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W CAMERON ARISTIDES WELCH AND THEIR EVER FAMOUS HORSE LEAMINGTON Two men of high standing who participated ably in the upbuilding of the American turf in the decade following the end of the Civil War were It W Cameron of New York and Aristides Welch of Phila ¬ delphia the firstnamed as a turfman importer and breeder and the other as a breeder from one great horse that Mr Cameron imported Across the water Mr Cameron was Sir Koberick W Cameron but in this country he laid his title away and was a plain business man but deeply imbued with an English ¬ mans passion for the horse For a number of years he maintained a breeding establishment nfCllflatt on Staten Island In racing his operations were on a modest scale but he was fond of making matches and in 1809 won one for 5000 a side in which his Leamington lilly Miss Alice defeated Hunter Travers Censor The Gloamin colt They got even with him in 1871 when he was rash enough to match his colt Inveniry against their famous colt Alarm again for 5000 a side However it was as an im ¬ porter that Mr Cameron rendered his greatest service to the American turf He brought over many horses of the best breeding from England and among them were two that made a deep and lasting impression in our breeding They were Leamington and Glenelg each destined to be four times the premier sire of America If he had done nothing else than bring this magnificent pair to our land he would still have done service of inestimable value valueAt At the time when Leamington was racing in England it was the fashion to bet on a prodigious scale and a famous character of that time Old Tom Parr had in Leamington and Fisherman two horses of the highest class with which he and a confederacy of which he was the head repeatedly brought off sensational betting coups Of Fisherman it ia sutlicient to say that lie was foaled in 1853 and in his racing won seventy times out of 131 starts two Ascot Gold Cups being among his many victories When done with racing he was taken to Australia where his success in the stud was akin to that of Leamington in this country Leamington was a beautiful brown horse by FaughaBallagh from a Pantaloon mare He also was foaled in 1853 aiid was expected by his owner to win the Derby of 1855 but had an attack of strangles a few hours before the race and ran unplaced to Ellington Yellow Jacket and Cannobie The Chester Cup was then a great antepost betting race and the following year Leamington won it along with a barrel of money for the Parr crowd He was so skillfully managed that after running poorly here and there he was pointed for the Chester Cup of 1838 and again won it at a long price and again a fortune was reaped from the bookmakers Leamington was not raced for the glory of the turf or his own reputation but solely for betting purposes and except in the case of the Derby generally took any race he was sent after in earnest When done with racing he spent four years in the stud in England and sired nineteen winners of fortytwo races but none of importance He fell into disfavor and was put into the sales list which was a good tiling for us It was thus that Mr Camerons agent was able to secure this illustrious horse for a little less than 0000 As for Old Tom Parr after being the possessor of several millions at one time he managed to lose all of his money and when 70 years of age was sent to a Staffordshire work ¬ house and lived there until he died at the advanced age of 94 In his time besides Leamington and Fisher ¬ man he had the two great cup horses Rataplan and Fandango and the St Leger winner Saucebox Rataplan was a brother to Stockwell and a better race horse than the latter but nothing like so successful as a sire sireLeamington Leamington passed his first two or three years in this country at Mr Camerons Clifton Stud but does not appear to have been used much although he there sired Miss Alice and a few more In 1805 it was decided to give him a chance at the stud in Kentucky so it was arranged that he should stand at Gen Abe Bufords Bosque Bonita Stud near Lexington Here his fame as a sire was immediately established lor in his first season he sired the four highclass race horses Longfellow Enquirer Lynchburg and Lyt tletou all gems of the first water Longfellow and Enquirer were two of the greatest race horses of American tnsrf history and extremely aceeeetsfal as ir js Longfellow heading the America wliiuiiig sire list in 1891 Naturally the advent of four such stars in one season drew the general attention of horsedom to Leamington and it was not long afterwards that finding Mr Cameron willing to sell Mr Aristides Welch of Philadelphia purchased him and removed him to a permanent home at his Erdenheim Stud on Chestnut street in the outskirts of Philadelphia Here his fame was great in the land until the end of his days came and here his bones rest along with those of Maggie 15 IJ and the noted oldtime trotting mare Flora Temple Mr Welch was a man of large means and greatly interested in breeding but sold the product of his stud and did not personally race horses Erdenheim was and is a beautiful place with his ¬ torical associations George Washington was entertained in its big stone colonial mansion as were after him a long succession of other distinguished persons of this and other countries In Leamingtons time viewing him his consorts and his progeny was one of the features with which Mr Welch took hospitably pleasure in entertaining his visitors visitorsLEAMINGTONS LEAMINGTONS WONDEEFUL AEEAY OF FLEET SONS AND DATTGHTEES DATTGHTEESLeamington Leamington sent a really wonderful succession of fleet sons and daughters to the race track Besides those already named were such colts as Aristides James A Hyder AH Warwick Miliier Eolus Blazes Bob Wooley Reform Ferncliff Leader Lelaps Lucifer Onondaga Powhattan Sensation Stratford Out ¬ cast Pantaloon Prosper Saracen the remarkable gelding Parole Harold Iroquois and the great fillies Spinaway Olitipa Susquehanmi Duchess Faithless Francesca Girofle Girofla Jaconet Katie Pearce Pappoose Perfection and Spark Of course there were many others of both sexes and capital racers Leamingtons sous were almost without exception remarkable virile and successful stallions but his mares were not always all that was desirable as broodmares being high strung and not good milkers However some of them Jaconet and Susquehanna for instance bred grandly grandlyLeamingtons Leamingtons greatest triumph and Erdenheims also came in 1S7S when the fine broodmare Maggie IJ B foaled to him a brown colt1 that was sold to Pierre Lorillard and by him named Iroquois In all Maggie B B had seven foals by Leamington they being Lord Clive Pera Magnum Bonum Jaconet Har ¬ old Iroquois and Franccsea but of these Iroquois was the only one that inherited Leamingtons color He was taken to England for racing and as a twoyearold iu 1880 won four races in twelve starts being the Newmarket TwoYearold Plate the TwoYearOld Stakes at Epsom Chesterfield Stakes at New ¬ market and the Lavant Stakes at Goodwood This was a respectable record but not sufficient to attract much attention He wintered well and made his first start when a threeyearold as a 50 to 1 outsider in the Two Thousand Guineas for which Scobell was the favorite at 4 to 1 Fourteen started and at the finish Peregrine was first with Iroquois second and another American colt James It Keenes Don Fulano third Then to prove that he should have won that race Iroquois turned in and won six in a row with the Epsom Derby the Prince of Wales Stakes at Ascot and the Doncaster St Leger included jn his splendid spoils Peregrine was a 6 to 5 favorite for the Derby but Iroquois turned the tables on him in a halflength vic ¬ tory under Fred Archers masterly riding and Town Moor was third No other American horse has ever won the Epsom Derby In fact Gladiateur Kisber and Iroquois are the only foreignbred horses that have won this race of all races His success in thu Derby caused no end of excitement and enthusiasm iu this country as it should have done That year he started in nine races of which he won seven His second defeat was in the Champion Stakes at the Newmarket Second October meeting in which he ran third to Bend Or and Scobell He was not raced in 188U and after winning the Stockbridge Cup iu 1883 was brought home Like Leamingtons other sons he was a pronounced success when sent to the stud and headed the American sire list in 189 189It It lias been stated that Iroquois was never raced in this country but that statement was not correct After being brought home in 1883 he was trained in response to a popular outcry and ran in three races without success At ilomuouth Park August 25 1SS3 he ran third to George Kinney and Eole in the Momnouth Stakes at a mile and a half Monitor and Miss Woodford running unplaced The event was renewed and run again two days later This time Eole won with George Kinney second Monitor third Drake Carter and Iroquois unplaced His third race in this country was over the Pimlico track October at a mile and fiveeighths This time it was Miss Woodford first George Kinney second Iroquois third and Drake Carter unplaced unplacedLeamingtons Leamingtons sons and daughters were good over all distances and capital stayers characteristics at ¬ taching to his descendants to this dav with one marked exception This is in the case of his grandson Faustus and groat grandson Cesarion a son of Faustus The latter had bad forelegs and could not be raced His brother Good Night was a capital race horse and a winner at two miles whoa a threeyear old His sister Minnie Gray was the dam of the grand horse Domino The family is essentially a good one and Faustus sired a host f fast sprinters while few of his progeny could stay over more than a mile Galen Sally Hagen and Hobby Beach being exceptions His son Osirion is oie of the most re ¬ markable begetters of precocious and sprinting speed known to the annals of racing bit like his sire that is about all few ot is many representatives being able to stay at full speed for a mile or more It is a singular vagary in breeding that this particular line of descent fiom Leamington should varv so widely iu this particular from the wellestablished character of the Leamington trihe in general
