view raw text
! 1 1 , , , . , i : I ! ! . 5 , . . . : BEN BRUSH AND HIS SUCCESSES. s Something of the Sturdy Little Horse That Has i Given Sweep and Other Good Ones to the Turf. - f "He is not very big, but lies all horse." was the remark II. Eugene Leigh made to the colored trainer. -t Ed Brown, better known as "Brown Dick," as they r stood together looking over a bulky-built yearling f colt at La Belle Farm, near Lexington. In the sum- s mer of 1S94. ..... , t "I like him." continued Leigh, "because he is a l small Bramble. You know 1 had a lot of luck with Humbler, won sixty-one races all told with . him, and he was anything but a giant in size. ou take this colt. Dick, and we are in half and half j on him, aud if you find out he Is not of stake class we can have him gelded aud make another Rambler , out of 111 in. I am sire he will be as good as a high- t class selling plater, anyway." . That was "Blown Dicks" introduction to the greatest race horse he ever trained, as the small, s bulky-built bay colt was Ben Brush, now one or the j most celebrated of American thoroughbred stallions, , the sire of both the first and second horses In the 190! Coney Island Futurity Stakes, the richest i trophy of the running turf iu this country. . Small in stature, Ben Brush proved a giant on the turf in his racing days, while his stud achievements have put him in the front rank of sires of America. The successful trainer, who so skillfully developed the little bay colt that he saw his first sight of a decade and a half ago, did not live to hear the tidings of Sweeps Futurity victory, be having died j in Louisville about two years ago, but all the late , days of his life he longed to own a colt by his old favorite, as he always said Ben Brush "was sure to sire a horse that would tear up the racing world." "Brown Dick" was a type of the colored race of ante-bellum times. He was not of the school of Booker Washington, though jhe could read and write. What he lacked in other knowledge he made up in the business career he had chosen after being set free, as he surely knew a horse from nose to heels. In slavery days he had been a race rider for R. A. Alexander, and he rode the unbeaten Asteroid in all his races. When Alexander died and the Wood-bum Farms racing stable was broken up. "Brown Dick" entered the employ of Dan Swigert and remained with him until Milton Young formed his first powerful stable in the early eighties. When Young sold out to R. C. Pate, of later Mexican racing notoriety, the colored trainer was included in the deal, but when Young returned to the turf a season or two later "Brown Dick" was back in charge of his string. Some of the great horses he trained In those days were Bancroft, Boatman, Ascender, Monogram. Editor. Beatitude. Bootjack. Troubadour and Bankrupt, but none of them, in his opinion, was the equal of Ben Brush. Leaving Young, when that afterward noted breeder quit the turf again. "Brown Dick" became a free lance and began racing a string chiefly on his own account. Before Ben Brush he was lucky in getting such horses as Protection. Ruperta. Ferrier and Handsome. At one time he was by far the wealthiest colored race horse trainer this country has ever known, but in the last years of his life be met with reverses and at his death he was only comparatively well off. Once in training. Ben Bruth made good Leighs high regard for him. and long before the colts two-year-old racing campaign began. "Brown Dick" hud discovered that iu his barn he then had the best race horse lie had ever trained. It was for old man Benjamin Brush, who, for many years, was superintendent of the Sheepshead Bay race track, over which Sweep raced to his recent Futurity success, that the Bramble colt was named, he being a warm friend of both Leigh and the colored trainer, and they were unanimous in the selection of the cognomen for their promising youngster. Ben Brush was unbeaten as long as he was a member of "Brown Dicks" stable, but his victories , were chiefly in the west, as once lie was taken 1 east the colored trainer and his partner, Leigh, sold him to M. F. Dwyer for 3,000. It was in the colors of the latter great plunger that Ben Brush won the Kentucky Derby. Latonia Derby. lark Stakes and his other brilliant victories as a three-year-old. but early in his four-year-old form J. It. Keene. his present owner, bought him from Dwyer for 3,000, and Keenei thus owned the mighty horse when lie won the Suburban Handicap in 1S97. All told, Ben Brush won on the tuif a total of twenty-five races and earned 1909.sh5,217 in stakes and purses, more than any other son of Bramble. Clifford standing next with :!,1C0. Back In 1S78. Bramble and Duke of Magenta fought their battles for the three-year-old supremacy in the rich, stakes "of the east. The little horse defeated the son of Lexington once as a two-year-.old, but as, a three-year-old Duke of Magenta proved the superior performer, though Bramble again defeated him at the latter age. only once, however, while the Lorillard colt beat the little son of Bonnie Scotland a number of times. As a four-year-old Duke of Magenta was taken to England by P. Lorillard. who purchased him from his brother. George L. Lorillard, and upon his rivals withdrawal from the field. Bramble swept the cup races in 1S79 as "a four-year-old and came to be .the undisputed king of the turf. Old-tiiners will recall, at the mention of Brambles name, how Dwyer Brothers sent the son of Bonnie Scotland west to run in the Kentucky Stallion Stakes at Louisville in the fall of 1878. The western talent figured he would be beaten sure, as Duke of Magenta had with such regularity taken him into camp in the east. But when it came to racing, the big stake was a farce, as Bramble won by over twenty lengths, playing hare and houniV with his big field from start to finish. The Kcntuckians at once pronounced the beaten horses a worthless lot. but Dwyer Brothers, knowing what a high-class colt Bramble was. wisely bought Warfieid. that ran second in the race, securing the son of War Dance for a very modest price. To show how keen their judgment was, it is only necessary to note that War-field proved one of the best selling platers the Brooklyn brothers ever owned, he winning during his turf career a total of forty-nine races. Bramble was not as good a race horse as his near relative. Luke Blackburn, but he proved the better sire, as save Proctor Knott, the horse named for the most humane governor Kentucky has ever known, none sent any son to the races to compare with Clifford. Prince of Melbourne and Ben Brush. On the dam side. Bramble comes from the famous Bay Leaf family, a member of which is J. B. Respess celebrated horse. Dick Welles. Prcakness is another sire from this family that made good, he getting in England Fiddler, a horse of high class. The following table gives the performances of the biggest money winners Ben Brush has sent to the races, and with the new addition of Sweep and his recent brilliant showing in the Futurity Stakes, his record all around is as good as any living horse at present in the stud in this country, and it compares favorably with the stallions of fame of other days: Horse. Sts. 1st. 2d. ."d. Won. Delhi S.i 8 U 1 15,040 Broomstick 3D 14 11 5 74..370 Sweep .i H 5 tl 1 41.:S23 Lady Amelia 04 27 11 S :.KMl Wild Thyme 50 10 9 11 21.475 Trance 19 IS 4 1 18,750 Gretna Green :K ! 7 8 17,495 Dalesman 75 0 17 ! 17,."57 Von Tromp ..48 12 11 10 14,750 Brush Up .91 2.. 17 11 14,0K Birch Broom SO 18 18 17 i::.140 Sweeper . .. .14 4 2 1 12.040 New Mown Hay 75 10 10 12 11.144 Philander .....40 S 0 11 10,250 Duster ..... 12 2 1 0 10.155 Palette 84 IS 10 12 9,845 The dams of these performers are here given, as the claim has been falsely made that Ben Brush owes Ills success as a sire to the richly-bred imported mares that are so numerous in J. R. Keenes Castle-ton Stud. As a matter of fact, only six of these big winners are out of pure-bred English stud matrons, the other ten performers being out of native-bred mares, as the list below shows: . Delhi, out of Vera, by imp. Mortemer. Broomstick, out of imp. Elf, by Galliard. Sweep, out of Pink Domino, by Domino. Ladv Amelia, out of La Colon! a. by Hindoo. Wild Thyme, out of Rose, by Falsetto. Trance, out of Imp. Fair- Vision, by Souchet. Gretna Green, out of Runaway Girl, by Domino. Dalesman, out of imp. Innerdale. by Galliard. Von Tromp. out of imp. Cinderella, by Hermit. Brush Up. out of Miss Laudeman. by Hanover. Birch Broom, Out of imp. Maid of Dorset, by Dutch Skater. Sweeper, out of imp. Fairy Slipper, by St. Serf. New Mown Hay, out of Red Clover, by imp. Killicrates. Philander, out of Pink Domino, by Domino. Duster, out of Lady Invercauld, by Powhattan. Palette, out of Bonnie Lee, by imp. Glengarry. Ben Brush is now sixteen years old. Since his service in the stud he has spread out and grown a great deal, save in height. , He still measures under the standard, only a shade over fifteen hands two inches. In perfectly molded form all over, no horse in America outlooks him, however, and when his old owner. II. Eugene Leigh, visited Kentucky last winter lie spent an hour or more inspecting his old champion. Said he: "We have great-looking horses in France, more commanding in appearance than the average American thoroughbred, but I dont think on his order I ever saw there a more perfect model than Ben Brush. I am, not surprised that lie was a very great race horse, nor do I niaTvel at his success as a sire. He had every right to be a great performer and a brilliant stallion in his stud days. I only regret I have not got some high-class French-bred mares in Kentucky to persuade Mr. Keene to per-t in it me to mate them to Ben Brush." Roscville. the dam of I.en Brush, also produced Ahom. that won the Brooklyn Derby lor "Pittsburg Phil." She is a daughter of Iteform, a son of Leamington. Ben Brushs granddam, Albia. by Alam, was a winner, and also threw Azra, that won a sensational Ken-i tuckv Derbv for the Louisville turfman, George J. Long, he beating Ed Corrigans Huron a nose for that classic event. Then through Elastic. Blue Ribbon and Parachute, Ben Brush traces to Her s i - f -t r f s t l . j , t s j , i . aldry, the dam of the. famous Balloon, the only performer that ever won a race meetings whole program. In her time, the races being all heats, three in live, only one nice was given a day. and that A season the Lexington meeting was of four days M duration, the program being one. two, three and four-mile heats, all run on different days. Balloon won every race, her owner being John M. Clay, the voungest son of the "Great Commoner." He was the Clay who, when he had a falling out with n neighbor once, on meeting the latter coming homo from town, addressed him thus: "Look here, you and I have traveled this road for years, and many times have we halted to chat pleasantly together, but you aint treated me right, and I now tell you we cant live on the same road no longer, and I want to Impress on your mind the fact that I dont propose to move." The story goes that Clays neighbor moved to another county the following day. It is said he had seen Clay with a rille shooting the heads of snarrows off that were perched on -high telegraph wires on the road early the next morning. Clay was not a feudist. He was always iu the open. but. bad man as he might be styled, to his superb stud of mares in those times trace many "C the greatest performers of the turf of today. Ben Brush is one of such turf star-!, and his success will long keep green the Maria Wst family in breeding and racing annals. Louioville Courier-Journal.
