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STAR FILLIES OF THEIR YEARS] GREAT MERIT OF RUTHLESS, INIMITABLE ACTION OF WANDA AND DEW DROP -- MISS WOODFORD VANQUISHER OF THE COLTS- BELDAMES SUBURBAN HANDICAP - BAD LUCK OF HAMBURG BELLE AND TANYA By W. S. VOSBURGHI "If you a-k me for the champion. "She carries weight, -he race- straight Its i tilly shes the -crack." She never -ulk- or halts; And she wears the I.orillard color And in her race at Monmouth The cherry and the black. She defeated all the colt — Tboagh in the racing peerage Made all the pace, and woa the race. Shes yet without a peer; Hard held, by three lengths, clear. gh/ squandered all the lilies Hats off to dainty Wanda: Shes the tilly of her year.* The Illy of her year. " Racing in America has produced many high class colts, but comparatively few illies of eajoal merit. Of coarse, as a rule, colts are Raprr»a* to lilies they da not have to contend with the disabilities incident to the other sex. Itut 1 have often remarked how few lillies of the greatest excellence we have produced when compared with England with it- Virago, Sceptre. Formo-a. Pretty Tolly. Brigaatine, La Pleehe, Marie Stuart, etc. Possibly this i- due to difference of climate. In this country the spring season is usually backward. The s]iriiij: month- are cold and damp until well into May or often June. Then suddenly we are plunged into a -pell of warm weather -ik h a- might be expected ill midsummer. The effect of this sudden change ha- a powerful influence upon the sexual organisations of a filly or mare, often throwing them completely out of racing condition. However, there i- marly always "the filly of her year" the one that dominates her class, and I lmve attempted the making of a list of soch. In doing so 1 have confined the list to the three-year-old year, I take no account of two year-old racing, as it i- no test of the real power- of race horses. Many Colts and lillies have shown transcendent form at two years old. but tiie following year found them out many id them could not maintain their speed over a mile at three. An ideal race horse is not a pure spriater. ■•■ is l.i a pur .a.ici. !•■ -hoiild be ,lu .~ maim hi- .;,.., .-, , ,. ::- t a n;rfo. unit; better -fill. -r tr.tte- aiid a quarter .r a mile and a half. Nor in consfdering tie- classification of the lillies have I allowed the same decree of merit to those that only started for races confined to their sex. i have given preference to such lilies us lmve raced smce— fully with the colts, as Ruthless, Mi— Woodford. Wanda. Regret. Beldame, inn he— and Dewdrop lid. I have long believed that a till; that can prevail ia races with colts i- an exceptional animal, and the n -ults -com to justify the conclusion. In presenting tlie li-t I have coaAned it to fillies which have appeared within the last fifty years. There were great lillies and man- previously- Fashion. Black Maria. Peytona, Trine, Albine and Idlewild: but they could hardly be clas-ilied a- three year-old-. The three- yea r-old season i- the be-t : most lillies have then reached maturity which many colts do not I : their race- are at distances -utticient to teat their merits, and. unless they have been overdone at two years old. they are more sound than race horses are apt to be later in life. The stars of their years: 1S!7 Butlile-s 1S7S Balance All IBM Sin.iloa II. ]p I Keldume lsc.s Australia 1871 Ferida 1-iU Sallie McClelland UK Artful 18M Iiivercatild lssii Klidelia Is;:! Vorkville Belle MM Bnaodug Water 171 Bemorsele— 1ss] Thorn 1803 jj« Choice 1! 7 Kennyetto 1S70 Maggie B. B. i- Iliiwa— e is! 4 BeMemere Bins stamina 171 Salina 1881 Mi— Woodford lsir, The Butterflies 1060 Maskette 1-7 Woodbine Issl Duchess ]s|i; Soullie lllln Ocean ltound ls7.i Katie Pease 1884 Mode-t.v ls:iy Cleaphaa IMS nyhag Fairy 1s7:! Lizzie Lucas 1883 Wanda ]siis Briar Sweet 1!l14 Addle M. ]s7l Regardleaa 1880 Dew Drop 18M Admiration 1013 Begiel ls74 Madge lss7 Firenze 1000 Killa-handra MM tel.uidria Is?., llitipa . 1888 Bella 1!. 1901 Trigger 1017 Sunboiinet i7t; sultana lsss Loa Angeles Ban Bloc Girl MM Fyelid 1-77 Su-|iidianna lssji lido- Dm:; Eagenia Borch MM Milkmaid Of tlie fillies that trained on and raced with credit in tin ir four ..rid live-year-old form may be named Mi-- Woodford. Modesty. Ferida, firenae, Salina. Thora, Hamburg Belle, Bugeaia Borch, Maskette, Plying Fairy and Beldame. Ruthless broke down at four. Australia was injured in a railway accident, for which lor owner. ;. W. Howie, -nod the company for 110,000. Dew Drop died in the September id her year: Killa-handra also died at the close of her three year -old season. Wanda developed a ringbone that disabled her for further racing. The great majority of the "crack" Miles never reached four-year-old racing. A- brood mare- the fillies of their year have been quite -ucce — fill. Kiithie — career was cut short arly by a gunner who shot her by accident while she was in her paddock. Hut she. foaled a line racer in Battle Axe, which won the Kentuck; stake, at Saratoga, beating Urinstead. Australia foaled Compensation, a capital racer: Maggie B. 1.. became famous a- the dam of Harold and Iroquois; Salina foaled Salvator: Lizzie Lucas foaled Cyclop- and Chimera, also Cerise ami Vera, the dam- of Morello and Delhi; Regardless foaled Plevna: Susquehanna foaled Potomac; Thora foaled Vorkville Belle and Sir Francis Miss W Iford foaled Ceorgc Kessler; Duchess foaled Clifford: Wanda foaled I rania; Eugenia Bnrcl! : Cudgel, and BaUie UcClellaud foaled Audience. Ruthless outclassed the three-year old- ..; her yea* quite a- much a- Mi— Woodford did later. He* Bisters. Woinorolc— and Regardless, were high da-- lillii-. but hardly of the class of Rnthless. The three w re bred b. Mr. Franci- Morris in Westchester County, N. v.. sired by imported Eclipse— Barbarity. Salina was a mare of hih das- by Lexington Lightsome, by Glencoe. Woodbine was the first high-class mare tin- late Mr. Behnonl ever bred, a daughter of Censor or Kentucky Fh-ur de- Champs, by Newminster. An idea of Ruthless racing merit iua be formed when it i- stated that toward the close of her -..-,-ou a- a three-year .Id conditions of races read "Ruthless excluded." Sultana. Wanda. Modesty. Dew Drop. Killa-handra. Thora, Beldame Artful. Hamburg I.elle. Eugenia Burcb, Maskette, Olidelia and Briar Bweel were particularly distinguished in that they raced with the colts and horses more generally than other lillies. Beldame especiallj i- distinguished as one of only two inn-- which have won th- Suburban and he* race nude* s. pounds mu-t be considered her masterpiece Artful distinguished herself by winning the Brighton Handicap, but it wa- a- a three-year-old with onlv 103 pounds. Tli.- Ulenelg fillies Ferida and Firenae differed essentiaUy from moot of the grea4 lilies in that they seemed tn improve with age and won better races at tour years than before. Both were -mall but nn-iisuallj sound a, el tough. Ferida developed into a ioar-miler, while Firenze ran for several racing seasons M I" years oM she headed the li-t in many of the great handicaps for all ace- and was the principal rival ■ T Kings too. At a mile and a quarter or less he held her -ale. but at longer distances the mare l eld i mi quite as safe. lor beauty and action Wanda and D. w Drop excelled all others. In her gallops Wanda -tepped so liglitl that as Matt Byrnes, her trainer, -aid. "She acted a- if the ground wasal good enough for her." He:- action wa- high, lifting over tin ground with sylphlike grace ••wouldnt break an egg." a- old i narle.v Boyle, the trainer, expressed it. She was the lir-t racer to wear aluminum racing plates Which her light action rendered lossible. Dew Drop had the exquisite action of her -ire. Palsetto long and low wtli her head well down. .|iiitf in contrast to Wan. la. The latter was the hardier Illy. Dew Drop was delicate. Wanda bad th greatest burs of speed but Deu Drops action suggested greater canacitv for a long distance. Sultana, sister to Monarchist, was rather plaia and small, but -mall horses from families noted for -iz- an often better than their larger relatives. InverrauM was an imported black tilly by St. Albans and one of the Worst behaved at tin post, her favorite trick being to rear. Salina. too, was bail at the po-i. I at the mast vi!. t type of a race mare. Haggle 1.. B. was not tall, bul bioeky, ami a 1 t.cfu. bit. like man. of her descendants, trained off earl] ia life. Dlitipa was a lengthy, light Hanked filly, wiili but one lui-: of speed, and it tremendous. It wa- her misfortune to meet a; four a class of great merit and her ta-k w.-.- not an easy one. Thora waa a perfect racing machine. Bail! like a greyhound, tall, angular, lighl in the Hank, with a great stride. Duchess wa- -mall, liht and wirj but -i-game a little Idt of horseflesh a- eve* looked through a bridle. It was Hamburg Belles misfortune to hi of Beldame- year, il-t a- it waa that of lanva and Trad] tioa P. be of Artful- That Hamburg Belle could defeat Beldame ove* a short coarse i- likely, but over a long distance the Belmoul fill would probablj has.- prevailed. Di ;; e contrary, Tanya appeared to be more of .-.. long distance male than Artful, bm -he lacked tin electric burst of -i il of the Utter, whose 1 os will, i:;i pound- up in the race for the White Plains Handicap over the Morris Park Eclipse Course .an-..! Ur. Hitchcock to remark: "I though! 1 had a gaud one in Dandelion with Dil | ud.-. i,ir1 Artful mad. my colt look like a hack." "Bnt of all these filli.-- which was the best?" somebody i- son to a-k. Thai i- like a childs ones- ti ften hard to answer There i- no method hi which horses of different years, aud the] -., far apart. .a he classified. II nlj approach lo ,t Is bj comparing them with tin horses with which they raced! Bj tin method I should saj Miss Woodford, she wa- an unusual mare unlike an] other; big, powerful and masculine. .No Illy I cna recall so retnpletel] outclassed the ItJies of their year, she raced with cults and hor-e- and at a time when tli. class w;;- high. in her live Reasons of racing -he defeated -uch leviathans a- Iroquois, Preeland, Volante, Drake Carter, Eole, Pontine, Modesty, Aranaa, Pardee, Duchess and Monitor. She wa- not onl "the filly of her year," but -o superior to all horse- of h,.r era a- might Justify her being regarded as a super mate.
