BRONSDON, Arthur

ARTHUR BRONSDON

UPDATE - Arthur Bronsdon has been claimed by a close relative and is going home!  This Winner's Circle photo was found in an antique shop in Cynthiana KY last week. The photo is dated June 8, 1938, and is identified as the third race of the day, at the Detroit Racecourse.

The winning horse is named BRILLIANT ROCK. He was a 4-year-old chestnut colt (at the time of this photo) who won 9 times in a career that spanned 86 races. His sire was 20-time winner BRILLIANT, whose father was leading sire BROOMSTICK, and mother was MASDA (a sister to MAN O'WAR.) Brilliant Rock's mother was LUFIAN, who was a daughter of TRAP ROCK.

The winning connections are:

    Owner - The Spring Valley Stable of J.E. Mason
    Trainer - H.B. Reether
    Jockey - A. Bronsdon

The only face truly visible in this photo is that of the jockey Arthur Bronsdon, so that is the person who will be the subject of today's search.

Arthur Henry Bronsdon was born either 1-Oct or 8-Oct-1921 in Boston Massachusetts to parents Murch Bronsdon Jr. and Grace Mann. It is unknown when or why he began riding race horses, but it is recorded in the pages of the "Daily Racing Form" that he rode his first race in May of 1936. The "Pimlico Turf Notes" insert in the DRF states that young Arthur Bronsdon is 17 years old. However, it appears that Arthur fibbed a bit, as he would have been only 15 when this event occurred, having not yet reached his 16th birthday.

It was almost a year later in May 1937 when Bronsdon rode his first winner - this happened at Narragansett Park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. One can see that he is still telling the press that he is 17.

By the summer of 1938, he was riding in Detroit and apparently had developed some bad riding habits as he was called before the track stewards for "rough riding" and fined $125 for the behavior.

In 1946 he married Suzanne Winn and had two sons James and Joseph.

It is not known at present how long the riding career of Bronsdon lasted, but it is known that he had left riding and became a horse trainer, as he is found mentioned as such in newspapers of 1957.

Arthur and Suzanne divorced in 1965. Arthur died in 1977 in Lake Worth, Florida.

(click for larger image)