. At the peak of her career, she was one of the wealthiest women in the world.-Biography:Arden was born in 1884 at Woodbridge, Ontario,...

.

Elizabeth Arden raced under the nom de course "Mr. Nightingale" until 1943 when she adopted the name Maine Chance Farm from her health spa in Mount Vernon, Maine

Mount Vernon, Maine

Mount Vernon is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,524 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 43.4 square miles , of which, 37.9 square miles of it is land and 5.6 square miles of...

. During the nineteen forties and fifties, the Maine Chance Farm racing stable was a major force in American horse racing

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...

. Among the stable's many champions and stakes race winners who raced under Arden's cerise, blue and white colors were the colt

Colt (horse)

A colt is a young male horse, under the age of four. The term "colt" is often confused with foal, which refers to a horse of either sex under one year of age....

 Star Pilot

Star Pilot (horse)

Star Pilot was an American thoroughbred stallion race horse. Sired by Joseph Widener's English stakes winner Sickle, he was out of the mare Floradora, whose French sire, Bull Dog, was one of the leading sires of stakes winners in the 1950s.He was sold as a yearling to Elizabeth Arden of Maine...

 and the filly

Filly

A filly is a young female horse too young to be called a mare. There are several specific definitions in use.*In most cases filly is a female horse under the age of four years old....

, Beaugay, both 1945 Eclipse Award

Eclipse Award

The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...

 champions. The Beaugay Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack

Aqueduct Racetrack

Aqueduct Racetrack is a thoroughbred horse-racing facility and racino in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Its racing meets usually are from late October/early November through April.-History:...

 is named in the filly's honor. That year, Maine Chance Farm was the top money-winning stable in the United States.

In May 1946, a fire at a racetrack in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 destroyed twenty-two horses owned by Maine Chance Farm. The stables' two-year-old star colt

Colt (horse)

A colt is a young male horse, under the age of four. The term "colt" is often confused with foal, which refers to a horse of either sex under one year of age....

 Jet Pilot

Jet Pilot

Jet Pilot was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Purchased for US$41,000 at the Keeneland Yearling Sale by cosmetics queen Elizabeth Arden, he raced under her Maine Chance Farm colors. He was sired by the English champion and 1930 Epsom Derby winner, Blenheim II, and out of the mare Black Wave by...

 survived as he had been shipped to another racetrack. Two future Hall of Famers

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...

, trainer

Horse trainer

In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

 Tom Smith and jockey

Jockey

A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

 Eric Guerin

Eric Guerin

Oliver Eric Guerin is an American Hall of Fame jockey.Eric Guerin was born in Maringouin, Louisiana, in Cajun backwater country, twenty-four miles west of Baton Rouge...

 worked for Maine Chance Farm and in 1947, Jet Pilot won the Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

. In 1948, Ace Admiral

Ace Admiral

Ace Admiral was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. His sire, Heliopolis, was the leading sire in North America in 1950 and again in 1954. His grandsire, Hyperion, was a six-time leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland...

 won the prestigious Travers Stakes

Travers Stakes

The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...

 and in 1954 the Maine Chance filly "Fascinator," won the Kentucky Oaks

Kentucky Oaks

The Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers 1⅛ miles at Churchill Downs; the horses carry 121 pounds . The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Friday before the Kentucky Derby each year...

. In 1960, the farm bred future Hall of Fame colt, Gun Bow

Gun Bow

Gun Bow was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse. Owned and bred by cosmetics tycoon Elizabeth Arden at her Maine Chance Farm, Gun Bow was sired by Gun Shot, a son of Hyperion, the 1933 Epsom Derby winner and a six-time leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland. He was out of the mare...

.

In 1956, Ms Arden acquired the 722 acres (2.9 km²) northern portion of Coldstream Stud on the death of owner E. Dale Schaffer and renamed it Maine Chance Farm.

Following Elizabeth Arden's passing, the farm property became part of the College of Agriculture at the University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

.

In 2005, the University of Kentucky began the Equine Initiative Project. This project was started by the UK College of Agriculture to develop their Equine Science program into a nationally outstanding program. Currently, in 2007, the Maine Chance Farm is being revamped into a Collegiate Equestrian mecha-center. It will expectantly feature a breeding program, equestrian center, and equine disease and research center.