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THE BREEDING OF FAMOUS COMMANDO. Thirty years ago the American thoroughbred had small space indeed in the minds and productions of English turf writers, but it is quite different at the present time. The American horse has raced his way into consideration in forcible fashion and is now frepjuentlj discussed in print from various iMjints of view, gome quite entertaining. In London Sportsman "f December 21 ••Vigilant" has this to -iv .r Commando and Colin in connection with the Bruce Lowe figure system: ■•It has been suggested to me that the compiler ..; tin Register ot Thoroughbred stallions for 1113 may have failed to Insert the Bruce Lowe figure of Commando ia the pedigree of Colin rather by design than accident. At all events, there is a doubtful connecting link far back in the chain which takes him back l . . the imported CuUen Arabian tua.v which was sent to the Stales prior to the Kevin-tioii. and there known a- Duchess Blands or Diamond. This mare was undoubtedly a member of No. 12 family, but according to th first volume of the American siu.i Book Commandos fifteenth dam was a mare by Begulus out of the said Duchess or Diamond In tin- same volume, however, ale given all the known produce of ;hi* mare after her arrival in tile Slates, but there is no trace of her having had a foal by any Begulus except the Btalllon called Pitxhugh8 Begulus, by whom she had a cdt named True Whit;. Curiously. True Whig also appears ai the fOOl Of Commandos pedigree as the si re Of the fourteenth dam. In other words. True Whig, if the record is correct, was mated with his half-lister, both he and thai mare tthe fifteenth dam J being out «.f the male Duchess or Diamond. "This incestuous breeding was intensified, for the r.-Milt of that union of two ot Duchess Children was a mare the fourteenth dam, which in turn was mated with the stallion Gallant, which was a grandson of. Spotaweods Apollo another son of Duchess. Spotswoods Apollo was apparently her first American-born produce and was foaled in 17 7. when she wa- ,-:: least twenty yen- old. After that the American stud Book credits her with seven inore foals, of which True Whig was the sixth, and if she .lid not mi-- a single season -lie nm-t have boon twenty-six when she produced him. Truly, -i long-lived and fertile mare; This Duchess, by the Cullen Arabian, bred by tie- Did..- of Cumberland in 1.4 ami Imported into South Carolina before the Revolution, is iui.bal.lv en mgh identical with the Uly by Cullen Arabian, bred before 1749. out of Lady Thigh Grisewoeds. This fill wa- sub* quently the property of the Duke oi Kingston, anil ti uly record concerning her i- that in 17UJ sin-had a filly by Snap, which became famous as i!ie dam of Conductor. BevertJng t-. the American pro duce of tin Cullen Arabian filly, DuCbem or Diamond, in addition to her daughter by Begulus ?», whose descendants include Commando, Sensation. Onondaga, fenny, and our Suspender, she bad also a daughter by imported Jack of Di; nds. To this .l-ek of Diane. u. I- mare trace back such other American celebrities as Lexington. Umpire ancestor ot Will! Man from Borneo, and Lutetta. •While on the subject of American pedigrees, let me note thai there ha- recently arrived he---from New York a six year-old steeplechaser in Highbridge. accompanied by his trainer, J. Prayllng. Highbridge, wbicb i- to tie prepared ipeclally for the Grand National somewhere in Leicestershire, belongs to John E. Pell, and i- by Bridgewati r Duress. Bridsewater is a brother to Rambling Katie, bv Hampton Barmaid, and was sent t.. Instates a- a stallion iii 1901. His non, Highbridge. i- -aid to be tin- highest class chaser in hi- own country, and this autumn be won easily a -I i .! ehaso over two miles and a half carrying Km pounds. and then won the Oak Ridge Cup in a t roi under I To pounds from what was said to i .- a field of good winners at Piping Bock. This was also over fences, bin ile- distance wa- not stated. His dam. Duress. j- dj Dungarven Wiesbaden, and Dungarven Is by Hindoo ■ ■ur of imported Calphurnia, by Julius, s.. it will be seen that ih«- newest American aspirant to Grand National honors bat English blood on In.th sides of in- pedigree.
