File:Breeder and sportsman (1891) (20222339808).jpg

Title: Breeder and sportsman
Identifier: breedersportsma191891sanf (find matches)
Year: 1882 (1880s)
Authors:
Subjects: Horses
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : (s. n. )
Contributing Library: San Francisco Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: California State Library Califa/LSTA Grant

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
1891 3?Ixe gvjeefe atttT gpctvismnn. 483 NEWS FROM THE EAST. What the Californians Are DoingâGossip About Trotters and Thoroughbreds.
Text Appearing After Image:
(From our Special Correspondent ) New York, October 25, 1891. ESIGNING her orown so'valianlly held for the past four years the peer- leaa Firerjzi, Qaeen of the Ameri- can Turf, has gone to join her earliest love the King, Salvator. A fitting tribute to her prowess is thus to be with him, and share the glory won in so many a hard- fooght race. She ia now on her way to the Rancbo del Paso. Ac- companying her on her trip acroEs the continent is Fiizjames, a fall sister to Sir John, the dam of St. Carlo, and eleven others of less note destined to fill the ranks of he matrons of Del Paso made vacant by the death of Second land, Chatelaine and others. With the retirement of Firenzi \nd Fitzjames, comes the final retirement of J. B. Haggin rem the racing world. That the famous orange and bine lias forever gone from the ranks where it so often held the 'irst place causes much regret on this side of the continent. Jot with the retirement of Mr. Haggin comes the advent of iew men, young men into the racing world, in the persons of 5. C. Potter, Jacob Ruppert, and Charles Fleishman. E. C. hotter is a son-in-law of Havermeyer, the sugar king, and is epnted to have millions at his back. Jacob fiuppeit occupies he same position to New York that John Wieland did to an Francisjo;âThe King of Brewers, while C. Fleishman ails from Cincinnati where he is engaged in the manufacture f oompressed yeasl. These three gentlemen were the heavi- st purchasers at the Belmont sale. By the way, now that the excitement incident to the great ale has died out and Dame Rumor has set her tongue a /aggiag it may be of interest to many to know what she any of them aa yet. There is a gsod road team here, one of which is a bay filly by Alaska. She can trot better than 2:20 they say. The runners are showing up very well, too- As J. B. Hag- gin is about the only California breeder selling yearlings here, colts of his breeding are all I have seen, A Sir Modred year- ling out of Ethel, who is a full sister to King Fox and Ban Fox, and a big, lusty brown colt by Darebin, out of Hayti- enne, by Glenelg, at the Brooklyn track are coming to the front. They have worked quarters in twenty-fonr seconds and three-eighths in thirty-seven with weight up. By the way, trainers do not like the Sir Modreds and Dare- bins. "They are all faat as bullets, particularly the Sir Modreds," they say. I, though, have Been a Darebin and also a Sir Modred I would not give for any colt of their age in the East. One of them is the sensational Ludwig winner of the Great Eastern Handicap, the other the Sir Modredâ Marian colt, a cast-off of the Daly stable. They will both do to watch in the spring. Out Westâin Chicago and at St. Louis âI heard of a couple by a horse but little known, viz., imp. Midlothian. One of them, Lena Frey, a two-year-old, having inn a mile better than 1:43, with 106 pounds up. Midlothian was at one time standing as a public stallion at Sacramento: whether he is now or not, 1 do not know. I was in Tattersall's 6a!eBjard last week and saw a Joe Hooker. I think he was out of Ada C, who was on his way to England. Whether going there to race or not I could not ascertaio, but will later on. There are a great many horses being imported from England lately. I will give a list of the latest importations in my next letter, also more about the youngsters. Salvatoe. Our Tennessee Letter- K. K Alcock to whose name many of the highest-priced lares are accredited, rumor said was buying for E. C. Potter- Tow comes the charge that he was buying for young August elmont. Jimmy Kowe, another heavy purchaser, and Bei- rut's ex-trainer, is also said to have been bujing for the 3ung Belmont. Rowe and Alcock did not bid much against ich other, and as Alcock bought the mare Magnetic for erry Belmont, it is but natural to think that he was com- missioned likewise by August Belmont Jr. to buy for him. nyhow Alcock's backing seemed unlimited as he secured jerything he went after but oneâthe imported mare Viola, am of Victory, who went to Mr. S. Sanford for $20,500 i i exorbitant price for a mare like her when others brought i m, though better bred and better pro Infers. Another little whisper is going about that St. Blaise cv?r hom so much ado was made was sold before ever he en- red the ring, at a price much less than $100,000 and that inng Belmont had booked nearly all the mares bought by icock to the horse for the coming year. If this be true ; is to be hoped it is not and that idle prattlers will cease i reflating such stories) America is sobbed of all her glory id the honor she had of having sold at auction a horse for ore than ever one sold for elsewhere. The truth as to hom the owner of the mares and colts really is will come it and when it doeB few men will believe but that St. Blaise is sold privately before the auction sale ever came off, i. e,, AngUBt Belmont Jr. is the owner of the mares. Eastern racing men are much pleased with the way the Jifoinians are coming to the front. The day Bell Bird d Arion lowered the yearling and two-year-old records at ockton, I was coming over from Jersey City on the ferry at. "What do you think of California?" asked one of a oop of a dozen gentlemen standing near me, "We are -ne op sure this time," came the reply. Then they went expatiating on the wonderful climate and the Bhort tracks, 3. Having a passing acquaintance with one of the group, pedged myself in as close as I could to the center and raised y gantle voice in defense of my home. "True," said I, fehave climate and good feed. As to 6bort tracks we have ie; but, gentlemen, did you ever stop to think that the sea reducing the records in California are bred right. ley come from the Royal Family, and California is the .ioe,;gentlemen, where the Royal Family lives." This rather ipped them, but when the horBts still further lowered sir respective records and then came Sunol and others, they ire fairly dumbfounded. Ob! how I delight in showing ' tat California ear* do! tattered about through this section of country in all direc- ! ns can be found California-bred colts. Here are a few I â ve Been: A bay yearling colt by Albert W., out of Ma Belle. 1 Echo, she out of Mabel, full sister to Beautiful Bells, iB king-pin of the bunch. He is a grand-looking colt. Mother Albert W. yearling, out of Alice Brown, ia a good e, and will be heard from sure. He has a half-sister here Echo that has stepped better than 2:20 on several occa- I 'M. A Bister to Captain Griffith's bay pacer, by Algona, i tof Middletown Mare, by Middletown. Still another is a 1 o-year-old by Albert W., out of Augusta, she by Gus, out Beta, by Geo. M. Patchen Jr. I have seen this colt, and is said he can show better than a forty gait, though only it broken. Director has a couple of good colts about here, d occasionally I hear of an Electioneer but have not seen : Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 29, 1S91. Breeder and Sportsman:âThe racing season on this aide of the Rocky Mountains is now a thing of memory, but through the dispatches we learn that you, of fair-haired Cali- fornia, are just having your inning "at the bat'*âas they would say in base ball vernacular. On this side we have had the most eventful season in the history of the trotter and pacer, and we must acknowledge that California has put the finishing touches on a glorious season in most admirable style. The sensational performances of Bell Bird and Arion have been most talked of, not even Sunol's successful tirade against Maud S.'j champion record having approached it in point of general interest. What appears to me as the most striking feature of these champions is that they were sired by the lamented Electioneer. I have always contended that we are approaching the existence of a two-minute harness horse, and when somebody's horse turns a mile in 2:00 I will then willingly shake ofl the mortal aoil and turn my toes up to. the blooming daisies with the satisfaction of having had a prediction come true. Each season brings us nearer to the 2:00 trotter, and 8£ seconds is but a very short space of time, but young heads that are now fair with youthtul hair will doubtless be be-specked with gray, and wrinkles will replace preceding childish smiles before we see the 2:00 performer. But Time, the great annihilator, brings about remarkable changes, and as shades of other champions come and fade away, a star arises aoroas the hoiizon and the whole world stands agap until another champion appears, and then it is with the same animated interest and amazement that we watch the new ohampion's career until it is dethroned by a rising taster generation. A few months ago the performance of Monbars was the talk of the day, and his mile in 2:1S knocked Regal Wilkes' champion two-j ear-old stallion record into a back number Monbars was all the rage, but when Arion steps a mile in 2:14AT the tide of inttrest changes and now Monbars, with all his greatness, is but an ordinary horse. It was the same in the case as regards Freedom, whose champion yearling record has only been eclipsed by one other, yet Freedom's mtrk is now very commonplace. Maud S.'s 2:08$ signifies but little in the estimation of the public now, for Sunol, a much younger mare than was Maud S., has accomplished a greater feat. Two weeks ago our own Hal Pointer was hailed as king and honored as invincible, but, alas! the "rising generation" has surpassed the great Tennesseean, and to-day he must be second in the same category aB Dallas, Adonis, Roy Wilkes, Guy, etc., for while he outclasses them, he is cot the equal of Direct, and the lat- ter has been crowned king of all harness horses. Such is life, Buch is fate! The ingenuity of man, and increasing in- telligence of those engaged in breeding, rearing, training and trotting horBes, and the intensity of pure trotting blood that is now abroad in the land, has brought us down from the day we clapped our hands, threw up our hats and hurrahed for Flora Temple, 2:19$, until to-aay, when we have a 2:26$ yearling, a 2:14* two-year- old, a 2:104 three-year old, a2:10A four-year-old, a 2:08£ five year-old, and a 2:06 pacer. We are drifting onward, and what will be the future? I ask my- self. Bat let us march on, and when the heavy hand of Father Time begins to weigh heavily upon our brow and our days of usefulness are over, there will be hundreds, yea, thousands, to join in the fray, and the 2:00 trotter will surely come from somebody's efforts. There will doubtless be an epidemic of kite-shaped trackB next year. I wonder what those chronio kickers in and around New York will do when there are no others. What wordly objection can be had to tbem, excepting that they are faBt? This old rezzle that "you can't see" don't go cow. It is all stuff, that is, if the stands are properly located. I had much rather witness a race over WilliamB' kite track at Independence than to sit in the amphitheatre at Lexioglon and look down the horses' throats as they finish home the last quarter. The kite-shaped tracks at Independence, Ia , and Columbia, Tenn., an far eoperior to the square shaped, sharp-turned track at Terre Haute, and besides this there is less danger to horses and drivers, and no horse has any ad- vantage over the other competitors in a race. Kite-shaped traces are not necessarily fast. The soil most be adapted for racing. Did you ever know that there are some horeeB that can go a faster mile on a half-mile ring than on a mile track? Most all faint-hearted horse? can. I know a little pacer that made a mark on a bad half-mile irack, and she has since raced on excellent mile trucks without approach- ing her records. At one of the meetings at Milwaukee the past summer I saw this Eame mare take a field of horses down to the half in 1:05 in the fiist two heats, but the moment she looked down the long stretches on that track she showed a disposition to get up and ride. There was a certain craoker-jaok four- year-old colt out this year, and when be turned an Illinois half-mile ring in 2:18) it created quite a Btir. This eame horse showed that he could trot a mile in 2:16 on a half- mile track, but on a good mile track it took lota of "reefing" and drumming to induce him to go a mile in 2:17;. He would go to the third quarter at a 2:12 gait, but the moment he threw his optics down the quarter-mile homestretch he was wanting to ride. Give us more kite-shaped tracks; we need them. The sensation performances on these tracks keep up and increase the interest in harness raoing and bring new faces to the trotting meetings. Aud this kick aboot not receiving bite-shaped track records has been pretty well smothered. Why not receive them? On a mile kite traok doesn't a horse trot a full mile? 1 think so, and I do hope aome of this dainty, band-box brigade in and around New York would venture far enough weBt to witness a few meet- ings on the kite tracks for they have not enterprise enough to build one in their part of the country. Give us more kite- shaped tracks, and faster ones. What bronght broken hearts end sore disappointment to Tennessee in the defeat of Hal PoiLter brought joy to the Pacific Coast. The first race at Terre Haute was a hollow vic'ory, (as i appeared to me) for tbe representative of the Hal pacing dynasty, and the raeeover the hard track here was won quite as hanrily by Direot. Pointer did not look good here, and he was even worse at Columbia, where Direct beat him again last Monday. Tennesseans, almost to a man, played Direct for the first heat, but they confidently expected "our Pointer" to land the pie in the wind up. Andy Welch, the Boston bookmaker and quite a plunger.laid long odds against Direct in the second heat, notwithstanding Direct won the first heat handily. Andy Welch posted 6 to 5 against the little black horse in the second, and again the Tennesseans played California'b favorite. He beat Pointer so easily in the second heat that the Tennessee crowd gave up all hope, and, strarge as it may seem, they made money on the result. The race at Columbia last Monday was the greatest race ever seen, as the time attests. And this race was on one of those abominable (?) kite-shaped tracks. The track was hard to Direct'a liking. In the first heat Poirjter came up with one of his great rushes, and Starr was driving as be never drove before, but Pointer gradually gained until he waB on even terms, when he broke and Direct won in 2:09. The second heat was another oorker and Direct found it necessary to do a mile in 2:08. The third heat was won by Direct some easier, and when the timerB hung out 2K)8;, the applanse was deafening. Af- ter the heat was over, genial Jack RusBwurm, who arranged for the series of matches at Nashville and at Columbia, and myself wended our way through the thronging crowd to Di- rect's box, where we found the little coterie from California much elated. Starr was a baj py man, and on that afternoon when he lowered the world'B record at Independence, he never felt so good aa he did that day. He had driven the three fastest heats on record, and had beaten the moBt con- sistent race horse that ever wore a harness. Mr. Salisbury was in the little black whirlwind's box, and was as busily en- gaged in preparing his toilet as were the stable boji. With Direct, thoy had beaten the greatest pacer they could find to go against, and it was no wonder they were going home happy. They slipped from Columtia to Chicago, and from the Windy City all will go direct to California. Margaret S. goes back home with the same record as that which she came acroes tbe continent with last spring. Homestake has the same mark, but Vic H. has 2:13$ to her credit, while Orator took a mark of 2:20 at Independence, and Directâit is need- less to speak of his numerous achievements. Direct and Pointer have met three times, but I am inclined to believe the question of supremacy has not yet been settled. I never saw the horses gaited more opposite* consequently, one needs a hard track, while the other revels in soft going. On a soft track Pointer beat Direct, for Direct could not pace a little. On a hard traok it was the other way forPointer.so Ed. Gears says, refused to try. This is the way it stands, and not un- til Hal Pointer is asked to go his limit over a track suitable for his gait, will many believe Direct his superior. By the records Direct is the greatest of all harness horses, and when his phenomenal speed at the pacing way of going was dis- covered, it was a very lucky hit. Mr. L. A. Ragsdale, of Clarksville, owns Re-Election, 2:27), a great three-year-old by Electioneer, dam Lady Russell, full sister to Mand S. Re-Election, under Scott McCoy's superb reinsmanBhip, learned how to tiot in a very short time, and McCoy told me only a few dajs ago that he liked him better than any three-year-old he ever handled. He is a small colt, but a bull dog in gameness and determination. That old chestnut about the Electioneers being quitters has been pretty well proven incorrect tLia summer, and I don't think anyone is more convinced of this than Andy Welch, tbe Boston bookmaker. During the last meeting at Lexing- ton the 2:30 slake r-arrowed down to a race between St. Vin- cent and Del Mar, tbe latter a son of Electioneer and 8on(ag Dixie. Del Mar took the two first heat?, and St. Vincent had captured the third in fast time and, under the new rule of the Kentucky Association, Andrew Allison and Bellevne Wilkes, the other starters had been sent to the barn, when tbe bell rang colling the horses up. Andy stepped up on his box, received bis audience and chalked up "2 to 1 Del Mar," lor, as he Eaid, "its 3 to 1 that any Electioneer will "cough it up" in tbe fourth heat when he is collared at the head of the ttretch." The good odds, with Andy's persuasive Irish brogue, brought lots of Del Mar money into the box, and when the moon was rising across the verdant Kentucky hillB trie Boston bookmaker was still ccshing Del Mar tickets. The heat was one of the best ever seen, the two horses going like a team fiom wire to wire, Del Mar winning the heat by a head through sheer gameneBs. Of course St. Blaise's arrival in Tennessee created a ripple of excitement, but bis was not alone. At the recent closing out sale at Lexington, Mr. Tjru Bate, of Gallatin, bought the famous race horse and sire, imp. Glenelg, and he is now on Mr. Bate's summer country farm. Mr. Bate has a great lot of young mares on his place.and with Glenelg at the head of his stud, the old horse will yet sire many more cracker- jacks. Besides these two acquisitions to tbe breeding inter- ests in Summer County, thin, Davidson County, claims a new ctampion. The recent purchase of Fierooi-t by Gen. W. H. Jackson, for $18,500. addB another to tbe long list of great horses in the stud in this State. Fremont bas joined Luke Blackburn, Enquirer and Ircquois at Belle Meade. Cal- ifornia has kept things a-booming. Tennessee has done her part, but tell me what Kentucky has done. But don't tell "Iconoclast" of tbe Kentucky Stock Farm, for be hasn't learned yet that the outer world bas beat Kentucky on every hand, and that no longer does the "Blue Grass State" bask in tbe sunlight (or starlight) as the mamma of the breeding interests and peerless. \\ ell, I will admit that it was the mamma of the breeding interests, but the coming generations have swept by the "center of borsedom," and now the latter has to keep chase instead of leading the world as it onoe di>! More anoD. KENNESAff,

Note About Images