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HISTORY OF SWEEP Leading American Sire of 1918, a Veritable Equine Romance rnusually interesting is the fact that Sweep, the son of Ben Brush Pink Domino, by Dominrf, stands at the head of those sires that produced winning two-year-olds in the season of 1918. For the history of Sweep is a veritable equine romance. In the first place, he was foaled at the famous Castleton Farm of the late Jaines R. Keene in 1907 and his dam being by Domino he is a typical descendant of that most marvelous of atl American racing strains developed by this prominent turfman. Sweep had a. splendid racing record. As a two-year-old .he won the rich Futurity and the National Stallion race, and, developing in a superb manner, he later achieved victory in the Belmont Stakes, the Carleton Stakes and the Lawrence Realization. Sweep was the leading money winning two-year-old of 1919. In 1915, at the Keene dispersal sale, he was bought by Dr. J. C. Carriek and J. S. Barbee for the comparatively small sum of 7,500 and was at once placed in the stud. Failing to attract much attention with only one winning two-year-old to his credit in 1910, the following year he surprised all the breeders by springing into the lead with nineteen two-year-old winners, but even with that number of successful two-year-olds ho failed to figure prominently in the winning stallion list that includes the total representatives of each stal-Kon. What made his record the more striking wns that with these nineteen winners he headed the famous Star Shoot, whic.li, in 1915. had made a new American record by siring no less than twenty-seven winning youngsters, the quality of which was shown by the fact that twenty-three went on to win as three-year-oli.s. Not only did Sweep in 191S head the list of sires producing the- largest number, of. winning two-year-olds, but he also headed rthe list of money winners when his youngsters realized the magnificat J-Ptal,nC JfWJMil.. of. which,, however, -it. nsust-riitt I be overlooked that J. W. McClellahds marvelous speed merchant Eternal, dam Hazel Burke, accounted for 0,137. Such is the record of Sweep, which may be said to stand almost alone in American turf history. It should ho noted that other stock of the virile strain evolved by the late Mr. Keene also lined up well, for Arthur B. Hancocks Celt, by Commando Maid of Erin, by Amphlon, was second in money winnings with 7,700, of which Burton S. Castles good colt Dunboyne, dam Workmaid, scored 2,030, while J. II. Rosseters Disguise, by Domino Bonnie Gal, was seventh with 0,150, of which Harry K. Knapps Elfin Queen, dam Sprite, won 5,930 before she went amiss in midsummer with a troublesome skin disease from which, I am glad to say, she has entirely recovered. "ILL BREED ONE," SAID MR. KEENE. As "somewhat of an aside from the main topic it may not be uninteresting to recall that shortly before Domino was about to be retired to the stud, Mr. Keene purchased n number of finely-bred English mares at a cost of nearly a quarter of. a million dollars and when at his invitation I had inspected them he casually asked my opinion. After 1 had given this I asked if I might make a suggestion, which was that lie should take a similar amount of money and buy the best stallion he could procure in the world. For several minutes lie stood in Ills characteristic way with his head bent forward, poking tlie dust at his feet into a heap with his cane, and then, suddenly shooting :i sidewiso glance at me, he said tersely: "Ill breed one." And he undoubtedly kept his word. So of the hundred and forty-five sires of winning two-year-olds represented, the first two on the list of money winners are owned by men who breed for sale and not for their private racing purposes, and this also is the case with Rome Itespess Dick Welles, bv King Eric Teas Over, by Hanover, the she of Billy Kelly, which won 3,783, and also in the case of John E. Maddens Ormondale, by Ormonde Santa Bella, by St. Serf sire, dam and grandsire all English stock, which two sires stand respectively third and fifth on the list of large money winners. And all of these, let me repeat, are owned by public- breeders. This, in my opinion, is a remarkable illustration of the steadily increasing democracy of the American turf. It negatives, once and for all, the moss-grown idea that the so-called "private stallions" owned by rich men practically controlled the situation and that outsiders, who had not the fine mares and the privilege of breeding them to these exclusive stallions, stood little chance of winning any great number of the rich stakes for two-year-olds in one year, or of the. -correspondingly valuable events for three-year-olds the following season. In those circumstances it was rather hard for even a wealthy man to break into the charmed circle unless iie formed his own stud and after being lucky enough to obtain a fine sire and good mares waited several years before he could so much as hope to stand on an equality with the "private stallion" clientele of a decade or more ago. Today, as shown in the case of the leading two-year-olds in the past two years, Eternal. Dunboyne, Billy Kelly, Sun Briar and Papp, it is possible to go to the open market and purchase high-class stock that Is callable of heading or standing high on the list of winning owners of the corresponding year. Quite naturally there arise the questions of what has happened to the once important private farms, what was the secret that apparently was buried with James R. Keene, and why are the best yearlings of today in the hands of those who breed -to sell rather than in the bauds of those who breed to nice as in days gone by? As an illustration of what this means, let us look back to the time when the Belmont stable was in Its prime as the finest in the land. In 18S8, of twelve horses ten were home-bred; in 1887, no less than twenty-one of the twenty-three raced were home-bred; in 1890. when the late August Belmont headed the list of winning owners, it was conceded that Potomac was the best colt and La Tosca was the best filly in the Pnited States, and, by most good judges, it is believed that had he lived through 1891 his homc-hieds would have taken every great stakes and made an exceptional record with the great two and three-year-olds that would have raced under his silks. As it was. the animals representing the Nursery Farm, which by his decease passed into other hands, won no less than 50,000, and under his keen judgment aiuL. able management probably would have exceeded thisvast amount. GOOD" JUDGMENT COMES"FIRST. Good judgment, of course, is one of the great foundations of racing success, and money plays the second fiddle. Linked together as an harmonious whole the two made it possible for the late William C. AVhitncy in his day and A. Klngsley Macomber in the present day to burst like comets across the racing sky and by the purchase of animals which later fulfilled the highest expectations held regarding them, both Mr. Whitney and Mr. Macomber were, at a single bound, as it were, placed in the front rank of Americas prominent turfmen long before either of them had time to breed a single foal to race under their colors. Yet today a majority of the stock raced by Harry Payne Whitney is from the stallions and mares selected by his father, and within a measurable time Mr. Macomber will ba racing colts and fillies he has himself bred in California. And it must not be overlooked that it is to the men who breed their own horses that one must look for the higher development in racing interest. Not only are there produced two-year-olds which each season mark the value of the sire and the dam indelibly on the most important page of turf history, but there is also the long list of thoroughbred stock that is not subjected directly to the racing test, and these are the hunters, the cavalry and polo mounts, the high-class saddle horse strains and the innumerable outcrosses that make tlm thoroughbred so valuable. This is totally apart from the indescribable pleasure that a man feels when, having planned the scientific, "nick" as it is called that shall produce the wonder working foal, he sees the said foal canter home a winner under the colors of the man who bred him. This is one sweet drop in the racing cup .that is, perforce, denied the man who in the open" market buys his yearlings or his two-year-olds ready made. Using the same good judgment he may, with luck, head the winning list and have in his possession the scintillant stallion with which to found a breeding establishment, but whether he elects to do so, or to continue to buy, year after year, his ready-made racing material, his chances for success are greater and brighter than ever has been the case in the turf history of the United States. Notwithstanding these basic changes regarding the public or private ownership of the stallions, or under whose colors the youngsters may race, the vitally important fact Is that the crack two-year-olds of each successive season are still furnishing magnificent sport, and the best of it all is that the door to success is wide open to anyone who cares to enter. This, it will be seen, is a different situation to that which existed a few years ago and there is not the slightest doubt that the change is good and sufficient cause for nation-wide congratulation. W. I". Pond in The Spur.
