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in the sedate, formal portraits that now adorn the Wren Building walls.
Planted Racing Seeds Blair, in fact, may have planted the seeds from which Tidewater Virginia grew into the cradle of thoroughbred racing. The stables he helped establish in Williamsburg, probably on or near the campus itself, are considered to be the forerunners of Kentucky’s famed Blue Grass region. Today it would be unheard of for the highest dignitary of the established church in America to associate himself with horseracing. Yet in the pre-Revolutionary era, the “sporting parson” was an established character in the Church of England.
Soon after the Bishop of London sent Blair to America, the young minister, according to “Racing in America,” quickly “gained great influence, becoming the most powerful man in the colony—so powerful, in fact, that he was able to secure the disgrace and recall of three Royal Governors in succession—Andrews, Nicholson and Spotswood.”
It’s not surprising that the highly-competitive Blair found the turf exciting and he probably started attending races soon after he began his pastoral duties in Virginia. Racing history tells one story about Blair serving as a judge for a race involving William Soane, another prominent Virginian at Varina. This race, like many others during the period was contested and brought to court. With the Reverend Blair as his chief witness, Soane easily won the decision, as well as a hefty wager.
In the colonial era, William and Mary attracted many of its students from the First Families of Virginia, who came to the College already versed in the sport. But Blair apparently saw to it that they furthered their "education;" he established horseracing as “an unofficial part of the curriculum,” according to "Racing in
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