American Efforts to Win the Epsom Derby, Daily Racing Form, 1912-02-02

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+ + AMERICAN EFFORTS TO WIN THE EPSOM DERBY + 4* In the breast of every man who has maintained nee horses In any part of the world there exists he feeling that to win the Epsom Derby many saeri-nes. pecuniary and otherwise, would be made with •ut reflet. .More than fifty years ago Richard Ten troeck, aa Ameri an turfaaaa, a boat silent partners vere tlie late Messrs. Francis and .b hn A. Morris. .vhn lab r founded Morris Park, begaa a canipaisn :i England with a si able of rate horses, the ulti-nate aim being the winning, of the Derby with a fankee bred emt. Mr. Ten Hroeik for a term of ears bad peal sttcci -s with his horses, winning i. any race-, earning the admiration and good will •! all England and its aristocratic patrons of the nil. but he never won the Derby. About lifteen years later the same motive irompted the late Milton II. Baaford, then Amerl-as most successful turfman, and with the veteran acer, Preakaess, and a stable of other horses. New-narkel was reached and the caaupalgn began. But bough the stable was recruited year after year UT several seasons. My. Sanfords dark blue jacket .vas nevi r in front in the Derby, and in due course ie lane back to America and gradually relinquished his racing taUrpiiw s. Inspiiod to some extent by publication in the New York Bnortaman of that period of a serits of articles. Under the title of "Fifty Derby Wiuuers," from the k n of Charles .1. Foster, a gifted writer of that day ind a personal friend and at times adviser of the ate Pierre Loriliard, that famous turfman began in English campaign in 1ST!, and with the veteran Parole he wok.- up the English turf to the fact that good horses were bred in America. Then followed dr. I. irillaids purchase of all the Leamington year iligs bred at Chestnut Hill, near Philadelphia, and bough he divided the lot each year with his brother ijeorge. Who raced exclusively in America, the owner if Parole had the great good fortune to keep that ii-.wu colt which in 1 vS1 was destined to shed lustr.-mi the name of I.orillard and to blazon forth anew the fact that America could produce gjpad horse- as well as good men. He was trained by Jacob PincUS. Other noted American turfmen have tried for the worlds -reatest turf prize, some stlecessf ully. others in vain. .lames It. Kcone has failed after many efforts. So has W. K. Vanderbilt. H. It. Duryea tried with Acefall. which ran badly. The late Wil-iam C. Whitney gent Nastartium over the year after he had won With the leased colt. Volodyovski. but the c lt never recovered from a sickm-s thought t" nave been lirst contracted at Weslbury that dis is teens year when the entire Whitney stride was end red helpless by soimr mysterious malady. Sir Martin fell when running well in the race won b Minora, and this was the nearest of lute years that an American-bred colt came to landing the prize. Just thirty years ago an American colt won the Derby, the fixture then being more than a hundred v.ars old. It was twenty years later when Volody ovski won for Mr. Whitney. The yonng racer was English-bred, however. Six years after that Richard Crokers Orby won the famous classic. He was hall English] half American, Mr. Craker having bought his dam as a weanling in America and in due time having mated her with Orate, the result beiug Orby. Tin se were the only three instances in FtO years when an American turfman captured this famous turf classic, a race sought after in vain by kings and commoners from all parts of the world. Man. vi ars ago Benjamin Disraeli, iu sympathising with Lord 0t.org* Bentlack upon the failure of the latter h win the prize, characterised it as the "Blue Riband of the Turf." and that has helped to immortalize the stake. Ipoii its outcome millions of men and women are sentimentally Interested all •ver the world. In English colonies a "Derby dinner." especially if the royal colors have been suc-ii-slul. i- a natural sequel. The late King Edward won the race three times -twice as Prince of Wales and later as King of England — and it is sale to -ay that nothing ccwH have given him more pleasure. His bob. King George, is carrying on tin stud, an 1 hopes in due time to lead iu the winner, in accordance with custom. James at, Keene was congratulated by a friend at the close of the year 1907 upon having had his most successful year upon the turf, his horses, all bred by him. having win nearlj 00,000, a worlds roe md. "Yea." aaawered the veteran, "but you must rememlier that i have not yet won the Derby, and Richard Croker has." It is within the bounds of probability that a colt bred by Mr. Keene may win the race iu 1913, though not in the name of his breeder. The cata-clysm which shook racing iu New York to its founds tj.ins mav have had one regrettable outcome in the cessation of Mr. Keenes i tforts to add this groat prize to the many which he has already won. Hut the same blood which was so dominant in his vie toi inns racers lor the last ten years is concentrated in the vein- and. physiques of more than half a hundred yearlings bred at the same noted farm in K 11 lucky, and these for several months have been un dergolng the necessary preliminaries at Brookdale, V J., under tin- experienced eyes "f lames Bowe, Mr. Keene- former "Master of the Horse." In one transaction Harry Iayne Whitney purchased Ibe entire yearling output of the lastleton Stud, chiefly with a view f trving for the Derby of 1913. Aihicl to this number are forty-two of Mr. Whit neys own breeding, and to this is added a yearling : by Watercress Hamburg Hello, purchased in Bag-land when J. I;. Haggta sold his yearlings there a ! i w months since. Just one hundred yearlings, therefore, comprise Mr. Whitneys possessions, and 1 tiny are the best bred one- thai America could pro-dece. For many weeks these have been gradually broken t" bridle and aeeustomeil to the discipline ■ ef a training stable, BO that in the latter part "t Dei. b,-r their owner was able tn entertain his friends ! and dally and hourly view the youngaters as they displayed their speed and frness for the task of u iithily upholding hi- preatigi of the colors abroad. Entries for tin- Derby ciaaad in July, however, and 1 it was Becesaar] al that time to make selections. based, of course, on their relationship t" tried per formers and upon their Individualities. It is possible that soaae of these may be disappointments when 1 the crucial time arrives, inn so far as appearances go, no voangaters that ever left Oastletoa had superior ; Claim to greatness. This r.;..ui the testimony "t Major Daingerteld, Mr. Keeaea able ■uperlnten don;. As for the forty-two Brookdale-bred isdts ami 1 Pities, they can stand comparison with their rivals • from Kentucky. But fur the change in conditions • iu this country, theae forty two would, according to the experience of previous seasons, ban- been 1 most formidable opponent— in Mr. Keeaea young sterw. i nder existing rfrcuumtaaces all are now stable mat-, awaiting the nnal testa upon which 1 will depend selections for the imglish turf classics. Some will fail in withstand the test and will be retained for American racing, for Mr. Whitney has • never ceased to race a stable in this country, even 1 though his operations on the Kngiish turf have been ex teush e. In Canada, in Maryland, in Kentucky, and at other points .in this continent, there will th - year in a gi.at di man I for youag thoroughbreds, as it i i- a t.o t thai the number of available oaea i-imw do«n in -" 1 pw a agare a- in cause apprebenaien i anon the pari of men in control of race courses, they fearing that racing will be seriously hampered even i at existing points unless breeders are Induced to remain - in the bu-ine-s. Last veara entries to the Derby of 1913 number S-H. Of these Mr. Whitney named nineteen, eleven i : ! 1 ■ ! 1 1 ; 1 • • 1 1 • 1 i i i - i of which were bred at Castleton by Mr. Keene and tin remainder al Brookdale by Mr. Whitney. In the astleton I red division are several the get of the renowned Peter Fan. the tirst of Ids progeny, to be trained. Others are by Voter. Disguise. Delhi and Den Dinah In the Brookdale lot are colts by Broomstick, Hamburg and Burgomaster. The dam-of these aie all well known either as producers or upon the turf. It arouses profound sentiment in the hearts of old race goers to run over these pedigrees. There is. for instance, a brother to Maskette. In the lest days of tin- turf he could not have been purchased for any money while Mr. Keene was on the tirf. and would surely have realized at least 5,000 if put upon the market any time in 1907, wheat the turf was at the height of its popularity and Mr. Keems racen were winning all before them. That was the year of Colin, of felt, of Peter Fan. of Ballot, of Superman, of Restigouefae, of a doaea others of less renown, that contributed to the great total won that season — $.!!»7.o-t2. Disguiso was pronounced not much inferior as a race horse to Diamond Jubilee, the winner of the Derby in llMXI. Voter is the sire of Ballot, one of mir lnst American horses, Delhi was a trst-das* racer, winner id the Withers and Belmont of 1904. His chief opponent that year in those races would have been his near relative, Brooamtlck, then owned by apt. Sam Drown, but ho was sick when the Stakes were run. However, in the Brighton Handicap, a few weeks later, he won a phenomenal race from the game Irish I. ad. which broke down in it. and achieved a record which still holds. Broomstick is highly esteemed by careful students of the Ihor oughbred. It is predicted that he will achieve sue Cess at the stud. He has in Kngland three fast son-. Whisk Broom, Sweeper II. and Kemptoa, and in this country another son. Meridian, has become a first-class colt, having won among other races, the Kentucky Derby. Burgomaster was the last son of Hamburg and won the Belmont Stakes of 1906, defeating The Quail and Accountant. Hamburg, himself a high-class racer, hero of sensational sales, is responsible for a c.dt out of F.ugenia Durch, herself the best Ally of her year, though unlucky. Such are the Derby entries. In the Oaks, a race fur iillies and of almost HMtl fame as the Derby. Mr, Whitney has named fifteen of the get of Peter Pan, Disguise, Voter. Hippodrome, Broomstick. Ham burg and Burgomaster. Some ■[ these fillies are daughters of such famous mares a- Artful. Iastorella dam of Colin i. Pope Joan. Optima dam of Sysonby and Bailie of Navarre tdam of Salvidere. One of the colts is by Fctcr Fan — Half Crown, which is the only inare by Cyllene in the T.nited States, though Joseph F. Seagram has one at his Waterloo Canada i breeding stud. Cyllene because celebrated at the stud, begot Derby winners and was then sold to an Argentine breeder for 25,000. Recently his get at public auction in that country realized tie mendoua prict s. Another colt entered is a brother to Bunnymede and a half-brother to Cataract, both of which won Ibis season in F.ngland for Mr. Keene. Running Stream, the dam of these colts, did a wonderful thing as a twoyear-ohl in England. She defeated a famous sprinter called Eager, lie being six veils old. This race was run in July, which made it all the more mc ritorious for the youngsler. The best mares at Brookdale. except one or two. are represented in the home-bred yearlings. The present stud was formed in Kentucky by the late Mr. Whitney, who. like his son in his polo exploits. c i enod wide his purse iu order to obtain the most desirable eipiines. After his death the stud was removed to Brookdale. If America has really made progress in developing the thoroughbred in the last thirty years, since Ir Kjuota won the Derby and St. Leger, now is the time to demonstrate it. breeders think. Such a combination as the best of the Castleton and Brookdale studs was never before possible for the purpose. Arrayed heretofore against each other, thev are now brought together for the patriotic purpose of showing that it is possible to breed Derby winners in Kentucky or New Jersey, as was done in Pennsylvania thirty years ago. it is the most pow erful combination ever formed. Brookdale. as is well known, was once the beloved home of the late D. D. Withers, for many years the leading spirit of the American turf up to about 1893, when legislative coaaptieatloaa in New Jersey crippled racing in that slate and broke the heart of the man who built new Monmouth Park. After his death it became the property of Colonel W. I. Thompson, and whin he died it passed on to hi- -un- It was in Colonel Thompsons lifetime that James Rowu first went to Brookdale as trainer and from there sent out Requital as a throe year obi, and had Other ■UjCCeaaea, not only for Colonel Thomp bob but for his sons, who continued to race in the name if Hi. Br -okdale Stud. Here it was that I.Alli.iu tte. winner of the Futurity of 1897, Was trained, as well as others. It was under tlwso cir cuinstances that Mr. Bowe imbibed a deep affection for the place, and when opportunity offered he ir-1 duced Mr. Keene to lease it for his racing stud. This lasted some years. Then it was taken up by the present Mr. Whitney, and the Kentucky stud as ■ will was moved there. Here and at Sheep-he. ol l Bay the late John W. Bogers trained for Mr. Whi my. It is within an hour and a halfs journey of New York, and its accessibility renders it all the more desirable. Fertile to a degree, t ho place • -tvikes the observer as an earthly paradise. There are no mosquitoes, strange to say. When -peaking of a New Jersey town. Many other advantages are ■ there, appreciated to the fullest extent by Mr. Bowe. There are eight hundred acres, all of which i will be devoted to pasturage for the constantly growing stud. More than a million dollars is represented iu the land and hor.-es there. More than a hundred SOUhl owe their bread and butti r to its ex Istence. In yearlings, weanlings, broodmares and I Stallions there arc about two hundred head upon the farm. To reach its various outlying portions Mr. Bowe ha- an automobile. He was one .if the th -t among the horsemen to ma-ter its mechanism. The d- elopnient of the hundred yearlings was car lied on in a covered Circular training stable, which , ha- fifty l.nxi - and is six lap- to a mile. This last is where ail the important work is done in fir weather. The ground seldom freezes and i- rb- elared ideal for training purposes. The track is i sheltered by a growth ..f tree- nearly ten feel high. . The idea of Mr. Withers was to keep the race horses out of siirht of the mare- ami stallions. In Mr. Bowe, an up-to-date horseman of many years experience, tin- th-- sen employees have a -harp, keen manager to deal with, and the results ar- excellent. lb- say- that the idea of purchasing , all of Mr. Keenes yearlings a few months sgo was ; suggested by him. "Mr. Whitney desired some young mare- to breed from " said he, "and I knew in thai ! t there must be at least a few that could I win g i races, if any ana of them eould win the Derby, SO much the better. Those not up to the , standard can be disposed ef. Poaslhlj we have not entered the beat youngsters in th.- Derby. It m me limes happens thit the real g... d terse- ar.- Mow to develop. That is. yearling trials arc not always .oiiiliiMw. Added to that, we had to nuke the entries so long ago that we had no chance to try the youngaters. In fact, they were only then being broken. We have no s,. t im - to try them bei.ni-. the trials must com. ut times moat favorable t,, ;;, . . Continued ou second page. j AMERICAN EFFORTS TO WIN EPSOM DERBY. Contiiiuod from lirst page. yearliags. Borne are backward, as i said, and they must be waited with. Others are precocious." Actual work in the racing stable begias as earl a- four oclock in summer, later as the season sd ranees. The string is so large that ii must be handled in Sets, and the day is well advanced before the ssornlnga work i- through. The feed, with measured quantities of oats, some youngsters requiring more than others, is for the trainer to watch carefully. If a colt refuses his feed, a-shown later, he at once becomes an object of close scrutiny. The temperature is- closely watched, and sometimes serious trouble is averted by quickly summoning a veterinarian. Three months is not too short a lime, in Mr. Howes opinion, for colts to be broken, gradual lj worked along, and then tried. Even first trials are not conclusive, however, as hi-: tory is full of Instances where youngsters beaten in trials became the U-st In the stable. While Mr. Whitneys horses did not do par ticularly well last year in England, there is Btsae excuse in the illness of some ol the chief members. For instance, in 1jlO the Middle Park Plate, one Of the great race.- for two year-olds, was won by his racer Borrow, S son of Hamburg and Forget. Usually a Middle Park Plate winner looms up as favorite for the following years Derby, but in this instance Borrow did not, because, being a gelding. he was not eligible, in accordance with a ruling mad-- a few rears ago that none but entire colts can l ike part in the Derby. A long illness during the early spring crippled him as a racer. As to the chance of any one of Mr. Whitneys yearlings being good enough to win the Derby, the ■ .pinion of a man like John Hoggins, who for years trained with great success in England, is worth quoting: "A good horse here is a good horse abroad." he said. "If you have colts like Sysonby. or Colin, or Celt, or Peter Pau, or Commando, or Burgomaster, or any one af a score of such horses, their chances to win the Derby are as good as any in that country." Mr. Huggins woa many races abroad with horses bred at Bancocaa, which is within a few miles Of Brookdale. Jacob Pincus is of the same opinion as Mr. Huggins. Iroquois, winner in 1SS1. was bred in Pennsylvania, not an hours journey from Brookdale. Hundreds of good horses were brwl in the vicinity. Foxhall was good enough to have won the Derby in 1S5 1. but was not entered. He won many of Englands great races, however, besides the Grand Prix de Paris. He was bred in Kentucky. ghlnasent of yearlings to England is comparatively free from danger. Mortality is at a low per cent age. and it is rare nowadays to hear of the death of a horse in transit, though a few years ago Mi. Keene lost Tommy Atkin in that way, and away back in 1S70 he lost the Derby winner Blue Gown, purchased by Mm after hfilnf, some years at the stud. The horse died en route to America. "I would rather send a horse across the ocean than across the continent." said Dr. McCully, a well-known veterinarian. Such are some of the features of Mr. Whitneys efforts to win the Derby. Let us turn to an equally sportsmanlike attempt made this year by a young Englishman, Raymond M. Dale, resident in Canada for the last few year- and SB ardent lover of horses. As a small boy Mr. Dale often declared that some day he would win the Derby. Since he has bad to take care of himself and make his own living his gnat aim has been to breed a really good horse and win the great race to prove its worth. Should be ever succeed with a colt by his horse Kelslon his chief pleasure would be derived from the fact i hat once agaiu the line of Longfellow isire of Keiston would bo brought to the front, corroborating his claim that Longfellow was one of the greatest horses that ever lived. This actuated him in sending his colt Kcl dOr to run in the Derby. Mr. Dale believes that his sire Keiston would be suited to Stock well mares. Kel dOr has not justified his hopes, but there is some excuse for this, as the colt met with a setback when young. Like all of Longfellows strain. Kel dOr was a big, growthy e. li sad could not recover a setback as a smaller oilt might have done. Mr. Dale fed him personally after this, and as the horse never stopped growing his constitution might have been impaired. Mr. Dale himself broke Kel dOr and trained him also until he placed him under the care of "Sam" Darling, at Beckhampton. England. Darling consid-ered him backward in all but growth. Mr. Dale tried to Impress upon the great English trainer that all of Kel dOrs strain were backward, so that the trainer would not be easily discouraged. The young horseman shipped Kel dOr from his home, in Saskatchewan. Canada, in the summer of 1910, t" Beckhampton, in person. The journey required twenty one days. They stopped three days in Montreal, and wire overrun with kodak leads, BO much attention had been attracted to Mr. Dales efforts. The trip across the ocean was slow, but sale and uneventful. A Marconigram was sent to Darling but when the vessel arrived there was no one to meet the visitors, so Mr. Dale himself saddled and rode the Darby candidate to Beckhampton. a distance of six miles. At Darlings all were in bed, but some of the lads were quickly aroused and the colt was made comfortable. Next morning Sam Darling complimented Mr. D::le upon owning such a good looking colt. Baying that he compared favorably with the best English youngsters, and said further that he looked like o four-year-old. Mr. Dale did not see his colt again until the following February 1911. He was taken unawares Into a stall, and to his great pleasure Kel dOr. recognized him and evinced all his old playful habits. Darling, however, was not sati-tie.l with the colts progress, and his owner sent him t Mr. Peebles, as Mr. Dale thought that trainers methods, both in and out of the stable, would just suit Kel dOr, he being s sensitive, high strung colt. Peebles was greatly impressed with Kel dOrs re semblance In msny respects to a great handicap boras called Velocity, but soon ascertained that the colt was backward and could not be made to stay over seven furlongs with good horses, though it was not want of stamnia. he thought. Imperative business reeaUed Mr. Dale to Canada, and he was unable to get back in time to see the colt run in the Derby. He knew that Kel dOr was far from being tit to race, but cabled to Peebles to start him notwithstanding. Though Mr. Dale did not know it. Kel dOr had "buckled" his shins only two weeks before the Derby. One month before the race lie was at :,.! to 1 : three days before It iie was 1.000 to 1, showing what B forlorn hope It was. Nevertheless a small bet was cabled over by Mr. Dale. The colt ran creditably for a mile to the top of the hill, and then his tender shins found the hard going too much and the colt was eased up. After this Peebles had doubts of getting Kel dOr to a race this year, and with great regret Mr. Dale found it necessary to sell his colt. Recently the colt finished second in a steeplechase contest. Though not successful this time. Mr. Dale is not discouraged and will keep on breeding, with a view-to producing in Canada a winner of the Epsom Derby. In this respect he is following out the aims • •f the Me—r-. Seagram Headrie, Dyment. Camp bell aid .dher Canadian lovers of the thoroughbred.


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800