view raw text
GREAT RACER FAILURE AS A SIRE FOXHALL, WINNER OF THE GRAND PRIX DE PARIS, CESAREWITCH, CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND ASCOT GOLD CUP, OF PRACTICALLY NO ACCOUNT IN THE STUD By EXILE Blood will loll and is everything in horse breeding. There are also wo sides to all raMs* tions. Frequently I busy myself running out the pedigrees of horses which have eai.ud di«-•inction. either on the turf or in the stud, but seldom make out the pedigrees of the failures. More or less c!s an object lesson I have now run out the pedigree of a stud failure, ihiiking. t erhaps. that something may be learned from a study ei the blood lines of this stti . failure No more colossal failure as a sire ever lived than that mighty race horse Foxhall. winner of both the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire as a three year-cld. Foxhall, as a two-year-old. started but three times, winning two small races. thQ Bed ford Stakes of £175 and Bretby Nursery Plate at Newmarket, and was beaten by Lord Ro v-I crys Savoyard for the Ashley Sweepstakes. As a three-year-old in England Foxhall took part in six races, winning the last four, among which, of course, were the two big autumn handicaps. The first time up Foxhall ran second to Bend Or for the City and Suburban, and tailed to obtain even a situation to Robert the Devil, also a failure as a sire, in the Ascot Gold Cup. Foxhalls first win as a three-year-old came about in late September, when he earned off the Grand Duke Michael Stakes, and next beat Fiddler and Chippendale for the C sarewitch ; won the Select Stakes, and finished the racing season by defeating a big band of thirty-one for the Cambridgeshire. Foxhall won by a head, 126 pounds up, beating Lucy Glitters, ninety-one pounds, and the subsequent Gold Cup winner. Tristan. Among the beaten vere such celebrities as Bend Or. Peter. Petronel Two Thousand I, Philamon, Poulet, etc. Truly a remarkable achievement, and a record one, so far as I know, in the matter of weight carried. In between times Foxhall had crossed to France, where he beat Tristan a head for the Grand Prix. The following season Mr. Keenes horse led off by winning the Ascot Gbld Cup by a neck from Petronel. Foxhall. however, was in his last race, the three-mile Alexandra Plate, incapable of beating his old antagonist. Fiddler. Just then the blood of Lexington was EJOlBg strongly abroad, for Fiddler was by Preakness. son of Lexington Bay Leaf, by York shire. Foxhall is reckoned to be the best race horse ever sent across for the United States, but there is no denying it he was a woeful failure M a sire. One English turf scribe put it Fox-h:ill poisoned everything he came in contact with. There is an accumulation of obscure blood in Foxhails pedigree, which precludes success as a sire. King Alfonso traced to an obscure origin; Lexington must pass, but back of Fanny Wright there are numerous introductions of undesirable blood. Race horses, good ones, have been, are and will continue to be bred from parents whose pedigrees are not free from taint, nut those thus tainted, same as Foxhall. are doomed to everlasting failure as sires and, what is worse, they are poisoners. Lexington is dead in the male line; Hanover, on account of lack of appreciation, appears likely to follow suit ; Leamington has been mired by a slough of obscurity, and all of this is due to the too frequent introduction of obscure strains. It is all well, patroitic, no doubt, for you to cajole yourselves into the belief that the so called good, hard bottom, staying American iamilies are best. Looks well on paper, but like self-determination for the smaller powers, it wont work, or at least never has worked. The only high road to success in horse breeding, as well as everything else, is to stick to the beaten path and breed from the best and to the best, and be it understood that by best is meant best bred as well as fleetest of foot. I do not wish, however, to convey the impression that all American tap-root families are •nlerior; for instance, members of the Maria West family are noted for their excellence as producers of winners of the highest class, but only one Maria West sire, Ben Brush, so far lias attained to real success. In times past Spendthrift, whose dam. Aerolite, traced to the horoughbred mare of Mr. T. D. Owings, did well as a sire, and Spendthrift is the connecting BOB between Fair Play and Australian. Spendthrifts brother, Fellowcraft, sired Hamburgs dam. Lady Reel, but left no son behind strong enough to carry on his line, and the Aerolite Morine family is not now as well represented as was formerly the case. Durbar II. is a mem-otr of the American tap-root, Julia by Glencoe family, and this is the family made famous by the deeds of Wanda and Urania. It will, therefore, be interesting to note the success that attends the efforts of Durbar II. as a sire. Personally I see no hope, outside of Maria West and Hanover, for any family into which is introduced much native blood, and a good purpose in bloodstock breeding would be served if breeders could be brought to better understand this, so that in the end a stronger market ttiight be created for the American thoroughbred horse product abroad. /-King Tom 3 Harkawav i Economist 3,; aj ,..,. 1s-i 1 t Baaah. of SahoekUah... K •Phaeton . . . ft J ■».*■» -Pocahontas •ehSKae 1 ][ Z bay. is,;- . ] M.u.jessa 3 K ffi lu j Storm £«i *!***"• «* ■ , J; ; I Merry s Sunshine • ... . ■ / .huziiee p n , - I Daughter of .... 5 K.tls.t.tr ;j ,.; T • Slater to Poeaae* it | eg r Vandal IS •Gleacaa i 1 Baltaa s n 2 " ~ . , ,..,.. »■ • 1s-„ "» I liampoline ] ].; tea*** ? Illllsllt,.r „f i Tranby 2, a *■ bay. I8H I l.iKilln 11" II - 5 i .Daughlcr of j •Margrave sj "£*£ KUU.u../. " K US Mistletoe *huT"- 5 ,_ -. • "lackeyed Susan ... . K £ • rBaataa so J tTim»i.-..n "* £"*? •.•: ,:! «• W i- Death, of Raltnua K X i: i.,ingt.,i: ,.12 J chestnut, is.::: , ].|H, riortael n ... . Daughter or 1 2 f hay, 1MB ] , .,„.,, f .Alderman... K ~ ... . . - ,,J lanilius "s - r 13 • ■ • • - Sjj j t Alice Caracal . .. J , n -don ,.;ii.i:i X. -j I Sunipter 4 11 ■.„..,.„, [ g -, Kowell.1 u-, .r.v j, y I ? i flMipse lj Orlando !3 JS***" " * = . i »l"tltie 1.! I - Kiiiiiv f ii.I. a i l;r I:".! ,.r, **- *** -. c.,7, hi- Mid,...,,,,, i ,i i. ] I lyeatcher l LMoUie .lacks,,,,.... j v-"i 2 2a«€"«air"V.li i:,,,n,a Wright . 1%™ • ■ * « •Iiiiporteil. tNo family number. |CaaaOl determine which of the uianv Siherheels the sire of F liinv Wiight.
