 | |
| Founded | 1925 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Adolph Michael Kroop |
| Defunct | 2018 |
| Headquarters | Laurel, Maryland |
A.M. Kroop and Sons, Inc. was a riding boot store and manufacturer located in Laurel, Maryland. The business opened in 1925 and crafted boots for many notable jockeys including George Woolf of Seabiscuit fame. [1]
Adolph Michael Kroop immigrated to New York from Latvia in 1907 and later relocated to Maryland. He learned boot making from his father who had crafted boots for the Russian army. Adolph opened shops in Ellicott City and Baltimore before opening the Laurel shop in 1925. [1]
A. M. Kroop and Sons proximity to Laurel Park Race Track made it popular with jockeys. Notable customers included jockeys Eddie Arcaro, Willie Shoemaker, William Passmore and George Woolf. George Woolf wore boots made by A. M. Kroop and Sons while riding Seasbiscuit to victory at the 1938 Preakness Stakes. A.M. Kroop and Sons was commissioned to make 25 replica boots for the 2002 film Seabiscuit . [1]
Control of the company passed to Kroop's sons Morris and Israel in 1968. [2]
Adolph's granddaughter, Randy Kroop, took over the business in 1979 using the same 125-step process that was used by her father and grandfather. [1] [3] The shop's boot makers used equipment dating from the 1930s. [4]
Randy Kroop closed the 2,500-square-foot (230 m2) warehouse and store on C Street permanently in autumn 2018, citing inflation, competition by non-custom makers, and a decline in the horse racing industry. [2]
Laurel is a city in Maryland, United States, located almost midway between Washington and Baltimore on the banks of the Patuxent River. While the city limits are entirely in northern Prince George's County, outlying developments extend into Anne Arundel, Montgomery and Howard counties. Founded as a mill town in the early 19th century, Laurel expanded local industry and was later able to become an early commuter town for Washington and Baltimore workers following the arrival of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1835. Largely residential today, the city maintains a historic district centered on its Main Street, highlighting its industrial past.
Seabiscuit was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple-Crown winner, War Admiral, by 4 lengths in a 2-horse special at Pimlico and was voted American Horse of the Year for 1938.
George Edward Arcaro, known professionally as Eddie Arcaro, was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who won more American classic races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice. He is widely regarded as the greatest jockey in the history of American Thoroughbred horse racing. Arcaro was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of an impoverished taxi driver. His parents, Pasquale and Josephine, were Italian immigrants and his father held a number of jobs, including taxi driver and operator of an illegal liquor enterprise during Prohibition. Arcaro was born prematurely, and weighed just three pounds at birth; because of this, he was smaller than his classmates and was rejected when he tried out for a spot on a baseball team. His full height would reach just five-foot, two inches. Eventually nicknamed "Banana Nose" by his confreres, Arcaro won his first race in 1932 at the Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico; he was 16 years old. In 1934, the inaugural year of Narragansett Park, Arcaro was a comparative unknown who rode many of his early career races at 'Gansett.
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual who rode horses in racing. They must be light, typically around a weight of 100-120 lb. and physically fit. They are typically self employed and are paid a small fee from the horse trainer and a percentage of the horse's winnings.
Seabiscuit is a 2003 American sports film co-produced, written and directed by Gary Ross and based on the best-selling 1999 non-fiction book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. The film is loosely based on the life and racing career of Seabiscuit, an undersized and overlooked Thoroughbred race horse, whose unexpected successes made him a hugely popular media sensation in the United States during the Great Depression. At the 76th Academy Awards, Seabiscuit got seven nominations, including Best Picture. The film was Ross' second film on-screen collaboration with Tobey Maguire and Elizabeth Banks, who both previously worked in Spider-Man, and with Maguire and William H. Macy, who also both previously worked in Pleasantville.
Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Olde Ben Pimlico's Tavern in London. The racetrack is nicknamed "Old Hilltop" after a small rise in the infield that became a favorite gathering place for thoroughbred trainers and race enthusiasts. It is currently owned by the Stronach Group.
Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores that operated mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States. The firm originated in Baltimore, Maryland.
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The Havre de Grace Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race first run on the August 26, 1912 opening day of the new Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Although most of its runnings would take place in early fall, its final edition was run there on April 30, 1949. Due to Federal government wartime regulations, the 1943 edition was held at Laurel Park and in 1945 at Pimlico Race Course. A race for horses age three old or older, it was run on dirt over a distance of 1 1/8 miles with the exception of 1918 when it was set at 1 mile and 70 yards. From inception through 1939, the race was known as the Havre de Grace Cup Handicap.
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Whiskey Bottom Road is a historic road north of Laurel, Maryland that traverses Anne Arundel and Howard Counties in an area that was first settled by English colonists in the mid-1600s. The road was named in the 1880s in association with one of its residents delivering whiskey after a prohibition vote. With increased residential development after World War II, it was designated a collector road in the 1960s; a community center and park are among the most recent roadside developments.
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