Welch's broodmare selections led to Leamington becoming the leading sire in North America in 1875, 1877, 1879, and 1881.
Their first was the 1879 Preakness Stakes winner, Harold, and their second was Iroquois, who in 1881 became the first American-bred horse to ever win England's famous Epsom Derby.
[2] Welch served with the United States Navy from June 1846 to February 1856, initially as a purser aboard the USS Princeton.
[3] Among Welch's clients was friend and fellow Lexington breeder, H. Price McGrath, owner of McGrathiana Stud.
In May 1882, Welch sold Erdenheim Stud and the bulk of its bloodstock to Commodore Norman Kittson and his brother James of Saint Paul, Minnesota.