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STRIKING INCIDENTS IN ROGERS LIFE. Great Races Won by Horses in His Charge in the Last Twenty-five Years. New York, February 26. — The death of John W. Rogers, trainer of Harry Payne Whitneys race horses, leads me to write something about the long and honorable career of this great horseman since ; I first met him here at Sheepshead Bay in 1884, when Edward Corrigan was racing Pearl Jennings here, with Rogers the trainer. Isaac Murphy was the wearer of the "green, white sash," and as long as race-goers of that period may live they will never forget the beautiful, statuesque style of the "Black Archer," as Murphy was called, and as , others of his color also have been denominated. Next I met Rogers when he came east in 1886 . with Troubadour, which had been purchased by Capt. S. S. Brown the preceding fall at the sale of Milton Youngs stable of horses. Troubadour was entered , in the Suburban, was backed at various odds to win about mm. and landed the coup. The betting commissioner who at the time acted as secretary for apt. S. S. Brown was p. II. Duffy, a resident of Brooklyn, who was one of the first men to race horses at Brighton Beach. He was a friend and confidante of the first William A. Engeinan, the man who conceived the idea that a seaside race course would lie a good thing. How correct he Was subsequent events have shown. Rogers met with a setback en route from the west to Coney Island that year. The horse car in which Troubadour and his companions were was ton wide for a tunnel near Pittsburg, and a delay of some hours ensued so that the horses could be placed in a car which would fit the tunnel. No ill consequences followed -this delay, however, and 1ronUadoiir. Fit -.p.-. trick up. won the fhtrd - rrwming «.f the Suburban in a field of twenty starters In 2:12!. the track being hMvy. Rogers again won the great race in 1S!S. this time with Tillo. running in the firm name of Rogers and Rose, the latter having been the partner of Eugene Leigh in the ownership of Clifford in 1S94. Clifford, sold to Rose when the partnership ceased, ran third for the Suburban of 1SS0. the race having been won by August Belmonts Henry of Navarre, which that year ran in the name of the Blemton Stable because of a bereavement in Mr. Belmonts family. Prior to the days of Tillo, however, Rogers was partner with Capt. Brown in the high-class racer Lamplighter, which colt they sold to the late Pierre Lorillard for 0,000. You in Chicago saw Lamplighter twice in his career, but neither time was he able to demonstrate there how good a horse he was. He Was a starter in the Columbus Handicap, won by Rudolph, but the field of starters was so large sixteen that Lamplighter never had a good chance. Later in the year, when owned by Fred Walbauni, Lamplighter was again sent west, but met with inglorious defeat. Clifford, then a three-year old, easily defeating Lamplighter and Yo Tam-bien. This was some time after Tammany won the match from Lamplighter at Guttenberg. In 1S!5. while I was presiding judge at the St. Louis Fair Grounds, the jiolicy of the management was to obtain as many good horses for their stakes as possible, and special efforts were made to get eastern stables. This was not difficult, because that was the first year of the workings of the constitutional amendment, which seemed to be fatal to racing in this state Xew York, and the owners of good horses, including August Belmont, made retries in several western stakes as a business investment. Many high class horses were entered for the Tub Members Handicap, always the great feature of the Fair Grouuds meeting. Lamplighter was then in the west, as was Clifford, owned by R. L. Rose and trained by Rogers. Lamplighter, then trained by Jimmy McCormiek, was not sent over to St. Louis, but John W. Rogers brought Clifford over. I met him at the depot, and did what I could to make the party at home. Next day Friday, one horse from the stable won. Daily America, which had won the Realization two years before, took a selling race early in the afternoon, and this seemed to foreshadow a victory for Clifford next day Saturday, in the Club Members Handicap. His weight was 123 pounds, h - was ridden by Jerry Chorn and at even money won the mile and a quarter race in 2:00, amidst great enthusiasm His beaten qp]H nents were Prince Carl, Faraday. Henry Young, Sumo and Libertine. The gross value of the race that year was ,000. of which ,800 went to the winner. Later in life Mr. Rogers trained horses for a South African. J. Story Curtis, who owned amongst others, Royal Stag, one of the most symmetrical horses of the turf. I believe this horse had won races abroad. Mr. Curtis turf efforts in this country were not crowned with success. He went to England, taking with him amongst others, the Hanover horse. Star of Hanover. About the second year that the late William C. Whitney was on the turf, he had three trainers. S. C. Ilildreth, Tom Welsh and another whose name I forget. Ilildreth not with misfortune at Morris Park through his encounter with John E. Madden, and was exiled. Mr. Whitney was advised to choose Rogers as his chief trainer, which he did. Hardly had trainer and horses settled down at the stables at Westbury, L. I., before news reached the turf world of the serious illness of the grandest collection of three-year-olds ever assembled in one ownership. It included Endurauce by Right, Gold smith. Blue Girl, Yankee and others. The 0,000 Continued on sixth page. I i ! STRIKING INCIDENTS IN ROGERS LIFE. Continued from first page. colt. Nasturtium, had been shipped to England to run in the 0 rby of l.Ki2. and he. too, developed the mysterious illness and his career as a race horse was spoiled. The sweeping nature of the sickn.-ss affected Rogers and he became so ill that one paper printed his obituary. Slowly he recovered, however, and in 1903, with the three-year old Irish Lad be won the Brooklyn Handicap by a short bead from his stable mate Juiilire. Rogers did not think Irish Lad worth hacking, so the victory was a barren one. Irish Lad was owned by Hairy Iayne Whitney and H. B. Duryea. while Ouufirc was the property of the elder Whitney. After the sons colt had beaten his fathers mare, one paper came out with an amusing account of the race and said that young Mr. Whitnev had the same appearance that the "cat had when it had eaten the canary." Many successes have attended the Whitney horses under Rogers handling in the past four years, the most notable having been A rt fills MM cess in the Futurity of IftOl ami the I.righloii Handicap Of lfto.".. Biirgoiuasier in MM area the Behaoat stakes, bat ■ lameness retired this geed eaM early ill his career With the tilly Tanva. by Meddler. Risers won the first B Imonl Stakes run over the twttttag Belmont or letter "S" course at Belmont Park. Rogers was an nil ra conservative man and in thi-respect was held in high esteem by members ..I the lackey Club, because he was always advising his employers and their friends as to the uncer tainty of horse racing and the consequent unsati-factory results which often followed plungings. J. .1. Burke.
