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t r SOME MORE OBSERVATIONS IN REGARD TO BLOOD LINES OF i REIGNING SIRES OF THE PRESENT [BY DR. M. M. LEACII.] I" Peter Fan. Ballot, the Australian Mountain King and the Derby winner Orby, were the stars foaled in 1904. Ieter Pan was a good, but not a great race horse, whose winnings ran well over the 00,000 mark, the proceeds of victories gained in some of the richest stakes run for in the United States. Ieter Pan, however, was not unbeatable, as witness his Coney Island Jockey Club Stakes defeat. Electioneer ran his heart out in the first three-quarters and Salvidere swung by him only to be beaten, easily enough, by that ugly duckling Frank Gill. Ieter Fan is by Domino out of imported Cinderella and. true to family traditions, Peter Pan failed to get further than his three-year-old form. On the dams side the big horse is beautifully bred, a member of the liest producing branch of the Burton Barb family, out of Hermits daughter Cinderella, from Mazurka by See Saw from Mabille. No lack of Herod here and Peter Pan has already achieved noteworthy success as a sire, and would go even higher were it not for the family failing. I have been given to understand that Peter Pans daughter. Puss in Boots, was never half trained. They will stand her up against it over yonder and, if good enough, she will have her chance in the New Oaks. Ballot. Eclipse top and bottom, the mainstay of the Keene establishment when racing, ever ready to do his bit and win more times than he lost. 1 have a sincere admiration for Ballot as a race horse. His English experience- must not lie held against him. The master hand was not there to direct his preparation and there is no telling just how a horse is going to weather the acclimatization process. Ballot now stands for service at Elmendorf and it is to be hoped he will have access to outbred Herod and Matchem marcs. His suckling daughter from Schoolmistress is well-nigh perfection and his now two-year-old out of Goody Good, by Lamplighter, was one of the best set up of yearlings I saw last year. These are the sort of mares on which Ballot will make his reputation as a sire. Orby. Mr. Crokers Derby winner, is bred Eclipse to Herod. Orbys sire, Onne, was inbrrd Kclipse and it was quite in the nature of a friumpli for the house of Oloncoe that Hanovers daughter Rhoda B. should become the dam of the winner of Englands greatest classic. Orbys second dam, Margerine, was by Algerine. of Matchem descent, and he comes of the outside line No. 20. The outside figures so prominently displayed in the pedigree of Orby surely should make Bruce Lowe turn over in his grave. Orby. as might be supposed, lias met with good success as a sire, but. for some reason, only one foal is reported by him for 1915. The Australian Mountain King was a superior race horse, the best of his year, a Derby winner and now a successful sire. Mountain King is by Wallace, son of Carbine, and Wallace has two crosses of Fisherman Herod on his dams side, and Mountain Kings dam, Bonnie Rosette is by Barcaldine I Matchem. Same old combination over and overt again. Mountain King is a momlier of the outside family No. 31. Stick to the blending of the blood and let the figures go hang. Burgomaster, The White Knight. Sjiearmint. Flair. Mr. W. II. Vanderbilts pair Prestige and Maintenon, were the pick of the basket foaled in the spring of 1903. Burgomaster did not make any protracted stay, but he was good while he was at it and is bred Herod to Eclipse. Burgomaster has met with a fair amount of success as a sire. Slipshod may lie nigh unto high class. Flair was a nailing good filly, a Guineas winner, by St. Frusquin Eclipse to Matchem from Clare by Ayrshire out of Footlights by Cremorne Herod. This is the key to all locks. Following her Newmarket success. Flair was being subjected to a special preparation with Derby honors in view, but she gave way astern and Spearmint was requisitioned and proved a worthy substitute. Spearmint is Eclipse through and through. In-disputedly a good race horse, but an ill-shaped beast with a screw Imm forward. His legs, however, carried him through a Derby and a Grand Prix, but he got no further and since then lias lieen busy getting coarse, angular stock. . Spearmint is not bred to be a first-class sire. Just one of those fluky-hred ones which race, but fail to reproduce themselves. The White Knight is a true type of a staying, weight-carrying thoroughbred. No frills about him — a hard, sound genuine sticker, which, among other good races, won an Ascot Gold Cup and carried tlie record weight of 138 pounds into second place for the Cesarewiteh. The White Knight is by odds the best race horse his sire. Desmond, ever got. Desmond himself was no great shakes as a race horse and lacked the Matchem leaven, so prominent in the make up of other sons of St. Simon. The Matchem is there right enough in tlie pedigree of The White Knight. Iella. his dam. is by the unheard of Buckshot, son of Barcaldines sire. Salon. St. Simon-Matchem affinity again. Pella is out of Pamela, by King John, son of Kingston Herod, from Eblana by A. I. son of Sweetmeat Herod. The White Knight is a member of an outside branch of the outside No. 21 family, and it is just such instances as these that convince me that it is the blending of the blood and not the figures which is responsible for the production of the lkst of our sires and the majority of the best of our race horses. Maintenon. a tremendously big fellow, played a strong hand, though beaten by Spearmint in the .rand Prix for Mr. W. K. Vitnderbilt on the French turf in 1900. Mnintenous trainer. William Duke, once told me he could never understand tlie horses appearance and disappearance in the run -i:ii;g of the Grand Prix. Anyway, Maintenon was a clinking good race horse and another go with Spearmint would, to say the least of it, have been interesting. Maintenon is bred Herod to Eclipse. His sire. Le Sagittaire. is one of the best sons of I.e Sancy. and Mainteuons dam, Marcia. is by the Hermit horse. Mcrden. and Merdens grandam is the Oaks winner. Cymba. by Melbourne Matchem. Prestige, hard worked as a two-year-old. raced but little at three. However, he was unbeaten and is by Le Ponipoin. from Orgneilleuse. by Reverend. Reverends dun. lerplev, was Herod and. further. Herod is introduced to the pedigree by way of Rend Ors dam he double Herod of Hermit and Thursday, daughter of the famous .Manganese, by Thoriiiaiiby. Prestige is descended from Whale lxiiie by the unusual route ol" Defense. Outside of France I doubt if the line is to be found in tail male. Aerolithe. son of Nougat, was imported here, but Aerolithe never amounted to much as a I T sire. Prestige started off his stud career with a flourish and got Sardanapalo. and now that racing is suspended in La Belle France I fear we shall hear nothing more of him for some time to come. It will, however, be of interest to note the development of this Defense line via Prestige and Sardanapale. The Blacklock supremacy cannot last forever. There is enough and to spare of Stockwell, Sterling and Hampton. A fresh anchorage must be found somewhere, possibly this is the line of Defense. The year 1902. so far as the production of good horses is concerned, was a good one. Polymelus, Val dOr and Adam, two of Flying Foxs best sons, Cicero, Sysonby and Artful were foaled that year. Polymelus. though he never won a classic, was a more than good race horse. I dont know that he stayed particularly well: for all that, he won the Cambridgeshire, the Duke of York Stakes and the Champion Stakes. Polymelus. as a sire, was a success from the outset. I myself organized a vain attempt to interest a prominent Kentucky breeder in Polymelus before his offspring had even faced the starter, got a price on him. but the opportunity was let slip and I dont suppose anything in reason could tempt his lucky owner now. Polymelus is bred Eclipse to Eclipse, by Cyllene out of Maid Marian, dam also of Grafton and Ercildoune. and half-sister, by Hampton, to Ea Fleche. Maid Marian is out of Quiver, by Toxophilite dam Herod from an unnamed daughter of Young Melbourne Matchem-. Thus both of Hamptons best produ -ing daughters. Perdita II. and Maid Marian, show the Matchem blood close up. The Herod in Polymelus pedigree comes in by way of the Macaroni in Cyllenes sire. Bona Vista, reinforced by Hermit, sire of Distant Shore, grandam of Cyllene. Polymelus is undoubtedly a good sire. Do his get really stay? Pommern should make that clear this year and what an acquisition he would have la-en to this country, as good or even better than Leamington. 1902 was a great Bend Or year. Cicero won the Derby and Val dOr and Adam, in France, were both sons of Flying Fox. Sysonby was out of Ormes daughter. Uptime, but Artful shows none of this blood in her make up. Cicero rests on his Derby laurels and his stud success has not been anything to boast of. Cicero is inbred to Eclipse, and I see no reason to anticipate future stallion honors for him. The two Frenchmen were both sons of Flying Fox and both out of mares of Herod descent. Their owner and breeder, M. Blanc, parted with both. Val dor was sent to the Argentine and Adam came to the 1nited States. Val dor ran up a fine sequence of wins in France, his victories including the Poule dessai des Poulaino, Poix de la Rochette. lrix Monnrque, and. on being sent across the channel, carried off the rich Eclipse Stakes. Val dor, as noted above, is bred Eclipse to Herod. His dam, Wandora, is by Bruce, winner of a Grand lrix and by See Saw. Wandoras dam, Windfall, was by the Derby winner Favonius. son of Cre-moae Herod. Wandora is a member of the extreme outside family, No. 39, and soon after Val dors departure for South America the Special Commissioner of the London Sportsman drew attention to this fact, disparaging Val dors success as a sire, but, here he is — right up with the band wagon. His daughter, Occurencia. is one of tin-best three-year-ohls seen out in the Argentine in many a day. Once again does the blending the blood put the figures to route. All of us know Adam— a good looker, a good race horse and a good stock horse. Bashti could fly. Adam Bede won the Cambridgeshire, and Adam Bedes dam. Grace Gumherts, was slow as an ox — her trainer. J. O. Hume, is my informant. Further proof that racing performances count for nothing in broodmares. Evil days fell upon us and Adam was returned to Europe. What a loss, for Adam was the horse, above all others, best adapted to the requirements of this country. Sysonby, a mighty runner, flettor. I should say. at three than two. and his early death was the severest loss sustained by the late James R. Keene during a long and successful turf career. Sysonby was bred Eclipse to Eclipse. Eclipse again and again Eclipse, then Matchem. Optimo. Sysonbys dam, was by Onne and this Onne strain appears to be especially acceptable over here. Tracery has it. as has Gillies. Sysonbys next dam was a daughter of the Black-lock horse Speculum from Nydia. by Orcst and so to Adelaide, by Young Melbourne. This, of course, is the Maid of Mashain line, the family of Cyllene. Star Shoot. Fair Play, Peter. Timothy. Barley Dale. St. Daniien. St. Hilaire. Winkfields Pride and any number of others of the best sort. Sysonbys sire. Melton, was a Derby winner and his daughters have accomplished much. Absurdity is the dam of Jest and Mark Jester. Yours foaled Your Majesty and Our Lassie. Attractive produced Arizona and Miss ■Mildred is to the fore witli Ea Roche. This ability of Meltons to sire good broodmares — he has never got a first-class son — can. I think, be traced to his Tliormanby and Sweetmeat infusions. What Sysonbys success as a sire would have been will never be known. He would have been an ideal mate for some of those Lexington-Clencoe-bred native mares, but I fancy his sun ess with the imported breds would have fallen far short of that of Coinmaiol a. Artful holds the proud distinction of being one of the only two animals to finish ahead of Sysonby. This feat she accomplished in the Futurity. They never met ufter that. Perhaps the Artful folks were wise in their generation. Artful is bred Herod to Eclipse. A daughter of Hamburg, her dam. Martha II.. is by Damlie Dintnont. a well-bred BOB of Silvio. The next dam is Louise T.. by Rayon dOr from Spark, by Leamington. This is a fine producing branch of tlie Cub mare family. Artful, tin ugh she has had a winner or two. has not yet thrown anything approaching first class. Her pedigree discloses an cbuiidanee of Herod, but no Matchem. bar the Fellowcraft of Hamburg, near the surface. For this reason Artful should do best by some Matchem horse, such as Fair Play or Ogden.
