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ALARM ONLY MODERATE RACE HORSE Although He Won Six Out of His Seven Starts and Established Two Records James H McCrecvy foreman of the stable in which Alarm was trained in 1871 writes an inter ¬ esting article showing the cause of the vast im ¬ provement in speed through Alarm and his de ¬ scendants to Colin revealing matters unknown until now It is written in an unprejudiced spirit His story follows followsAlarm Alarm was foaled in 1809 at the Annieswood Stud near Westchester N Y and bred by the late Mr John Hunter When a yearling in Sep ¬ tember he was broken and trained on the old Eclipse but renamed Centerville race course at Woodhaven L I In January 1871 ho was 151 a bright bay colt with star left fore pastern right fore coronet and right hind ankle Joint white muzzle small eyes large and wide apart brain bulging denoting power jaws three and a half inches apart at the throttle neck short and thick shoulders straight and thick at the withers back loin and hips wide hip to buttock lengthy quarters heavy girth deep body not lengthy stood true with sound legs and feet constitution robust a good feeder nine to eleven quarts as allowed His disposition was the kindest that could be described utterly free from nervousness even when the sharp spurs crimsoned his panting sides or whip pierced his tender skin in his trials it ruffled him not nor the salt brine applied thereto This caressed pet of the stable which often drank from a goblet the cool waters it Saratoga amid the scenes of his victories in the cherished long ago He inherited his temper from his dam also his color and points as viewed by myself who daily cared for her during the winter of 1SOS9 when she was carry ¬ ing the future Alarm Maud was about fifteen hands three inches lengthy hipped wide girthed deep and a beautiful mare mareEclipse Eclipse was imported jointly by R Ten Broeck and Francis Morris of New York in 189 a dark bay no white markings black mnno tail and legs and a handsome horse with a savage temper stand ¬ ing 152 152In In passing through the colthood of Alarm found me foreman of the stable he was trained in I saw ids works trials and races made the weights and saildled him for those races Although he won six of his seven starts and established two records yet he was only a moderate race horse judged by his trails with Buckden and his races over fast tracks and at no time beating a good horse Yet again it must be granted that had he been forced ho could have lowered his threequarter record to 115 and possibly the mile under 142 He won both easily and was not distressed He was sluggish in his works and trials and on the bit in his races Gray his only jockey said that he was the easiest horse he ever rode and he always stopped himself in false starts He was a fast and a front breaker and then the only occasion he setmod the least aroused My opinion is that he was incapable of beating at even weights the best progeny he sired and could no more have kept pace with Major Thomas Ilimyar than could a weanling Not ¬ withstanding the light weights he was under In his trials and races he failed to show a quarter of a mile under 25 seconds or a half mile within 50 if timed correctly correctlyFAILED FAILED TO PRODUCE A RELIABLE COLT COLTMy My main object shall now show the fact of the narrowness by which this now wonderful strain of winning blood in America through Alarm escaped in all probability from being unfounded and also avoided by nature in failing to produce a reliable colt in the second selection in the stable of the late Francis Morris of Throgs Neck N Y for the match race between the late Messrs John Hunter W R Travers and F Morris on one side naming two by Eclipse and the late R W Camer ¬ on on the other side he naming two by Leaming ¬ ton to be run at Saratoga Springs If the Mor ¬ ris selection trained by William Brown had proved worthy he would have been relied on to to start instead of Alarm During his spring training lie had a chronic cough and nasal dis ¬ charge that did not cease until after his arrival at Saratoga in July Then only did he show any ability to warrant he had a chanco to win tho match He improved on his works and finally showed threequarters of a mile all out in 117 carrying 100 pounds and this prevented forfeiting as Minor his trainer believed this work would improve him for the match also strengthened with knowing the works of Inverary through the trainer C P Coyle who was paid 200 to tout her work He informed Minor he would lose the match even after he saw Alarm work and he would bet on the Cameron filly His belief cost him his prec ¬ ious and his needed earnings Singular was the fact that the secondnamed selection for the match by Cameron proved valueless It was the annual July and send them to Annieswood consequently it was the best that remained after a severe ordeal in training It is my belief that if Alarm had not txen named in the match he too would have boon weeded out and probably never heard of as a win ¬ ner or a noted sire as in Iwth of his trials at a half and threequarters of a mile ho was beaten by woodouts It always was a wonder to me what Continued on sixth page ALARM ONLY MODERATE RACE HORSE Continued from fifth page became of them as not one in ten were heard of afterwards and I have often thought they may lay by the bleached bones of old Nicholas I which was destroyed fortyeight years ago November last when Dr Pilgrim gave him a pill of poison lie was led by me to the woods nearby in the pres ¬ ence of Mr Hunter and old Andy Bell The doctor fastened the halterlead to a drooping tree branch and we left him alone to die on the fallen leaves in the woods of Annieswood unseen unmourned and untombed ritiful were the whinnies from the nostrils of the old hero calling us to return for him Halting and looking at him there he stood head partly erect awaiting death ears pricked and facing me his last friend who had cared kindly for him in his last days The affecting scene still clings to my memory As the autumns golden sun passed the horizon leaving darkness so too passed he the golden chestnut Nicholas to join his immortal sire the great Glencoe GlencoeUnless Unless worth no horse was wintered into a threeyearold in that stable Therefore it is plainly realized what might have been if it were not for the facts as here presented presentedALARM ALARM ALWAYS TRAINED BY A J MINOR MINORAlarm Alarm was always trained by the late A J Minor of distinguished ability who even prior to the Civil War was highly successful in England for K Ten Brock in the late 50s Returning he trained for J S Watson John Hunter Francis Morris and Hunter Travers Probably he was the first trainer in America paid 5000 salary and ten per cent of gross winnings and the same for horses sold from his stable He informed me that the late August Ilcliuont offered him a thousand dollars more a year and the same percentage This too when few trainers were receiving 1200 a year or upward far more about GOO some less or next to nothing Minor informed me then he would not work his horses so severely but Mr Hunter wanted to bet on them therefore requiring fitness when weeded out or in racing racingIn In the spring of 1871 the unbroken twoyearold Buckden by Lord Clifden dam Consequence by Bay Middlcton bought in England by Mr Hunter for 200 pounds arrived in the stable He was a handsome bay no white markings not one gray hair fifteen two with a body of unusual length Full of activity and devilment his rearing plung ¬ ing and bolting antics in his exercising work for the first few months caused his trainer anxiety A twofoot broom handle wrapped in bandages and fastened to the saddle locks to prevent his rider being unseated combined with blinkers a curb chain bit whip and spurs eventually managed him and he then trained satisfactorily Yet when loose in his box he had the painful habit of biting his breast arms flanks and gaskins fre ¬ quently bleeding thereby causing a sword stick to be fastened to his halter and sway also wearing 1 muzzle opened in front and bottom to prevent the above mischief He was otherwise good tempered temperedProgressing Progressing satisfactorily in his work lie was started in the Hopeful Stakes half a mile at Honmouth Park and finished second after a bad start to Gen A Bufords Malita in 2l carrying 7 pounds to his 100 Minor informed me that in this race Mr Hunter lost 12000 betting on him s he is interwoven in this article shall state that on the forenoon of October 10 the day lu verary beat Alarm with 100 pounds oa each at a aiile In l4S he was weighted the same and tried it a mile being whipped and spurred out in 151 showing about three seconds slower than Alarm Both wintered and trained satisfactorily iu the spring and were tried at a mile in June Alarm 110 pounds Bnckden 90 After running evenly for a half mile Buckden left Alarm and beat him ix lengths Ten days later they were tried at i mile and a half each weighted 110 pounds gain they were even for fiveeighths Buckden i length in front t the threequarters when ie bolted checking his speed and losing six lengths but caught the tiring Alrni tlireeeiglitjhs from the stand snd won six lengths Both were whipped Hid siiurred out in these trials It is probable if Buckden had kept straight he would have won as far again Better results were expected of Alarm which had grown into lii3 and he never was tried igain The above trials coupled with his five races at 90 pounds show about the correctness of my contention contentionKINGFISHER KINGFISHER NOT AT HIS BEST WHEN BEATEN BEATENWhen When Alarm beat Kingfisher in his record Rices the latter was far from racing fitness on account of having a damaged leg as when at his best form lie was a 140 horse at a mile as proved in the Saratoga Cup race a year previously with the great Longfellow trained then by Jacob Pincus King fishers cripplencss was a wellknown fact at the time the late Anthony Taylor handled him A clever trainer was he from the celebrated family for generations in this profession in England ar ¬ riving here with William Hayward the jockey just fifty springs ago as trainer for the late M H Sanford Taylors reputation for straightening bowed tendons anew caused the late A Bclmont to place the horse with him at Taylors request It was a hopeless task to condition a cripple to conquer the fleet Alarm at 90 pounds resulting in his easy defeat lamed again and forever finish ¬ ing the turf career of the gifted Kingfisher KingfisherTo To strengthen my contention it is best to again reveal the racing career of Alarm and the races won by Buckden to draw a correct conclusion If it were judged by the hitters races also compared with his trials when he ran away from Alarm it makes my opinion more firm My s e aim is to reveal the fact in showing how kind nature played her part so well to preserve Alarm to be the foun ¬ tain head in America of a progeny of both imported sire and dam which transmitted to the great Ilim yar natures collective speed he in turn but great ¬ er was in the shortlived the immortal Domino and Commando Yet still greater than they of this strain as a twoyearold was the unmatchable colt Colin Even with his much enlarged hock he was capable of allowing ten to twenty pounds to any of his contestors It is still my impression that he was the best twoyearold foaled in North America Also that no horse could beat him at threequarters of a mile at weightforage This is based on the fact that it was my duty to time his races note his racing condition when unsaddling at the judges stand and at no time was he distressed He looked capable of winning the majority of his races carry ¬ ing 140 pounds It is my belief Colin at two years old with 10 pounds if not 140 could defeat Alarm three years old with 90 pounds at threequarters of a mile easily taken through the time test of each the watch the standard of accuracy the measure ¬ ment of speed and the guide of judgment judgmentTracing Tracing backward about thirtyfive years through Colin Commando Domino and Ilimyar to Alarm of five generations is shown the wonderful speed im ¬ provement of this famous line downward and is probably unequaled in America and it may not again occur in the same space of future years This improved speed comes through nature aided by the art of breeding as there is no art in the line of training race horses no matter by whom whomIt It is unnecessary even briefly to reprint now any of the best races of the above incomparable horses since Alarm which was vastly inferior as a comparison yet necessary to do so with him and Buckden BuckdenRECORD RECORD OF ALARMS RACES RACESAlarms Alarms races all ridden by F Gray Track fast in all his starts startsSaratoga Saratoga N Y August 1G 1871 Match race 5000 a side half forfeit one mile Alarm 100 pounds beating Inverary 97 pounds easily by a length in 147 147Jerome Jerome Park N Y October 10 Dessert Stakes one mile Inverary beat Alarm 100 pounds each a length all out in 148 148Alarm Alarm won the following five races with ninety pounds each in 1872 his only starts startsJerome Jerome Park threequarters of a mile in 118 all out by a length lengthJune June 0 One and onequarter miles easily by ten lengths in 217 217June June 13 One mile in 146 easily by half a length lengthSaratoga Saratoga July 15 Threequarters of a mile in 110 a new record easily by four lengths lengthsJuly July 17 One mile in 142 another record easily by two and a half lengths Fadladecii sec ¬ ond Kingfisher third thirdThis This closed Alarms turf career by the increasing weakness in his front ankle joints It is likely that his ankles affected his weightcarrying ability in his trials with Buckden which was sold to Mr Tully on account of developing slight roaring for 1000 and he won the following races in 1872 1872Jerome Jerome Park X Y June 11 One and oneeighth miles 103 pounds Time 200 200Saratoga Saratoga N Y July 1G One and a half miles 110 pounds Time 242 I IBaltimore Baltimore Md October 23 One mile 110 pounds Time 144 144Baltimore Baltimore Md May 30 1S73 One and onehalf miles Time 245 Weight unknown unknownUtica Utica N Y Two miles 101 notinds Time 338 338This This article has disclosed for the first time unknown occurrences that may be appreciated combined with other matter foreign to what was intended yet it is all based on truth and belief with no grindstone to turn with anyone or a word to retract and should not be closed without men ¬ tioning the fact that the gifted Ilimyar inherited his erratic temper from Ilira his dam In the fall of 1SG9 she was trained by the late C S Lit tlefield at Paterson N J und saw all of her crazy antics of sulkiness notwithstanding she was exercised by the patient and oncefamous jockey the great Gilpatrick who showed wonderful patience with her She worked a good mile in 148 over one of the deepest and slowest tracks in the east Ilira was one of the largestbodied mares probably ever seen with a high coupling and apparently stood about fifteen one thin iu flesh and only a seven and eight quart feeder feederIn In May 1873 Alarm breezed a mile in 159 pulling uy lame with a bowed tendon that finished his training forever He was returned to the scenes of las foalhood at Anuicswood so named from Annie the late Mrs Hunter and the charm ¬ ing woodland near the waters of Pelham Bay and my eyes never again looked on him Still memory cherishes the thought that he was one of the kind ¬ est and the sweetest horses ever foaled
