Guttenbergs Great Match Race: Tammanys Defeat of Lamplighter and Its Results-Breeding Bureau Benefits, Daily Racing Form, 1907-12-05

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GUTTEN BERGS GREAT MATCH RACE. Tammanys Defeat of Lamplighter and Its Results Breeding Bureau Benefits. New York, December 2. Astonishment was expressed here at the news that Lamplighter had been sold at auction for 00. At least twice in his career this sensational turf performer changed hands at live figures once when the late Captain Brown and his partner. J. W. Rogers, let him go to Pierre Lorlllard, the owner of Rancocas, for 0,000; and . J again when Gottfried Walbaum paid 0,000 forliiin at auction in 1S03, and within a month had raced him in the sensational mulch at the Glillenberg track with Marcus Dalys Tammany, I have in my scrap book, treasured for its reminiscences of other days, including scenes at Washington Park in the heydey of its prosperity, a photograph taken of the judges stand at Guttenberg on the day of that memorable contest. The match had attracted so much attention all over the United States that the largest cosmopolitan assemblage ever gathered within the irfclosure over-ran the judges stand. There was barely room for the officials selected for the race. The late Colonel S. D. Bruce and the late John E. Brewster were chosen by the management, at my suggestion, to act as judges and stewards, in conjunction with the writer, who was the regular official. The photograph shows clearly enough the late General W. H. Jackson, the late Marcus Daly, the late Colonel Bruce and the late Mr. Brewster, as well as many who are still alive and are able to appreciate good sport men like De Courcey Forbes, who at that time held very close relations with Pierre Lorlllard, and who came over to see his much-admired Lamplighter run at a course lie had never been over In public; "Billy" Roller, whose mysterious disappearance two years ago from the eastern tracks has never been explained; .Tames 15. Dyer, who trained Elkwood for Walter Gratz and later trained in Austria with great success, and others not so well known to the turf world. Marcus Daly is depicted engaged in a friendly chat with Tammanys breeder. General Jackson. Gottfried Walbaum is one of the crowd on the steps of the judges stand. He is but one of the fifty persons seen massed In a solid crush watching the horses going to the post. Of course, all horsemen recall that Tammany won the match and with It a great deal of money for Ills owner, and as a consequence Fred Walbaum lost at least 0,000 in bets, so that the well-meant boom for the Guttenberg track cost one of the "big four" much more personally than the receipts of the day, large as they were. The race was run on Thursday, September 2S, 1S93, for 2,500 a side, with ,000 added, and the mile and a quarter was run in 2:00, which, while not so fast as has been done by the best horses, was nevertheless a fine performance. Each horse carried 122 pounds, Garrison on Tammany and Taral on lamplighter. The latter made his own running, and as the late Andrew Thompson, the negro horseman well remembered for his well-educated bearing, said to me after the race: "It would have been a faster race and Lamplighter would not have been beaten so easily if there had been two or three other horses in to maintain the pace good and strong." It was tills match and the financial effect that this and the contlict with the board of control tracks had on the latter, that showed the turf government of that period the necessity for the regulation of dales. Guttenberg was well able to race against the Brooklyn Jockey Cub that month and make money. But the Gravesend track did not earn anything like as large returns as before the contlict, and when a year later there was no clash everything seemed bright until the passing of the constitutional amendment prohibiting betflng. This seemed a body blow to turf interests, but thanks to the unremitting efforts of the men who composed the Jockey Club, the popular institution lias been maintained as the greatest of all sports, bringing vast profits to the associations, enriching all the breeders of the land, aiding the agricultural interests and affording cnployment to hundreds of persons. Dates were mutually agreed on by all the tracks then in existence that desired to race, and the effect has been satisfactory all around. This is why the much-talked of Empire City decision by the Court of Appeals has left the turf world in a state of uncertainty, for no-one except James Butler really knows what dates will be desired by him, and if he wants August, as this year, there is certain to be great dissatisfaction on the part of the Saratoga people, as well as others whose efforts in the past have been for the good of the turf. When I read that Lamplighter had been sold for 00, the first thought that came to my mind was that lie would have been a desirable acquisition to the Breeding Bureau of New York, because most of his get seem to like long-distance races and were, moreover, sound, as a rule. In the military race at Benning on Friday the winner, Gregg, was said to have been a thoroughbred and by Lamplighter. This is not claimed as a fact, but one thing is certain, the military race will be taken as a capital thing to imitate at other points where racing thrives, and in order to win it thoroughbreds not fast enough to run at light weights but up to carrying heavy .weights over a long distance of ground will be in great demand. Hence, a horse which might not be wortli 00 for1 ordinary racing might be wortli ,000 if he could be depended upon to run prominently in the military race. This seems the logical conclusion, and causes thinking men to approve the Washington Jockey Clubs efforts in this direction. Naturally, the consideration of this leads one to contemplate with approbation the recent action of the four leading turf associations of the New York circuit in offering 4,400 in prizes for the produce of stallions placed by the Breeding Burean last year, and of course the natural question is what is to become of the produce of the forty-seven stallions so placed. After the colts and fillies have become old enough to be exhibited or sold for general purposes, or for racing if they are fast enough, where will a market be found for them? Will the Jockey Club initiate a series of turf contests limited to the produce of such stallions on somewhat the same lines as done in Canada frequently when races are limited to Canadian-breds, and if so what will be the nature of sucli contests? Why not now open some Futurities to be raced for by the produce of these stallions at races more than a mile and at an age which will aid the vexed question of "Why is racing?" Why -not .come out now with the details of such races so that a further stimulus may be given to the Breeding Bureau and its well-devised aims? J. J. Burke.


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