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BEN BRUSH LOST FORTUNE BY A NOSE V VFamous Famous Horses Death Recalls His Defeat by Princo Lief in National Derby at St Louis St Louis Mo July 2 Tlie death of the stallion Ben Brush at Lexington recently called back to mind what was probably the greatest horse race ever run in St Louis Joseph A Murphy who was secretary of the Fair Grounds at the time yesterday recalled some of the incidents of the race raceIt It was in the National Derby of 1895 I iad closed the race for the Harlem race track of Chi ¬ cago and when I accepted the position of secretary here I asked the local directors to take the race over On the board at the time were C C Maf fitt Rolla Wells James Campbell Governor Fran ¬ cis L M and Moses L Rumsey Ed Walsh A B Ewing and others To business men 20000 looked like a lot of money for one race but 1 finally outtalked them and the race was on onIt It drew a wonderful field Ben Brush Prince Lief Captive Don Carillo Ben Edcr Argentina and others Ben Brush and Prince Lief however stood out Ben Brush was bwned by Mike Dwyer one of the greatest plungers the turf ever knew knewI I recall the race perfectly Ben Brush a mere pony in size vanned up so sore that he could hardly gallop and his backers were in despair Small as the horse was he had the heart of a lion Prince Lief took the track and set a heart ¬ breaking pace but could never shake off the little bulldog at his flank On the far turn Ben Brush moved un and from there to the wire the greatest struggle in local history was witnessed Soup Perkins and Willie Simms two of the greatest negro riders the turf has known had the mounts mountsScarcely Scarcely an inch separated the horses during the the wire Prince Licfs muzzle just showed in front The colts carried 127 pounds each and the race was run over the real Derby distance of a mile and a half The time 234 was considered a great performance as the Fair Grounds was not a fast track trackMike Mike Dwyer who stood to win a fortune on Ben Brush was standing on the track under the judges stand At the finish he looked up with a smile It was a great horse race was his quiet comment A commentA few years afterward he died a nervous wreck I expect if he had cursed his luck disagreed with th judges etc he would still be hero heroItfii Itfii Brush outlived most of the central figures in the race Bryon McClelland who owned Prince Lief has been dead for some years John Carter who was in the stand with me was lost in the Baldwin Hotel fire at San Francisco The majority of the old directors are gone too but the race itself remains grceu iu the memory of the passing generation
