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■ 1 , I ] j ; , ! ; • j ! • 1 . ! ! ! ! ! [ J , ■ ; , [ | ; 1 L ! ! !f . £ " ■ Jj ! [ ; 1 "J [j • 2 ■ 1 o 0 - 0 •| ■_ ■J 3 • Jj • - 4 0 B "- 1 0 B 5 • 0 [5 12 JO • •5 ;1 •" 53 ■~ 112 2 n [0 0 10 »5 ". 2 r5 260 » "3 10 12 :o 870 54 530 io SO 297 7 100 14 .O io ro .» IO ,7 15 7s:: 13 u; n Io 10 rs WHEN HIMYAE WAS BEATEN UNDESERVED DEFEAT BY DAY STAR IN THE FOURTH KENTUCKY DERBY. Had His Triumphs Afterwards and Became a alighty Sire When Done with Racing — Domino His Best Son, From forty-two entries in 1875 to thirty-four in 1870 and forty-one in ls.77. the nominations to the Kentucky Derby jumped to fifty-sis in 1S7S. That year saw in Ilimyar the first of the odds- on Kentucky Derby favorites. This great horse. bred, reared and raced by Major P. G. Thomas, had been well-nigh invincible in Kentucky and the west as a two-year-old. in the racing of 1877. Dnring the winter and early spring he trained well and, so confident was his owner, that he is said to have told F.dgar M. Johnson, who acted as start! r that year, that it made no difference if Hiinyar was behind his opponents and no matter his place of position, that if he was straight to let them g . Major Thomas, however, had not reckoned on the speed and stamina of the chestnut colt Day Star, which had previously won the Phoenix Hotel Stakes at Lexington, anil, the latter getting off far in advance of the favorite, made a hare and hound race of it and enrolled himself as the fourth winner of the P.lue Itibbon event of the Kentucky turf. Day Star belonged to the Bourbon County turf- man T. .1. Nichols, who had owned Vagrant as a tWO-year-old and. just previous to his Kentucky Derby win of 1S70. and it ,vas some of the funds he received from the winnings and sale of that gelding that made it possible for him to buy Day Star as a yearling from John M. Clay, son of the Great Commoner, he [laying 25 for* the chestnut colt a I that age. Day Star was trained and fitted for his Derby engagement by the veteran trainer Lee Paul, who afterwards developed the mighty Hindoo. It is related that even after he had won the Derby, lie was to be seen at his stable the nest morning cooking his breakfast of bacon and earns pone just as if he was one of the poorest trainers on the track. This fact recently recalled to trainer W. P.. Scully the vast chances on the race tracks in recent years. Says this horseman: "In the old days Jockeys as well as trainers lived and ate as well as slept at the stable. Now they stop at the best hotels and instead of bacon and corn bread at breakfast they ask for grape fruit anil stewed rhubarb. Why. when I was training :. stable of horses in New York, one could get about a half- doaea bunches of the latter plant for a half dollar and then it took two dollars worth of sugar to eaok it. Jockeys in those days carried their own equipment! to weigh in and weigh out for a race. Now they have a valet, while many of the men they ride for have no family servant in their own homes. I cant see that Jockeys have improved in their riding correspondingly with their improved condition of living and. to be candid. I dont think the riding talent of today is to be compared all around with the stars of the pigskin of long ago." Put to return to Day Stars Derby victory. That year the Louisville firm of .1. It. Watts and" Co. had the betting privileges and it marked the first Ken- tucky appearance in the auction pool stand of the silver-tongued ticket seller Bobert Cathcart This was also the first year that unmeant Klrod worked in the betting ring on a race track, the man who now has charge of the mutuel machines on all the Kentucky courses, as well as looking after the betting ring at the Jockey Club Juarez. In the auction jio. ,1s Ilimyar sold for S150 to 9 for Day Star: .515 each for l.cveler and Purgundv; 0 for ItcHeary; S5 for Charley Push, and 1 for Re- spond. Solicitor and Beaconsfiolil in the field. Levehr rand third to Day Star and Himyar. while Solicitor ran fourth, the order in finishing of the others being McIIenry. Respond. Purgundv, Bea- CSns field and Charley Push. The distance still continued at one mile am! a half and Day Star ran it in 2:57 ,. the fastest Derby up to his time. Day Star stood fifteen hands, two and a half inches high. He had a star and light stripe in the face, white legs in front and a little white also on his left hind pastern. He was later on. at that meeting, defeated by Levoler in the Clark Stakes. Solicitor, which ran four in the Derby, running a dead heat with him for second place. l.cveler also won the St. Leger Stakes that year and might have don well in the stud, had he lived to become a sire. Though defeated, Ilimyar was the greatest horse that started in the Derby of 1S7S. After an honor -5 able career on the turf he went to the stud and took high rank as a sire, one of his sons being the mighty Domino, the largest money -winning horse on the Ann lie: n turf, his earnings totaling 9188350 in stakes and purses. Day Star was by the noted race horse Star Davis and his dam Squeezem. by Lexington, came from the creat Magnolia family. Leveler also belonged to this family, he being by Lever — Sly Boots, by Pivoii. Himyar was by Alarm— Hira, by Lexing-2 ton. Two great eastern three-year-olds raced in 1878 in Duke of Magenta and Bramble, but neither was engaged in the Kentucky Derby. Bramble came west that fall and captured the Louisville Stallion Stakes, but it is questionable if either he. or Duke of Magenta even, could have beaten in the Derby. Day Star and Himyar. This Derby was the richest up to that time, be- in ur worth ,050 net to the winner. All the owners of Derby starters that year are now dead, the latest to pass away being L. P. Tarlton. who died mat month at Frankfort. Ky.. and in whose colors Soli, iter ran in the Derby of 1878. There are some veterans of tin track still alive who witnessed this race, these embracing George Cadwallader and John I. mil of Cincinnati and J. T. Walsh of Lexington. all of whom think Day Star. Himyar or Leveler would stand a chance in the COSaiag forty -secend re-■2 newnl of this race. The meeting at which the Kentucky Derby of 1S7S was run was of six days duration. The bag race that season was decided on Tuesday. May 22. There will be far more people to see the race de- elded this year, and in value the 1910 race will. with its 810,000 in added money, make the value of Day Stars Derby look cheap. Still, for that time, it was a great race and its treat prestige remains. Every year now manager M. J. Winn. president Charles F. Grainger and secretary H. C. Applegate bead every energy to make it a greater race than the event the season previous and the brilliant array of entries in the rich stake this year shows how well their efforts have been re-" o warded. Day Star, though he defeated Himyar in the Ken-is tucky Derby, has left no impress to be compared to that given the breeding world by Major B. G. Thomas great horse. Had there been no Himyar. there would have been no Domino, Commando or Disguise, and the turf, as a result, would have never known such treat racing stars as Colin, Celt. Peter Pan. Iron Mask. Haskettc. Court Dress, II- tinius and many others of great fame. Major Thomas always said when the horse was racing, that he would make a celebrated sire when placed in the stud. He gave as a reason f,.r his opinion that Hiinyar was in type a model, a generous race horse and pure in pedigree. Years have now passod and gone since Himyar carried the sol t_Oiitiuucd ou second page. WHEN HIMYAR WAS BEATEN. Continued from first page. ferine anil buff colors iu his fight for Kentucky Darby honors. While hi railed in that race, his fame has OBStripped all either horses of bis year anil in turf history eif today. Day Star is remem bered as the- colt that beat Hfaayar. Himyar had 111, more right to be beaten in the Kentucky Derby by Day Star than hail The- Pel rareli in-the- Epsom Derby when Klsbcr wen. It was simply the- fortunes of racing, but to the- day of his death was tin- saddest happening in tin- long career of Major Thomas as a turfman. He bail finally succeeded in breeding em his own peculiar ideas eif blood lines, a perfect race horse anil he passeel away with the be-lief that wit ii fair racing lue-k Himyar should have- is HI been beaten. Put. looking over his few leising rae-es. ids failures on the track were- maele gemd ill his career in the- stiul. He- died in Tennessee after his breeder had passed away and was still sending winners to the barriir in bis new house at Avoodale Farm. It makes no difference, however, had he only got Domino anil nothing more, his fame- would have been secure, as long as the racing and breeding of blooded horses is among the fashions of the- day.
