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SOMBRERO. b be G Sombrero, the winner of the California and j Buffalo Derbys, is another exemplification of the c impossibility of a rich man or a group of rich men t cornering the horse market by buying up all the finely bred end good looking yearlings. Sombrero e is practically a Haggin discard. Two years ago o last spring he was led out of the sales riDg at g Sheepshead Bay because no one would bid c on him. G. Whittier, a colt by Kismet Prose, g on which Louis V. Bell made a killing at j, Qravesend last week, had proceeded him. No one cared to bid on either Sombrero or G. Whittier, be- r cause they wero scrawny little cobs, wanting in t size. They were utterly deficient in "sales ring t quality," which term is, under the American system fi of fattening yearlings like prize pigs, synonymous j with "show ring quality." Mr. Haggin, who sat at the ringside with John Mackay, the manager of j Eancho del Paso Stud, on one side and Green Mor- j ris on the other, said he would give the colt away to any one who cared to lead him to a stable. j "Never mind giving him away," replied Mr. Mor- ria. "Let him go along with my lot. Ive seen many a little runt like that grow into a first-class racehorse. If I am a judge of conformation and action, this fellow has quality." . "All right, Morris," replied the veteran breeder j "Take him along, and may good luck go with him." , Mr. Morris took Sombrero along, and has as al- . ready related, won two Derbys with him, not to mention a number of smaller stakes and purses. Sombrero has furnished into a beautiful thret-year-old. He is sound as a dollar, and, like a really i good horse, he can sprint with sprinters and stay with stayerB. Last year we thought him a sprinter : only. Morris thought so, too. But Morris : discovered when he tried to place him in the Cali : fornia Derby that he could easily do it. Sombrero submitted readily to restraint and ran from behind like a "major." Since the California Derby he has been "waited with," sometimes too long, as men who have backed him in incompetent hands can bear rueful testimony. Not one of two score horses which fetched anywhere from 00 to 5,000 at the sale from which Sombrero was led in disgrace haB won a tithe of what ho has earned in stakes and purses. He is easily the best three-year-old at any distance in the Morris establishment. If Mr. Morris does not race him all winter in California he has a royal chance of developing into a first-class four-year-old. He does not belong to Mr. Morris exclusively, as has been said. He is a Haggin horse, leased like Cunard, Artvii, Durazzo and Old England, to be returned to Rancbo del Paso for breeding purposes when his usefulness as a racer shall have ended. Daily America.
