[3] Ben Brush was a bay stallion sired by Bramble (the 1879 champion handicap horse) out of Roseville (a sister to Azra, the 1892 Kentucky Derby and Travers Stakes winner) by Reform.

Ben Brush's dam, Roseville, was purchased by Ezekiel Clay & Catesby Woodford breeding partnership in 1891 from the horseman H. Eugene Leigh.

At the time, she was in foal to Leigh's La Belle Stud stallion Bramble, a son of Bonnie Scotland who was the leading sire in North America in 1880 and 1882.

When the resulting thoroughbred colt was offered for sale by Clay and Woodford, Leigh and his new partner, the African-American Hall of Famer Ed Brown, bought him for $1,200.

The colt was a "rather small horse, a bit longer for his height than Bramble, almost equally coarse about the head."

After five wins in five starts, Ben Brush went to New York, where he came third at Sheepshead Bay but then won an overnight handicap, giving 19 pounds to his nearest rival.

Ben Brush was then sold to the famous gambler Mike Dwyer, who had, with his brother Philip, raced his sire Bramble, as well as the champions Hindoo, Hanover, Miss Woodford, and Luke Blackburn.

Now ridden by Hall of Famer Willie Simms, an African-American considered one of the greatest riders of his day, and trained by Hardy Campbell Jr., Ben Brush won six more races as a two-year-old.

Without the benefit of a prep race and having never run farther than seven furlongs in his career, Ben Brush stumbled away from the barrier, nearly unseating Simms.

[8] The correspondent for the "Spirit of the Times" wrote, "Simms made one last and desperate rally with Ben Brush, displaying as vigorous a piece of riding as was ever seen, and gradually but surely gaining on the other Ben, he finally beat him out by a nose in a terrific and hair-raising finish, which elicited a wild and spontaneous shout from the grandstand."

(Col. Clark, the guiding force behind the development of Churchill and then serving as the track's presiding judge, credited Simms with the victory.

And Ben Brush produced twice leading sire Sweep, winner of the 1910 Belmont Stakes, and a champion at two and three years-old.

Ben Brush was part of the inaugural class inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1955.