Martha Washington

Tennis Lady has been an improving filly all summer, and yesterday she stunned 11 rivals and a betting crowd that all but ignored her with her first stakes victory.Andrea Seefeldt guided the 3-year-old daughter of Broad Brush from off the pace and nosed the front-running Putthepowdertoit at the wire to win the $75,000 Martha Washington Stakes at Laurel.It was another nose back to a second long-shot closer, New York invader Missymooiloveyou, with Tribulation, the even-money favorite in the Grade III race, running fourth.

George Washington's 277th Birthday Celebration Where:: Welcome Center at Valley Forge National Historical Park, Route 23 and Gulph Road in Valley Forge, Pa. When:: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. tomorrow. What:: Visitors can meet portrayers of George and Martha Washington while listening to period music by the Colonial Revelers. Children can make their own three-corner hats and design birthday cards for the first president in the Encampment Store from 10 a.m.-noon. Afterward, there will be a presentation and tasting of a birthday cake baked using Martha Washington's original recipe.

The Grade III, $150,000 Martha Washington Breeders' Cup was a one-horse show yesterday.Mysterious Moll had no real challenges and led from gate to wire in beating eight rivals and winning her third straight turf test for owner Stanley Ettinger.The margin over Wolfer was a length for the 6-to-5 choice, who took command immediately, stretched her lead to several lengths, then won in 1: 42 1/5 over 1 1/16 miles.Rick Wilson picked up the mount when regular rider Jose Espinoza's visa expired. The new jockey was impressed.

See the grand home of George and Martha Washington decoratively adorned for the holidays, now through Saturday. The Washingtons' Mount Vernon Estate in Virginia, gussied up for an early-American-style Christmas, is hosting its "Holidays at Mount Vernon" event. Visitors will see an elaborate holiday dinner, including Martha Washington's Great Cake, set out in the family dining room. And on display in the kitchen will be her Christmas Pye, a dish made by stuffing a pigeon inside a partridge inside a goose inside a turkey.

A French jockey rode a French filly from the barn of a French trainer to victory at Pimlico yesterday in a stakes named for Martha Washington. Derrianne, a flighty gray filly, captured the $150,000 Martha Washington Breeders' Cup, a Grade III stakes for 3-year-old fillies contested over 1 1/16 miles of Pimlico turf. Ridden by Brice Blanc and trained by Christophe Clement, Derrianne didn't particularly care for the course, which was rated "good," but still overwhelmed her six American rivals.

They roared down the stretch neck and neck, but, at the finish, Silent Greeting's shorter trip around the track was a little too much for favored Rare Blend yesterday.As a result, Silent Greeting -- who broke from the inside post -- prevailed by a nose in the $100,000 Martha Washington Stakes at Laurel Park, winning her first graded race for Lazy Lane Farms.The Grade III event over 1 1/16 miles was shifted to a fast main track after heavy rains made the turf course unraceable. There were six scratches from the race, leaving a nine-horse field of 3-year-old fillies.

George Washington's 277th Birthday Celebration Where:: Welcome Center at Valley Forge National Historical Park, Route 23 and Gulph Road in Valley Forge, Pa. When:: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. tomorrow. What:: Visitors can meet portrayers of George and Martha Washington while listening to period music by the Colonial Revelers. Children can make their own three-corner hats and design birthday cards for the first president in the Encampment Store from 10 a.m.-noon. Afterward, there will be a presentation and tasting of a birthday cake baked using Martha Washington's original recipe.

See the grand home of George and Martha Washington decoratively adorned for the holidays, now through Saturday. The Washingtons' Mount Vernon Estate in Virginia, gussied up for an early-American-style Christmas, is hosting its "Holidays at Mount Vernon" event. Visitors will see an elaborate holiday dinner, including Martha Washington's Great Cake, set out in the family dining room. And on display in the kitchen will be her Christmas Pye, a dish made by stuffing a pigeon inside a partridge inside a goose inside a turkey.

Activities for horse lovers and horse gamblers abound this weekend with the Fair Hill International in northern Maryland, a Grade III stakes race at Laurel Park and the West Virginia Breeders Classics at Charles Town.The 10th annual Fair Hill International and Festival in the Country takes place today through Sunday at the Fair Hill Natural Resources Area in Cecil County. Events will include dressage, cross country, driving and jumping as well as dog-agility competition, a classic car exhibition and more than 50 vendors, artists and craftsmen.

100 Years Ago* A very enjoyable "colonial tea" was given in Glen Burnie with the ladies dressed as famous colonial women, led by Miss Nellie Hammond who came as Martha Washington. Dr. T.H. Brayshaw acted as the chief major demo of the Washington household. Numerous antiques were on exhibit. -- The Sun, Nov. 3, 1895.* President and Mrs. Fell, of St. John's College, gave a reception last evening for the bachelor members of the faculty and to students of the junior and senior classes. A number of young ladies from Annapolis were invited to meet them.

A field of talented 3-year-old fillies goes to the post this afternoon in the $200,000 Martha Washington Breeders' Cup turf race at Laurel Park and, of course, every trainer with a horse in the field thinks he has a chance to win. According to the morning line odds, most of them have reason to believe, with nine of the 10 entries bunched with odds between 7-2 and 8-1, and even Bowie-based Royal Descent, the longest shot in the field at 30-1, is a...

Michael Dickinson trains off his farm in Maryland, but one of his biggest clients lives in Kentucky - Dr. John Chandler. Chandler owns Mill Ridge Farm in the Bluegrass State and serves as president of Judd- monte Farms, one of the premier breeding operations in the world. Clients don't come much bigger than that, so when Chandler suggests a move with a horse, Dickinson would do well to listen. That dynamic came into play this spring with Western Ransom, who charged from far back to win the Martha Washington Breeders' Cup yesterday at Pimlico.

A French jockey rode a French filly from the barn of a French trainer to victory at Pimlico yesterday in a stakes named for Martha Washington. Derrianne, a flighty gray filly, captured the $150,000 Martha Washington Breeders' Cup, a Grade III stakes for 3-year-old fillies contested over 1 1/16 miles of Pimlico turf. Ridden by Brice Blanc and trained by Christophe Clement, Derrianne didn't particularly care for the course, which was rated "good," but still overwhelmed her six American rivals.

Martha's Music improved to 2-for-2 in stakes races at Laurel Park, winning the Grade III $100,000 Anne Arundel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies yesterday. This summer, the horse trained by John Servis took the $150,000 Martha Washington Breeders' Cup over the same surface. Yesterday, jockey Stewart Elliott was unhurried early in the 11-horse field as Pass The Virtue and Shop Till You Drop set an honest pace. When they turned for home, Martha's Music rolled down the stretch and won by three-quarters of a length over Pass The Virtue.

There was cherry soda, "I Cannot Tell A Lie" cherry pie and the following warning from the wife of our country's Founding Father: Don't call him "George." George Washington's life, presidency and his false teeth, too, were celebrated yesterday at the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore as part of an annual event there in recognition of his birthday - which is Friday. Martha Washington, portrayed by Pat Jordan of the Philadelphia-based American Historical Theatre, told the audience about her life and marriage to George Washington - a "simple farmer" who became the commander in chief of the Continental Army and the first president of the United States.

Maple Syrup Weekends Want to enjoy outdoor adventure and learn about maple syrup? Spend a day at Oregon Ridge Nature Center during its Maple Syrup Weekends. Throughout Saturday and Sunday and Feb. 23 and Feb. 24, you can hike to the sugar bushes, watch the tree-tapping, bring back a bucket of sap and watch it turn into a sweet delight at the sugar house. Afterward, go inside the Nature Center and view a slide presentation on "sugaring off" from Native American times until the present. There will be exhibits to roam through, and maple syrup will be on sale at the gift shop.

Bill and Hillary Clinton better lock up their dishes when they move into the White House this week: presidential tableware is a hot collectible. Collectors are after any china, glass or silver in any condition used by any president.The day after Mr. Clinton's election, one small porcelain tea bowl and saucer from George and Martha Washington's French porcelain tea and coffee service sold for $52,250 at a Butterfield & Butterfield auction in San Francisco. That's a record for presidential china.

Martha's Music improved to 2-for-2 in stakes races at Laurel Park, winning the Grade III $100,000 Anne Arundel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies yesterday. This summer, the horse trained by John Servis took the $150,000 Martha Washington Breeders' Cup over the same surface. Yesterday, jockey Stewart Elliott was unhurried early in the 11-horse field as Pass The Virtue and Shop Till You Drop set an honest pace. When they turned for home, Martha's Music rolled down the stretch and won by three-quarters of a length over Pass The Virtue.

MOUNT VERNON, Va. - Exactly 200 years after Martha Washington freed George Washington's slaves, descendants of the slaves gathered to share their ancestors' stories with tourists at the first president's Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon. President Washington, born into a colony that embraced slavery, came to doubt the ethics of the practice and ordered in his will that his personal slaves be freed upon his widow's death. But she did not wait, granting 123 of the slaves freedom on Jan. 1, 1801, two years after Washington died.

GEORGE Washington, America's first president, died in the last month of the last year of the 1700s -- exactly 200 years ago this week.Just as we eagerly anticipate 2000, the 67-year-old Washington dearly wished to see 1800 dawn on his Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon. But as any stroller passing by the Washington Monument in Baltimore's Mount Vernon -- the country's first such monument -- can see, it was not to be.Yet it's just as well that Washington died in 1799, for he was the quintessential 18th century gentleman (and the only U.S. president to have lived entirely in that century)