Horse racing
Greatly influenced by his uncle Joseph E. Widener, he became involved in thoroughbred horse racing. In 1916, he was elected to the Jockey Club and began raising thoroughbreds at Erdenheim Farm in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania. He purchased a portion of Elmendorf Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, which became known as Old Kenney Farm. He bred horses and raised 102 stakes winners including seven champions. He won the Travers Stakes five times, tying him for the record of most wins. He was the owner of Eight Thirty who was entered into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1994. His stakes winners included Evening Out, High Fleet, Jaipur, Jamestown, Platter, Stefanita, and What a Treat. In 1962, he sold the Old Kenney Farm.
Horses owned by Widener won 1,243 races and more than $9 million in winnings. His horses won the Flash Stakes nine times; the Futurity Stakes and Sanford Stakes five times; the Metropolitan Handicap, Hopeful Stakes, and Saratoga Special Stakes four times; the Coaching Club American Oaks two times; and the Alabama Stakes, Suburban Stakes, and Whitney Stakes one time. Horses that were bred by Widener won 4,524 races and over $16 million in winnings.
Widener served on the leadership committee for the Jockey Club from 1950 to 1963 and he led the Greater New York Association which became the New York Racing Association. From 1960 to 1968, Widener served as president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. In 1971, he was the first to be named an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
