view raw text
SELECTING NAMES FOE RACE BOSSES BOSSESDuring During the big nursery races in England this fall it was often discussed why Harry Payne Whitney gave the peculiar name of Borrow to his American colt by Hamburg Forget It is said the old adage of borrow and forget suggested the title and it proved highly lucky for Borrow goes into winter quarters with the biggest winnings of any twoyear old on the other side Very often it happens that mere incidents furnish owners with a name for horses and there are on record numerous instances of horses oddly named that have performed wonders both on the ilat and crosscountry In a number of cases a similie in the sire or dam has suggested the name One notable case at the present time is the stallion Gallinule whose dam was Moorhen and there is AshctonSraiths great chaser Cackler which is by Hackler HacklerSome Some years ago the celebrated mare Frigate which started seven times for the Grand National and finally won it was by Gunboat and there was Manifesto another hero of the great chase by Man oWar Vac Victis the combination of dam and sire suggesting something on the warlike line But the biggest list of names have been bodily stolen from the lists of the classics To go over the win ¬ ners of tlie Derby Oaks Guineas St Leger and the other big races the same names crop up here and there at every generation In speaking of this latter class an English expert comments as follows This vear we have seen in races the repetition of names borne by no less than five winners of the Derby Under the name of Noble a threeyearold by Fortunio has run in six races winning I think on the last occasion Now Noble was a son of the famous 1 lightly er was described as of great strength and bone and very temperate and won the Derby of 17SC Bathos stable shelters a horse called John Bull A chestnut of this name a son of Fortitude bred by Lord Grosvenor won the Derby of 1792 In Ireland there has run this year a colt called Archduke by Sir Hugo out of Arc Light In 179G Sir F Standish bred a colt of this name by Sir Peter out of a daughter of Eclipse which won the Derby of 1789 Cardinal Beaufort which ran in the Derby of this year and which is returned as the winner of three races bears the same name as a bay colt by Gohanna which won the Derby for Lord Egremont in 1805 And finally Election winner of the Bestwood Handicap at Not ¬ tingham in August last enjoys the same name as Lord Kgremonts Derby winner of 1807 which won the great race on his first appearance in public Parliament was dissolved that year and there was a general election There may be other instances of the piracy of names made memorable by Derby winners but they do not occur to me at the moment Again take the records of the Oaks The Duke of Bedford in 1791 won the Oaks with Portia a chestnut filly by Volunteer This name has been 1 appropriated for a threeryearold in Easts stable In Ireland a filly by Robert le Diable possesses the name of Sorcery The Duke of Rutland bred a filly of this name of the most distinguished pedigree that won the Oaks of 1811 I have some recollec ¬ tion of being told that an animal by Cyllene has been called Cyprian If this be the case it is a repetition of the name of the great Oaks winner of 183t It is recorded of this mare that she had walked from Malton to Epsom and after a brief rest traveled the road to Newcastle where she won the i Northumberland Plate Her weight however was only eightyfour pounds poundsIf If we turn to the records of the St Leger it will be found that Ebor in Captain Dewhnrsts stable bears the same name as a bay colt by Orville which won the Doncaster race in 1817 while coming to more recent times Warlock which has won races this year in Ireland runs under the same name as tlie famous horse that trained by John Scott won the St Leger of 1S5G beating the Derby winner of that year and that which in the following year beat Fisherman at York YorkIn In connection with the Two Thousand Guineas it will interest you to note that in the record of fiat racing this year is to he found the name of Prince Charlie If I am not wearying you with these de ¬ tails I should like to mention one or two remarkable instances where most undesirable repetition has occurred outside the annals of classic races Lord Falmonth has called his excellent twoyearold filly Alice As recently as 1892 a fiveyearold of that name won the Great Ebor Handicap and other races Perhaps this indifference to repetition is hereditary for we all know how the late Lord Falmouth won the Oaks with Spinaway in 1875 though an animal of the same name had won the Chesterfield Stakes at Newmarket In 1853 The name of Lowlander has been calmly annexed bv Lord Westbury and yet many of us remember the great Lowlander winning the Hunt Cup of 1874 in a field of twentysix run ¬ ners The fact that Marmalade was the dam of Dundee second in the Derby of 1861 probably did not occur to the owner of the twoyearold colt so heavily gambled over at Newmarket last Juno Maid of All Work a daughter of the great Highflyer and a winner at Newmarket in the early davs shares her name this year with a twoyearold selling plater Sir E Cassel before he called his twoyear old Pearl Diver should have been reminded that the name was that of a wellknown winner of races in our day Col Hall Walker when he christened the colt he had bred Moorcock should have been warned that that name is on the roll of winners of the Liverpool Cup CupAlthough Although Sandal won the Challenge Stakes in 1SSS that has not prevented n twoyearold son of William III running under the same name this year Mr Gilpins Salamanca races with varying success 1 am sure the filly recalls to his mind the Salamanca that was the dam of Pero Gomez the classic hero of ISC at all events when he was training Eager and later Siberia he recognized that thes names had been stolen from the Derby winner of 1791 and tho One Thousand Guineas winner of 1SG5 The appro ¬ priation of the names of Sunflower and Sunshine is lamentable but with regard to the former under the circumstances perhaps not surprising and it is the same with Radiancy in the same stable to whose owner it may mean nothing that Radiancy was the dam of Sheen the stout winner of the Cesarewitch of IS90 But my quotations arc already too extended and I will only add to them by saying that all students of the foundation of classic pedigrees will regret that in races this year there have figured two very moderate animals bearing respectively the unifies of Spanker and Careless CarelessIt It Is curious what difficulty some owners find In discovering names for their horses Some rush into nomenclature which is not original some into that which is both usly and inappropriate The exercise of a little imagination and a little scholarship would be so beneficial beneficialOn On the other hand how excellent is tlie resource and ingenuity of others What a fine name has Mr Fssirit given to a classic winner and how rigiily reminiscent it is of Hinaldos famous steed in the Orlando Fnrioso Bajardo mio Che 1esser senza te tropuo ml noce
