Knight of Ellerslie

{{Short description|American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse}}

{{Infobox racehorse

| horsename = Knight of Ellerslie

| image = File:The American turf- an historical account of racing in the United States, with biographical sketches of turf celebrities. 1898 (1898) (18158531902).jpg

| caption = From The American turf (1898)

| sire = Eolus

| grandsire = Leamington

| dam = Lizzie Hazlewood

| damsire = Scathelock

| sex = Stallion

| foaled = 1881

| country = United States

| color = Chestnut

| breeder = Richard J. Hancock

| owner = Thomas W. Doswell

| trainer = Thomas W. Doswell

| record =

| earnings =

| race = Vernal Stakes (Pimlico) (1884)

American Classics wins:
Preakness Stakes (1884)

| awards =

| honors =

| updated =

}}

Knight of Ellerslie (1881 – 1906) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. In 1884 he won the Preakness Stakes and was second to Panique in the Belmont Stakes. These two important races would become the second and third legs of the U.S. Triple Crown series.{{cite web|url=http://www.preakness.com/winners/1884 |title=1884 |publisher=Preakness.com |access-date=2016-07-14}}{{cite web|last=Calabrese |first=Joe |url=http://heavy.com/sports/2015/05/preakness-stakes-past-winners-horses-jockeys-trainers-race-history/ |title=Preakness Stakes: Winning Horses, Jockeys & Trainers |publisher=Heavy.com |date=2015-05-15 |access-date=2016-07-14}}{{cite web|url=https://www.belmontstakes.com/uploads/historical_races/history_pdf_1884.pdf |title=1884 Belmont stakes |publisher=NYRA |date=2019-11-14 |access-date=2019-11-14}}

Knight of Ellerslie was bred at Ellerslie Stud in Albemarle County, Virginia, owned by Richard Hancock. He was the father of Arthur B. Hancock, who would have inherited Ellerslie Stud but who later sold it in order to consolidate his breeding operations at his Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. Knight of Ellerslie was purchased by Major Thomas Walker Doswell of Bullfield Farm in Doswell, Virginia, who trained and raced him throughout his career on the track.{{cite web|url=http://www.secretariatsmeadow.com/tag/doswell/ |title=Before there was Big Red…there was "the Great Red Fox"|publisher=Secretariat's Meadow |date=2012-08-03 |access-date=2019-11-14}}

As a sire, the best of Knight of Ellerslie's progeny was Henry of Navarre, the 1894, and 1895 American Horse of the Year and a future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee.[http://www.bloodhorse.com/eclipsewinners/pdf/History_Charts.pdf The Bloodhorse.com Champion's history charts] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904120526/http://www.bloodhorse.com/eclipsewinners/pdf/History_Charts.pdf |date=September 4, 2012}}{{cite web|url=https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/henry-navarre |title=Henry of Navarre |publisher=Racing Museum.org |date=1985-01-01 |access-date=2019-03-07}}

Knight of Ellerslie died at Woodburn Stud in Kentucky in November 1906.{{cite news |last1=Staff |title=Noted horse passes away |work=Oakland Tribune |issue=page 28 |date=November 11, 1906}}