The Kind of a Horse St. Simon Was, Daily Racing Form, 1915-12-11

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THE KIND OF A HORSE ST. SIMON WAS. He was bred by Prince Batthyany. but never car ried the handsome and popular green jacket, for the prince dropped dead on the Jockey Club steps while awaiting the start f.u- the Two Thousand Guineas in which Galliard. also a son of the great horse Galopiu. was concerned, and the excitement was too uiueli f.r him. St. Simou at the time was a two-year-old and had not yet run in public. With the rest of the princes liorscs. among them Fulmeii. wliirh fetched 5.0110 guineas and ultimately won tji • Lincolnshire Handicap for .Mr. B. C. Naylor. of Macaroni fame. St. Simon was sent up for sale dining tb - First July meeting and after some spirited bidding between Matthew Dawson and Sir J. 1 slum lei 1 Maple he was knocked down to the former, acting on behalf of the Duke of Portland, for l.iHKl guineas, the cheajiest horse, as it turned out. ever sold, and presumably Matthew had lici-n advised as to his merit by Lis brother John, who had trained him up to that time. Peck, who was then chief adviser to .sir Blundell Maple, tried hard to liersuade him to go on. but failed, and he only r? gretted it once and that was ever afterward. All his engagements becoming void, fresh liabilities had to be incurred and the duke, a new comer on the turf, struck a tremendous vein of luck straightaway, but he never hail a horse to compare with "the Saint." Ayrshire. Donovan, Memoir, Kcuiinola. Amiable. Mrs. Butterwick and La Roche notw itlist Hiding. St. Simon made his first appear-auee at G odwood. where, backed against the field, he simply romped iwhj with the Haluakcr Stakes. and on the following day won a Maiden Plate with equal ease. Next be came out for the Devonshire Nursery, over which there was some heavy gambling in connection with Archer — not the jockey, but a borse t. that nann — for "the Tinman" was on St. Simon, which gave him 17 pounds and a hollow heating. With 125 |«ouuds on his hack he started at 11 to s in a field of twenty-one for the mile Prince of Wales Nursery at Doncaster and wnf home alone eight lengths iu fr-nt of his stable companion. Iambic, and if there had been any lingering doubt as to his super-excellence it was effectually dispelled by this extraordinary performance. The Duke of Westminster had a good two-year-old at the time in Duke of Richmond, known as jsushey when he won the Richmond Slakes at Good wood. after which he was renamed. A really sport in:: match was made between the trio for a "monkey" aside. Brctby Slakes Course, but the odds laid n St. Simon were never in doubt and he again won in a canter, though by three-quarters of a length on! v. lie retired to winter quarters acknowledged as the lM-st iwo-ycar-ohl of the year. It is safe to assert that Soot Free would not have won the Two Thousand Ouineas. Harvester Would not have divided the Derby with St. Oatien. nor would Ijimbkin have won the St. I**gcr had he been on the stage iu either scene. After a public trial with Tristan. St. Simon was allowed to walk over for the Epsom Gold Cup. and the wisdom of abslention was proved shortly afterwards when, carrying two pounds overweight, he sailed home tw.-n.tv lengths in front of Mr. I.efovres good horse it the Ascot Cup. This was as line a performance ._ . m was seen for the royal trophy, and its merit -iis enhanced when on the following day Tristan easily accounted f • r Waterford. Harvester and Uuickltee for the Hardwieke Stakes, a race which Hi.- son of Hermit won three years in succession. Kt Simon travelled all the way to Newcastle to lose • liislehurst in a single-handed bout for the Gosforth Cold Cup and his lemarkabb- racing earrcr terminated with another striking iierformauce when he finished twenty lengths in advance of the St. Leger vii.ner Ossian. for the Goodwood up. es. be was a phenomenal horse, and he would b- a bold man who would declare a preference f..r him or Ormonde 1 as far as racing merit was concerned. In apjiearance the two champions presented a striking contrast, for although both stood over sixteen hands. St Simon, which was by Galopin. like all the breed shewed the perfection of quality, while Ormonde was a horse of massive frame, with abnormal power behind tlie saddle up to 225 pounds with hounds. As regards their careers at the stud there was no comparison, for whereas the Bend Or horse made but one big hit. wih Orme out of Angelica. St. Simon was responsible for a triple-crowned hero in Diamond Jubilee, a Two Thousand Guineas winner i:i St. Frusquin. heroines of the One Thousand Guineas in Seminola, La Fleche. Amiable and Wini-freda. Blue Riband champions in the brothers Persimmon and Diamond Jubilee, both of which won the St. I eger. as did also his daughters. Memoir and I. a Fleche. after winning the Oaks, in which race Mrs. Butterwick. Amiable and La Roche were all three successful. Scores of other winners and sires and dams of winners sprang from his loins; in fact, he was the most famous horse ever known at the stud and his blood is distributed and celebrated in every corner of tlie globe. — "Vigilant" in London Sportsman.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1915121101/drf1915121101_1_3
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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800