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f •h — + r DAVID D. WITHERS, TURF LAWMAKER AND "SAGE OF BROOKDALE" p * + i ; N . •" • ;l ■• ■ I i i a i i | , j i , i , | I I , i j , • • • I i . »f No man inore deeply Impressed himself in the fabric of racing created after the conclusion of the Ci*|l War than David I». Withers. It was not as a turfman, breeder or track owner, although he was eminent in the three capacities tint as a lawgiver that he rendered his greatest service to the cause of American racing. It was he who took English racing rules a- the basis of his work and changing and S; adapting them to meet American needs and condition-, provided us with a code of racing law that still v ins racing in the United Staies and Canada. Aiiiendiiiiiis ami alterations 1« one kind ami another have been made from time lo tiui" by our different rules nuking bodies, but in the main the rules in force are those compiled long ago by Mr. Withers ami adopted and enforced by the Board of Control of Un-American Jockey lab, which In his time governed raciag over the tracks of the east, as its successor, the Jockey Club, does now. David l Withers belonged I ie of the oldest New York families and was a son of Beubeu Withers. in "Id tit, e bank i- and piesid ait if the influential Bank ot the State of New York in antebellum days. of H- was destined to a business career and when a youth gained a part of his education in that line as a | clerk in the great shipping house of How land iV AsplnuralL Before he was of age the linn sent him to New Orleans to take charge of its branch concern there. Tail ol itself conveys the suggestloa that, young B a- he was. he must already have displayed an extraordinary measure of ability. He severed hW Conner ,. lion with the tirm shortly after his arrival in New Orleans and. blanching out into business on hi- own M of account, dealt shrewdly and boldly in cotton and in baying and selling plantation- in Louisiana and Mis issippi. He rapid!] accumulated a fortune and was thus engaged whin the Civil War came on. His _ sympathetic and seclal relations had made him by this time a southerner in his political views and to the j, south he gave his support in that great conflict. Near its end he made his way to Knglsad and there in n IM.o. saw the famous French horse. I .ladia tcin . win the l.psoni Derby, a race he never tired of describing w in after years. He returned •• New fork in 1808 and. having quickly identified himself with the elder n August Belmont. "Larry" Jerome, W. IJ. Travels, John Hunter, I!. W. Cameron and other able men of ,-; high standing in the work ot reviving racius, was elected one of th" governors of the American Jockey ,, of Club and hed that office until his death, which took place rebrinry_lN. I8B2. His enthusiasm in the work a at aad his quickly manifested grasp of underlying reasons and principles were the factors that led his asso p liatis t,, delegate the Important task of prepariim a comprehensive code of racing rules to Man. In a somewhat picturesque way George Wilkes wrote an article in the Spirit of The Times along s about 1ST:; descriptive of Mr Withers and Ids ways, of which a paragraph said: "It was in the library D at Brookdale that the sae wou.u buckle down at the desk alter his guests had retired to sleep and frame f his stake conditions, enter his foals on "the foil list" and mate his marcs by aid of tables showing per- h i-entage of Touchstone, Partisan and Itirdcatcher -Hood. Here he also trained the Bales of Baring, codify- s big the latest Knvjisli rules Into an amended digest to suit American conditions. Midnight oil burned low. in i: for it was the wee sin hours when he sought his COUCh, but if there was a trial of Juvenile or Criterion u candidate set down for the next Homing none rose earlier than he. And what famous, gay and brilliant Ii meetings have been held ai this sane- library in tin- piping days ot" the black jacket, wiih Editor Hnrlburt s and flam Ward. Wade Hampton. Beauregard, rather grhnued, but as erect and polite as in the old Fort Ii Sumter days; Duncan P. Kroner, who revived old New Orleans recollect ions; August Belmont: John I". s Ptirdy. silver voiced, lint brigfil a- gold on racing questions; Judge Monson, austere and authoritative: or ■• G. K. Lawrence, with whom the old gentenasa quarrelled, hut respected] most profoundly, as favored guests." That pes picture of Mr. Withers and his associates was written after he had become settled, s so to sin ak. as a turfman and breeder after his work as a law miihlor had been accomplished. I It does not appeal that Mr. Withers embarked in racing as an owner until ISiK. Then he went into ■ partnership with his friend, John 1". Piirdy. under the tirm name of Partly and Withers, hut no meat success • attended the running of their few horses. Kothiag half way could satisfy such a dominant and forceful » character and it was aot long until he resolved to race horses of bis own breeding. This resolve led to the i purchase ami At ting up of the famoun BrookdaV breeding farm and the Importation of stalHoas and brood mares from England. He was a.i obstinate man i:i all things and especially so in certain theories of his t own. in regard to the road to success in breeding. To him it was not to be disputed that Bnglisb thor « a oughbreds were infinitely superior to those bred In this country. Late in 1S71 be Imported King Ernest, I by Rin:r Tom— Ernestine, by TouebSfMie; Macaroon, by Macaroni- Jkunjrsrxess. by hantich i r. .im Btone» * ■ henge, by Blair Atbol, Cofinbra, by Kingston. King Eanesl was then a Iwo-year-oM and the other rum i were yearlings. Tiny were the initial stallions of the stud he afterwards gathered at Brookdale. It may I here be pointed out that of Chicago favorites in racing Dick Welles was a grandson of King Ernest and Me I Cltesney a grandson of Macaroon. In time Mr. Withers aim used Sensation. Ventilator. In ruder. I ncas. Mortesoer, Botbea, stalwart and Thunderstorm it Brookdale. The great French horse. Mortimer, which. 1 when in his prime. Admiral Boas pronounced "seven pounds Hie best horse in Europe." be bought when t was twenty-oii" years i hi at the dispersal snle of P. I.orillards Kancocas Stud. Ventilator was a son j of Vandal that he used to secure some inures closely descended from Gleacoe, but he always disliked the borne and sold most of his progeny as rearlhtgs, one of which, a colt called Airptaat, was unite a good ; Winner for Dwyer Pros. Bothea, by Hamilton — Sultana, bv Oxford, and Stalwart, by Bterlhig Sea Mark. by Advent. Mr. Withers Imported early in the eighties Stalwart made no especial mark in the stud, but ladhen w is a gn at success in that he was the sire of the preat race horse. Btbelbert. and of the Iutiirilv winaer. Requital, but both of these were foaled subsequent lo the death of Mr. Withers. in the matter "f broodmares he was not so particular as he was about his stallions and. while importing English males freely, used American-bred marc:; without prejudice. Two of his first owned were the Eclipse mares Miss Nellie iind Mimi. which lie bought from pi an. -is Morris. Miss Nellie was the dam of Nell and. through the I latter, granddam of the thin- Stonenell. Mimi. besides winning j.ood races for Mr. Withers, produced for t I ,m at the stud 11 apilal racers. Kinglike, Mikado, Stately and Viceroy, by Kins Ernest, and Copyright. by ITncas, and, altogether, was one of the star matrons of Brookdale. in passtag a general comment on hi opcral inns as a breeder, it may be said that a slud which sent, anions Others, such horses as Laggard, j Sluggard, Centaur. Report. Kins l.rie. Cynosure. Kitzmy. Cascade, Stately. Pampero. Air Plant. Stone buck. Kins Pan and AuricoBM to the races could by no means be pronounced a failure. Still its success •c.is not in proportion t" the money lavishly expended in its upbuilding. Brookdale produced many good • i -es for Mr. Withers, but never one of the highest class. No ope realized this more keenly than Mr Withers, but he never loot the hope that some time- he would breed one of those great biasing stars of the track that only make their appearance now and then to electrify and captivate the raring world. The first really good horse of his ,,w n breeding that Mr. Withers campaigned was the thcstaut gelding. Report, by Kins Ernest — Kcho. He was small, hut was every inch a race horse and a stayer. In ls.su j he won th" Monmouth Cup, Long Branch Hsndicap and Shrewsbury Handicap at Monmouth Park and the : Jockey Club Handicap at Jerome Park, defeating anions others such oM-time celebrities as Monitor. Harold. ! Imc-is, lerida. George McCullougfa and llanicheff. At Jerome Park in 1K7S laversasor won the Ladies :-i "kes for him and Belinda the Champagne Stakes. At the same track Nancy captured the Homebred , Produce Stakes and in the following year won the Monmouth Oaks at Monmouth Park. These were his earliest winners of events of Importance and he disliked raciag his horses on other than the Jerosae Park 1 ami Monmouth Park tracks. One of the early batch of Brookdale foals wis a colt of striking appearance, , t" which he took a great fancy and for which Ie- selected a hish ■sounding name, in spite of his good , looks it developed thai His coil could not run fast enough ti keep warm, so the nunc was not claimed tor him and he was banished into obscurity as a faiin horse without In ins named at all. Out of this early j disappointment grew a strongly rooted dislike to naming his young horses until tiny hid done aomething of tio c in raciag, il resulting that for years the Withers two vear olds generally were raced without names. ."ii instance one of the lust tw o -yea! olds ever sent to the races from Brookdale was one which in Isss as the Henwatiou — Faverdale coat won the Hopeful stakes. Home-Bred Produce Stakes and Carteret Handicap at Monmouth Park and the Prospect Stakes and Algeria Stakes at Grave send, all from high-Class nppo | s:io!i. He ran nine races that year and was second in three of the other four, one of which was the Junior , Champion Stakes in which he ran second to Proctor Knott, with Fresno third and the mighty Salvator one of th" eleven unplaced ones. Y--t he was gtrea no name, nor waa he when a three -year-old and it waa not until he wa done with racing that he wvi ■ named Centaur. In all of Mr. Withers raring experience there area perhaps none that save him such keen delight • - when in 1KS7 his his tJucas colt. Laggard, save II -mover the first defeat of his brilliant career. Tills was jn the Rarilaii Stakes, it Monmouth Park. July :;o. over a heavy track at a mile and a quarter. Laggard carried 111 pounds lo 128 on Hanover, but the latter had won foul teen races in a row and was at 1 to 12 in the bet tins- while it whs 12 to 1 against 1 -sard and 20 to 1 asainst t|„. ,,n]r other starter. Bradford The latter waa a fat -printer and mad" the early running, but Laggard rushed to the front on the backstretch and. despite th" strenuous efforts of Mil aughltu on Hanover, drew away in the homestretch and woo by six lengths. To show it was no such duke, as Hanovers thunderstruck admirers then claimed, Laggard defeated him ajrain hi the Omnibus stales, at a mile and a half, three weeks later and for good measure also defeated Bach other cr.uk sa Pirensc. Kingston and Esquimau in the same race. Baring had been carried on at Monmouth Park as early is 1S7 » bv John K. Chamberlain and souse sporting associates, but for a variety of reasons the track f-ll into disfavor and after 1ST was abandoned for several years. Then Mr. Withers bought the plant and. adding greatly to its acreage, made M the most spacious, be=t appointed and commodious race course in toe United States, a straight track of a mile and a quarter being one of its feature-. It was over this straight track that Salvator ran his mil, in l:::."»j in 1890. Under the management of Mr Withers the track became tin- foremost raring Center of lhe country and. with its host of richly endowed stakes, save winning owner- great monetary returns. It was a grievously costly thins to him when a constitutional amendment obliterated racing in New Jersey and reduced Hie siib ndid Monmouth P.uk to a condition of idleness and abandonment. He did not survive the blow Ions and died shortly after his beloved track was closed to raring.
