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THE GREATEST OF ALL AMERICAN THOROUGH ¬ BREDS WAS THE UNBEATEN AND INVINCIBLE COLIN After Roamer accomplished the remarkable feat of running the fastest mile ever made in America and lowered the long standing record of Salvator a number of eastern turf writers proclaimed Andrew Millers gelding the greatest race horse that the American turf ever produced To say the least such a claim is extravagant if not absurd While there is no intention to detract from the fame and glory honestly won by one of the most popular and gamest thoroughbreds that ever carried silks it would be a rank injustice to crown Roamer cham ¬ pion of all times to the disparagement of not only one but a number of other American horses whose achievements on the turf far excelled the deeds of the public idol of today todayIn In this connection an article written in 1910 by a wellknown turf writer on the subject of the Greatest of American Thoroughbreds is well worth reproducing reproducingSelection Selection of the greatest American thoroughbred race horse of all time is a matter of comparing the opinions of generations and the foundations on which those opinions were based basedIf If one of this day could go back ninety years and ask those then competent to pass upon the question What is the l est race horse yet produced in the United States the reply would beyond question be Timoleon Yet of the thousands in this broad land who now find pleasure in the various features of the running turf precious few except the del vcrs in lines of ancestry know that such a horse as Timoleon ever existed best horse of his time and grandson of the first Epsom Derby winner as he was Twenty years subsequently the same query would have elicited a practically unanimous response giv jng Boston the place of highest honor among Ameri ¬ can thoroughbreds Boston was a son of Timoleon and in all respects a wonderful race horse Coming still mother liveaty jrifarscl6ser tollje present time EMrtiurton would hnftf bfffcil in uttdlyf pointed to aa tM incomparable of the American turf and there were not lacking those in his time who pronounced him the grandest race horse of all time and all countries Aud it is to be noted that same Lex ¬ ington was a son of Boston and so1 a grandson of Timoleon TimoleonBETTER BETTER TRACKS EEDUCE TIME TIMEAside Aside from his subsequent superlative merit as a sire when sent to the stud Lexingtons greatest point of fame was in having covered four miles in 719 at New Orleans in 1854 It then was an unprecedented combination of speed and staying power and as such was long discussed and pointed to not only in this country but in England as well As a contrast and also illustrative of the vast difference in racing methods and more particularly in the art of making much faster tracks than in Lexingtons far away days it may be recalled that The Bachelor won the Thornton Stakes at Oak ¬ land in 1899 in 71016 Big Bow in 1908 in 710 and Nadzu in 1909 in 718 These were all racers of the moderate order yet all of the trio eclipsed Lexingtons famous feat without exciting more than a passing ripple of comment commentIt It is not to be deduced from this that Lexing ¬ ton could not have lost them all in a race Un ¬ doubtedly he could have done so and undoubtedly he was a truly great race horse It is entirely safe and moderate to say that between the Me tairie track of 1854 and the Oakland track of the present time there is more than ten seconds of speed difference in four miles milesLEXINGTON LEXINGTON TRACES TO DIOMED DIOMEDLexington Lexington was a direct descendant in the male line of Diomed which won the first Epsom Derby in 1780 his line reading from that point Diomed Sir Archy Timoleon Boston Lexington When sent to the stud his success was phenomenal and thirtyfive vears ago when he hadtsehtisuch splen ¬ did sons as Tom Bowling Kentucky Preakness Harry Bassett Duke of Magenta Kingfisher Nor ¬ folk Asteroid Wanderer Pat Malloy Jack Ma lone Lightning Acrobat and a host of others of great note to dominate the American turf it seemed this male line must overshadow all others for generations to come Yet it has practically dis ¬ appeared from the face of the earth and there is in this country today no successful descendant of Lexington in the male line in the stud It was a sudilen and regrettable collapse and one that pre ¬ cludes selection of the greatest American race horse from this at one time greatest line of thor ¬ oughbreds of American breeding For all that there are down in Kentucky today some men who will vow that never has there been in this country a race horse superior to Tom Bowling BowlingFollowing Following the decadence of the house of Diomed came the tribes of Leamington Glenelg Austra ¬ lian Billet and Bonnie Scotland all Englishbred These reach down into our own days and gave to the American turf such brilliant racers as Long ¬ fellow Enquirer Postguard Kingston Spendthrift Sir Dixon George Kinncy and Luke Blackburn These came when the American turf was expand ¬ ing into great prosperity and popularity Then other foreign sires gave us such popular idols as Salvator Tenuy Potomac Tournament Irish Lad and Her rnis rnisTWO TWO NEW FAMILIES ARISE ARISEBut But while these and others famous in their days were winning that praise that attends success in the peaceful warfare of the track two lines of racers of American descent forged into prominence and by mighty deeds of speed and endurance chal ¬ lenged and triumphed over all competitors aud stirred the niting world powerfully One was that line which began in this country with Glencoe and descended from him through Vandal Virgil Hindoo Hanover and Hamburg HamburgThe The other began with the foreignbred horse Eclipse and comes to this day through Alarm Him yar Domino and Commando in direct succession In the meantime twenty years from the time Lex ¬ ington would have been the unanimous choice of American experts when asked to name the best American racer his influence exerted through his remarkable sons and daughters was still so potent that he still remained on his pedestal But the passage of another twenty years bringing the query now down to 1894 had relegated Lexington to the list of forgotten ones and now a repetition of the query would have led to a surprising discord ot claims in which partisans of Falsetto Hindoo Hanover Domino Luke Blackburn Salvator Kings ¬ ton Emperor of Norfolk and Henry of Navarre would have loudly voiced the claims of their favor ¬ ites and in every cast with substantial grounds for their preferences Then preferencesThen to come closer still right down to our own times in fact such examples of the most glorious qualities of the nicer as Ethelbert Kinley Mack Clifford Africander Bermis Hamburg Burgo ¬ master McChesney Ballot Sysonby Morello Broom ¬ stick Irish Lad Peter Pan and many another whose fleetness and undying courage served to electrify and enrapture madly cheering thousands in the course of modern racing racingWriters Writers careless of their words frequently call ordinary racers first class whereas the really and truly first class race horse is a nire animal A first class horse is one that is practically unbeat ¬ able Many high class runners come out from year to year that border on first class but lack a little in the essentials necessary to attain that high rating Sam Hildreths King James is an example of the high class racer that is still not of the first class Honest fast up to high weight and a veritable bulldog in courage he was vastly outclassed by Colin Through the years there have been many justly popular idols which like King James lack that final touch of extreme greatness that gives the recognized first class one his proud supremacy supremacyThis This narrow border line between first class and high class is not so clearly defined that mistakes in classification may not occur but no one can go astray in saying that Boston Lexington Tom Bowling Longfellow Harry Bassett Luke Black ¬ burn Kingston Hanover Hindoo Henry of Navarre Domino Salvator Tenny Ethelbert Kinley Mack Sysonby and onr latter day Colin were all first class race horses And there have been others othersMERITS MERITS OF HINDOO AND COLIN COLINTo To sift the merits of these magnificent creatures and finally select the one best of all is so obviously a matter of extreme difficulty that any conclusion readied may justly be objected to Yet there is one in the line of Glencoe and another in the Una of Eclipse that seem a step in advance of their competitors and if opinion gives to one bf this pair a slight advantage over the otteriitljnust be largelyroWthe theory that continued clentlflc breeding by sagacious men must inevitably tell its tale in rendering the best of today in some measure better than the best of preceding days The two horses referred to are Hindoo and Colin ColinHindoo Hindoo was a bay son of Virgil Florence the latter beirig a daughter of Lexington He was foaled in 1878 and in his racing career started thirtyfive times won thirty races was second in three and third in two thus never being unplaced As a twoyearold in 1880 he won seven stake races in succession for his then owner Daniel Swi gert the Colt and Filly Stakes at Lexington Alex ¬ ander Stakes and Tennessee Stakes at Louisville Juvenile Stakes and Jockey Club Stakes at St Louis and the Criterion Stakes and Tremont Hotel Stakes at the old west side track Chicago He was then let up in training and his fame had be ¬ come such that Dwycr Bros sent an agent west and bought him for 15000 a great price indeed at that time He was taken east and hurriedly put in training again Although not fit Hindoo started twice at Saratoga and ran third to Crickmore and Thora in the Windsor Hotel Stakes at Saratoga and second to Thora a suycrb filly in the Day Boat Line Stakes at the same tnick DWYERS REALIZE MISTAKE Perceiving that they were making a mistake the Dwycrs retired the colt again and that wisdom was richly rewarded the next year Then as a threeyeardid he won eighteen consecutive races before again meeting defeat He began at Lex ¬ ington by winning the Blue Ribbon Stakes at a mile and a half then in triumphal sequence won the Kentucky Derby and Clark Stakes at Louisville two overnight races at Jerome Park the Tidal Stakes and Coney Island Derby at Shecpshead Bay the Ocean Stakes Lorillard Stakes and a special sweepstakes at the Moumouth Park summer meet ¬ ing the Travers Stakes Sequel Stakes and United Hotel Stakes at Saratoga the Champion Stakes and Jersey St Leger at the Monmouth Park August meeting and two overnight sweepstakes at the Coney Island Jockey Clubs fall meeting Then as he had done when a twoyearold he wound up his year with two defeats each time by Governor Oden Bowies swift and staying horse Crickmore Both reverses were due solely to having gone stile from too much racing Hindoo had easily beaten Crickmore when right in fact had beaten all the good horses of his time such celebrities as Parole and Monitor included It may be said here that he never was beaten when thoroughly right in condi ¬ tion tionHINDOO HINDOO NEVER FAIRLY BEATEN BEATENHindoos Hindoos one other defeat was in his first race of the next year when not yet wound up he ran second to Checkmate in the Dixiana Stakes at the Louisville snrlng meeting Checkmate was a fast and famous race horse and dangerous in any com ¬ pany but in the Louisville Cuy at two miles and a quarter a few clays later Hindoo ran away from him Glidelia Lida Stanhope and Blazes covering the distance in the remarkable time for that period of 357 Then he won the Merchants Stakes and the Turf Stakes at the same meeting and each time Checkmate was second Taken east to Sheepshead Bay he won the Coney Island Stakes from P Loril lards fast horse Barrett and followed this up by defeating Eole and Parole for the Coney Island Cup at the regulation cuy distance of two miles and a quarter This concluded his grand racing career and the truth is it should never have been marred by a defeat defeatHindoo Hindoo was not an impetuous race horse as was his stable comrade Luke Blackburn He was a sober minded horse that was content to stride along wherever his jockey was minded to place him and then go to the front and win when given the signal to do so His like is seldom seen in racing and as a sire his fame was in consonance with that he won in contention on the track trackCOLIN COLIN GREATEST OF ALL ALLBut But the great blazing star the one incomparable that must be awarded preference over even the mighty Hindoo is that representative of the Eclipse line which was but recently the wonder of New York racing the unbeaten aud invincible Colin ColinIn In every respect he was a superlatively great race horse It was his good fortune to come into action in a time when his chief opponents were also grand race horses That is the test that serves to demonstrate the superexcellence of an Ormonde a Hindoo or a Colin In such antagonists as Uncle Fair Play King James Firestone Dorante Stam ¬ ina Chapullepec Cohort Royal Tourist and Mee llck he met and vanquished horses better than the best of many other years For instance in 1906 after Burgomaster broke down Accountant made a clean sweep of the rich threeyearold events of the eastern turf and was the chief money winner of the Continued oil second page COLIN GREATEST OF AMERICAN THOROUGHBREDS Continued from first page year This was because his opposition was of me ¬ diocre class and it is more than probable that each of those named as Colins opponents was easily Accountants suptrior certainly most of them were and high class racers thev all were wereWhen When it is reflected that such horses as Fair Play and King James had about as much chance of defeating Colin as an ordinary selling plater would have irassessed of outrunning either of this illustrious pair the absolutely enormous capacity of Colin as a race horse must be apparent to even one unversed in the affairs of the turf Ills speed was almost unbelievable and in the Belmont Stakes and the Tidal Stakes he showed conclusively that he could run far as well as fast fastBOASTS BOASTS AN UNBROKEN RECORD RECORDIn In all Colin ran in fifteen races and won them all To him fell the richest prizes of American racing and men who had grown gray in watching the successive generations of our horses come ami go declared none his equal had ever before cohie from American breeding His victories were in a purse the National Stallion race Eclipse Stakes Great Trial Stakes Brighton Junior Stakes Sara ¬ toga Trial Stakes Brighton Junior Stakes Futurity Stakes Flathush Stakes Produce Stakes Matron Stakes Champagne Stakes AVithers Stakes Bel ¬ mont StakesIt Stakes and Tidal Stakes It is well known that he was taken to England for racing last year but could not be started It is not so generally known that while in training his speed was tested against two of the fastest sprinters in England and that he simply ran away from them Unluckily he fell hopelessly lame directly afterwards and English turf patrons were deprived of the pleasure of viewing the nonpareil of American racing action actionNo No mention of mares has been made in this article because none could be justly held to be the best American racer But in Fashion Idle wild Ruthless Olitipa Firenzi Miss Wood ford Imp Correction Beldame Sallie Mc ¬ Clelland Dew Drop Wanda Yorkville Belle The Butterflies Tradition Cap and Bells Artful Mask ette and many others that might be named superb mares have graced our turf and worthily held their own in great exhibitions of speed stamina and the dauntless courage that characterizes the thor ¬ oughbred And of all these although it cannot be proved Artful probably was best
