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0L3 ROSEBUDS ROMANTIC CAREER HERO OF TWO SENSATIONAL COMEBACKS AFTER BEING SUPPOSED TO BE INCAPACITATED FROM RACING BY SEVERE INJURIES Among the good horses of the last seven years none lias been awarded a higher place in public favor than Old Rosebud. A champion two-year-old in 1913, winner of the fastest Kentucky Derby in 1914, then in retirement from racing for two years and supposed to be hopelessly crippled, he came back in 1917 and allowed the racing public a retention of high-class form that constitutes one of the romances of American racing. On the shelf again through 1918, lie scored another "comeback" this year. He is not the Old Rosebud of 1917, but he has shown on more than one occasion much of his old-time fire and speed, although at times giving indications of being track weary. Taking into consideration what he has done under dillieulties, cue cannot help wondering what the record of this old hero would have been had lie remained sound and able to race through the campaigns of 1914, 1915, 1910 and 1918. For one thing, it is a certainty that in that case he would have ranked well up in the list of American winners of 100,- 000 or more. He was a glorious two-year-old and won twelve of his fourteen races. His near relative in blood, Little Nephew, gave him his two defeats, but he amply avenged, himself for this unmannerly treatment by afterward defeating Little Nephew time and again. Among his winnings that year were the Yucatan Stakes at Juarez, his first race; Spring Trial Stakes at Douglas Park, Harold Stakes and Cincinnati Trophy at Latonia and the Flash Stakes and United States Hotel Stakes at Saratoga. His three-year-old career was short. He won a mile dasii at Lexington over a slow track from average campaigners as a part of his preparation for the Kentucky Derby. This big race he won on the John Harper formula of "from eend to eend," running its mile and a quarter in the new track record time of 2:03 and winning pulling up by six lengths, with Hodge second, Uronzewing third and John Gund, Old Ben, Surprising and Watermelon unplaced. Having no further immediate business in Kentucky, he was then taken east to fill important engagements in that section. His first start was in the Withers Stakes at Belmont Park and, while racing in it with every prospect , of winning, he burst a tendon sheath and was done with racing until 1917 arrived. It appears that Old Rosebuds legs were under suspicion when a two-year-old. This was revealed -late lastyenr wUen-his traJuergrankDjVeir,aid of him; "phi Rosebud will, come. back-. to. the races, next year. Where is he? Thats a secret that I cant tell. But he Ts well and willbe readytlTg7ve"" Roamer and Cudgel a battle for the handicaps nest year. He is turned out in a big paddock with a lot of lililes. He was fired last year, and the operation was successful. His legs are all right again. "His attendant writes that he must have traveled a thousand miles in his paddock last year. He just fools with the fillies, when they have impromptu races, by allowing them to lead him for half the length of the paddock. He then throws up his head as much as to say, Its time for you girls to fall in line and follow me. "Old Itosebud is the kind of horse that one sees once in a lifetime, and then lie fails to appear in the lives of some men. He is certainly the -fastest horse I ever trained or saw. If lie had been sound there is no telling how fast ho would have run a mile. His drawbacks have been physical. "When I brought him, a two-year-old, to Saratoga in 1913, McTaggart, who had been riding Strom-boli, a winner on the Long Island tracks, said: Dont bet too much on Old Rosebud to beat Stromboli, for Mr. Belmonts gelding can fly. "That is how the jockeys regarded Stromboli. But I opened their eyes one morning when I gave Old Buddy a trial. Tom Hcaley, trainer for It. T. Wilson, told me that three-eighths in thirty-six seconds was the best any youngster had traveled. "The Saratoga track was then slow about three seconds slower to the mile than it was last year. 1 brought out Old Rosebud and, with the boy holding his head, he worked three-eighths in 335. Say! that fairly took Healoys breath away. He was so impressed with it that he stood and looked at Old Itosebud for fifteen minutes. Two days later Old Rosebud beat Stromboli so far that he was lost in the dust. "Old Rosebud pulled up lame that year, but I never told anybody about it, and it was never mentioned in print. That winter I thought it advisable to sell him. I owned a life interest in him, and suggested to Col. Applegate that if we could get ,000 for him it would be a good sale. But by an error the story was printed that we had refused 0,000 for him, and this killed off other offers. About this time Hodge was showing some fast trials, and everybody was talking about him as the Kentucky Derby winner. "Well, Im glad we didnt sell, for Old Buddy won the Derby, boating Hedge easily He showed how fast he is by running the mile and a quarter in 11:03 the fastest time ever made for the Derby. When ho broke down at Belmont Park his career seemed at an end. It was a bad rupture. "I fired him and turned him out. Next year I took him up and examined him. He was still bowed. I fired him again with tiie irons, and again turned him out. Nature, I said, will do more for him than the irons. Time will strengthen the tendons. Nearly three years of rest did the trick, and lie came back in 1917 and won 1,720. Time is now helping him to round into condition again." Old Rosebuds first long vacation from racing was spent on the Newman ranch in Texas. It thus came about that when he was given his first tryout for the 1917 campaign it took place at Juarez, where Weir was racing a string of horses. In this he was beaten by Zim at five and a half furlongs in 1:05. but lie came out of. the race sound and in good condition. He was hardened by a few races there and at Essex Park and Oaklawn, then traveled north to engage in a wonderfully successful campaign, in the course of which, among other races, he won the Clark, Latonia Inaugural, Queens County, Bayview, Carter, Delaware and Frontier Handicaps. In these he. vanquished the best horses of the year, Roamer, Cudgel, Boots, Hollister, Hedge, Fruit Cake, Bromo, The Finn, Old Koenig, Crimper, Pickwick and others of renown. Speedily the official handicappers marked him for their own, with the result that top weight was usually his portion, but that did not prevent him from winning fifteen of his twenty-one races and endearing himself to the racing public. His record to this time is as follows: Year. j " ASe Sts. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. Unp. Won. 1913 - W 1- - 0 0 9,057 1914 3 3 2 0 0 1 9,575 1917 6 21 15 1 3 2 31,720 1919 - S 2 9 5 3 9 ll.USa Totals 4 H - 3S S C. 12 1,034 The pedigree of this noble old Warrior of the track reads as follows: , i Isonomy iu? ,. , f Isinglass 5 1 ?la. - Dead Lock i ,,"U"I. r Star Shoot 1 Malpractice . I 1 As,,0,- , . , . it. Uon",t Seclusion Newniinster J StPll.,. Rro. to Strafford I Gilberts Dan ! V v Kc,,,!W ,. S Orlando 5 , Alarm....- d 1 Maud . . . i Stockwell j I i ,.. .... J 1 ? Ctess of Albemarle g Jaconet... J t Ia"- ,,f Pantaloon 1 SsJ ". -s J Orlando - O Z ... Lclipse tiazo ., kI Alarm J I o 5 . . I Stockwell r Himyar....... J : Pt Albemarle u I Lexington J1,50?0" IIir:l S 5 Alice Carneal j V Hegira Salor Flight 1 Ivory Bells.... Hermit J Xewmlnstcr 5 r Mr. Pickwick I Seclusion . j Tomato $ King Tom -Ida Pickwick.. J Mincemeat . A i King Alfonso 3 Phaeton ! Ida K. . , ..- I Capitola I Lerna 5 Asteroid Laura
