Ansel Williamson, Edward Brown, and the Undefeated Asteroid (Primary Title)
The Undefeated Asteroid (Primary Title)
The Undefeated Asteroid with Ansel (His Trainer) and Ed Brown (Jockey) (Alternate Title)

In this scene, enslaved horse trainer Ansel Williamson holds the horse’s saddle. Williamson began training racehorses for T. B. Goldsby, who later sold him to the horse breeder Keene Richards. After earning a reputation as a distinguished trainer throughout the 1850s and early 1860s, Williamson was sold to Robert Aitcheson Alexander of Woodburn Farm in 1864. As a testament to the quality of Williamson’s talent, Asteroid, the three-year-old bay colt he had trained, depicted in this painting, was kidnapped for ransom by Confederate guerrillas in October of that year. Asteroid was recovered by Alexander’s neighbor a week later, and it is possible that Troye began this painting before the horse’s abduction and was only able to complete it following its return. As a subtle commemoration of the incident, Troye may have intended the three riders in the background to be depictions of the marauders. After Alexander’s death, Williamson—who was finally a free man—would continue to train racehorses.

The young man kneeling down to adjust his spurs is Ed Brown, who was seven years old when he was purchased by Alexander. Although he was only fourteen when this painting was completed, he had already become the top jockey in Alexander’s stables. Because he was also a very fast runner, he was nicknamed Brown Dick after a famous racehorse that Williamson had trained for Goldsby. After his career as a jockey, Brown was mentored by Williamson and eventually became a highly successful trainer in his own right. When he died in 1906, he was said to be “the richest black man in Louisville, Kentucky.”

The identity of the groom who holds Asteroid's reigns remains unknown.