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MAJOR THOMAS TALKS OF HIMYARS RACES. Veteran Breeder of the Great Racehorse and Sire Explains Some of His Defeats, i Major B. G. Thomas, the veteran breeder, at his home in Lexington, Ky., talked Interestingly a few days ago of his once great horse Himyar, which has JuVtirctfrthe- -aSPoirWypan, al the Ayondale Stud in Summer County, Tennessee. It is an odd fact that all the great horses of days gone by with which Major Thomas name has been connected have been outlived by this Nestor of the , turf, now very close on to four score years of age. Domino, King Ban, Fellowcraft, Lelex, Mannie Gray, Queen Bau and Tonimie Atkins are all dead, and now Himyar has joined them in General Bufords horse heaven. As Major Thomas has survived all his contemporary turfmen and breeders of the days, soon after the Civil war, so he has also outlived the great horses which have made his name famous in . turf history for all time to come. Said Major Thomas: "Himyar should have been retired with an unbeaten turf record. He never lost a race but that there was a good excuse for his being beaten. Take the Kentucky Derby, for instance, when Day Star beat him out. The starter left him nearly flat-footed at the post, and at one time lie was fully fifty yards behind the leading horse. With this disadvantage in the early part of the race, he closed up on Day Star in the stretch and gave him a battle royal for the money. Then there was the Elkhoni Stakes, in which Commie F. defeated him." said the Major. "That day the track was a sea of mud ou the inside, while there was a hard walking path on the outside of the course. Bob Swim got Commie F. on the hard outside, and the boy on Himyar held him close to the rail iu the deep going. At that he had only to pull to the outside on entering the stretch and walk home, but his jockey kept him in the mud and slusb, and, as a result, he was beaten. He lost the Distillers Stakes to Mendelssohn simply because his jockey waited too long to make his run, and in the Louisville Cup, won by Volturno, his defeat was due to the same sort of riding which enabled Commie F. to lieat him in the Elkhoni "Stakes. Witli all the bad luck which followed him during his racing career, he won all told fourteen races, many of which were stake events." When asked how he regarded Himyar as a racehorse compared with J. R. Keenes Sysonby, Major Thomas said: "Well, I have never seen a horse I thought could beat Himyar when at his best, unless It was his son Domino, but then 1 have not seen Sysonby since lie was a two-year-old and my health was too poor last season for me to make a trip cast. Domiuo was perhaps a faster horse than Himyar, but the sire I guess could beat his sensational son over a distance of ground." -Major Thomas has many relics of Himyar in His home In Lexington. Plates worn by the noted horse iu ids great races, handsome paintings of him by Scott in Ills racing days ami silver services which the great horse captured in some of his brilliant races.
