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THE AMERICAN STUD BOOKS STORi HOW AMERICAN BREEDING RECORDS BORN IN PHIL PHILADELPHIA ADELPHIA IN 1815 CAME ON THROUGH SKINNER SKINNEREDGAR EDGAR STAFFORD TAYLOR HERBERT HERBERTWALLACE WALLACE AND THE BRUGES BRUGESTO TO THE JOCKEY CLUB My contribution to Daily llacing Form of March l0 in which I considered the law in the breeding of Hanover connected with the pedigree of Wild Medley sire of Ophelia his fourth dam has I observe attracted the attention of Kxile whose excellent articles on br ling subjects are so highly appre ¬ ciated by all readers interested in that ide of the racing sport His comments upon my article contain many points worthy of attention and taking certain of them as my text I may beg tlnr privilege of a further statement statementIn In the lirst place Kxile has been evidently misinformed in regard to the original date of publica ¬ tion of the American Stud Pook He sys American breeders failed to provide themselves witii a means of properly registering their bloodstock until so late a date as 1SSI The first volume of Pruces Stud Hook did not appear until that date whereas the lirst volume of the Knglish Coneral Stud Pook was published in 18 7 There is absolutely no excuse for the failure of American breeders of blood ¬ stock to make provision for a means of registration until 1SS1 In view of such a misapprehension of the facts upon the prt of so generally wellposted ai authority as Kxile it is perhaps a timely moment to relate the genesis of our American Stud Hook HookAs As early as LSI efforts toward the publication of an American Stud Prok were made in Philadelphia but never got beyond the stage of a prospectus Hut similar attempts continued in subsequent decades J K Skinner of Haltimoro in lSi began the publication of his American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine and he too projected a stud book and issued a prospectus but never got farther with the work In his magazine however he recorded all the pedigrees that he could obtain Finally in 18 t Patrick N Kdgar published his American Kaec Turf Ucgistcr Sportsmans Herald and Ceneral Stud f pjojieer collection of pedigrees nailer such a title In ls7 S a man named Stafford of ofWashington Washington 1 filtered the llelil He went to the extent of haxing several sample pages of his stud book set np for advance circular purposes but this was as far as he ever got gotA A few years later Penjamin Ogle Tayloe one of the most famous of our early authorities upon and writers about the thoroughbred who contributed to Iorters old Spirit of the Times over the pen name nameof of Observer decided to c pile a stud book and did a large amount of research and collation Hefore Heforehe he had completed it however he was obliged by pressure of other affairs to abandon it and he then placed his manuscript unfinished in the hands of William T Porter of the Spirit Mr Iorter was supposed to have turned it over to W II Herbert famous as Frank Forester In his Horse of Amer ¬ ica published in IJCili Frank Forester gives a list of all stallions and mares that had been imported up to that date which ho states had been compiled from all available authorities lie does not mention the Tayloe manuscript as it was unpublished but doubtless he utilized it This was the lirst list of its kind ever published in book form and covers over 100 pages of Vol I of the work in question Frank Forester died two years later and the Tayloe manuscript which in a way must have been invaluihl owing to its authors opportunities and abilities seems about that time to have disappeared for Jiu trace of it could ever afterward be found certainly a great genealogical loss to oir racing breed breedJOHN JOHN H WALLACES SHARE IN THOROUGHBRED BREEDING WORK WORKlu lu the latter fifties John II Wallace then living in Mnscatine Iowa and a pedigree enthusiast conceived the idea of compiling a stud hook He had been a student of racing genealogies for a number of years and was a contributor to the Spirit then as it for many years had been and long con ¬ tinued to remain the chief exponent of Americas sporting activities Keceiving considerable encourage ¬ ment ami some financial assistance he set to work and brought out Wallaces American Stud Hook Vol L in ISO after several years of compilation the publisher being C K Woodward of New York This was a large volume of over 1IKIO pages well printed and bound and with a number of steelen ¬ graved illustrations Pages to 1117 were devoted to i appendix of pedigrees of trotters trottersWallaces Wallaces work though a sincere effort to fill a longfelt want was not a success The compiler decided not to follow the Knglish precedent of giving a list of mares with their produce recorded below their names but listed all stallions in one alphabetical rostt r and all mares in another with a separate additional list of all tho e of both sexes whose pedigrees were not extended This was not popular with turfmen and breeders who had become familiar with tin Knglish system while the fact that the im ¬ ported and native animals had not been kept separate and distinct was also unfurl mule The venture therefore was a failure and while Wallace completed the mannseript of a second volume containing many additional pedigrees and corrections of others it was never published and he turned his attention to the compiling of an entirely original trotting stud book which he entitled Wallaces American Trotting Kegistcr This was an enormous success lie published the lirst volume in 1S71 and nine more between that date and ISll when he sold out his business to an organization of breeders formed for the purpose which paid him 0000 cash therefor thereforThen Then was however another reason in addition to those given above for the failure of Wallaces Stud Hook In 1S Sanders 1 Hruce had been born in Lexington Ky lie began business life there as a crockery merchant anil later became the proprietor of the Phoenix Hotel which for generations has been and in its renascent form still is horsemens headquarters in the Plue Crass region lie became prominent in local politics and was elected county clerk of Fayette County When the Civil AVar broke out he espoused the 1nion cause although his wife was a sister of the famous Confederate cavalry gen ¬ eral John Morgan while his own brother Penjamin C Urnce also entered the Confederate army this being only one of thousands of families of the border states divided against themselves by that con Ilict S I Priice organized a regiment of Federal troops ami served with distinction until retired by illness toward the end of the war with the rank of colonel colonelColonel Colonel Irnce had always been an enthusiastic admirer of he thoroughbred and early in life became deeply interested in pedigrees He recognized and deplored the lack of an American stud bold and de ¬ termined to compile one In this Held liis labors began as early as the forties and hi continued them assiduously accumulating through correspondence investigation and research a vast amount of material The war put a stop temporarily to his endeavors but upon its conclusion in ISC he removed to New York City and there founded the Turf Field and Farm which for over thirty years thereafter was one of the most inllnential of American sporting periodicals His brother Kcnjimin C Pruce remained in Ken ¬ tucky and at Lexington founded anil for many years edited and published the Live Stock Keeord later kiiowi as thf Thfroughbrod Keeord and still actively published in the interests of the thoroughbred thoroughbredAs As soon as he had got the Turf Field and Farm well established Col Pruee resumed the work of compiling a stud book and pushed it vigorously his weekly being of great assistance to him in giving it the required publicity lie had his lirst volume almost ready for the printers when AVallace anticipated him by publishing his work but this spurred him to fresh efforts and the following spring less than a year later the preface is dated May PJ 1SS he brouglit out Vol 1 of The American Stud Hook HookCHICAGO CHICAGO LEGAL BACKER AND CHICAGO PUBLISHER OF STUD BOOK BOOKPy Py a curious chain of circumstances this book was printed and published by K H Myers Co of Chicago Col Hruce had to have financial assistance in his undertaking and one of his backers was J J McKinnon then a prominent lawyer in Chicago and a breeder of thoroughbreds he owning the stallion Ked Kye by Hoston the famous matron Magenta by imp Yorkshire etc etc Myers Co were law booksellers and publishers and it was through the influence 01 of McKinnoii HCKIIIIIOII that inai they iney became ovcamc the tne publishers puuiisners of ISruces work workThis This original Vol I of Hruce now scarce and dillieult to find was a handsome volume in getup much suerior to those which later followed it It contained Git pages well printed upon excellent paper was illustrated with steel engravings portraits of the most renowned Pritish and American progeni Continued on second page THE AMERICAN STUD BOOKS STORY Continued from first page tors and racers from the Godolphin Arnbian down to the date of publication It was arranged on the model of the English General Stud Pook the main body of the work being devoted to an alphabetical list of mares with their produce extending to the end of the letter K with separate lists of imported Stallions and mares and an appendix of Stallions from A to K Whose Dams Have No Names NamesJust Just previous to the publication of this volume the late Joseph Cairn Simpson had purchased a half Interest from Col Bruce In the Turf Field and Farm lie became interested in the Stud Pook also and the Preface to this Vol 1 though ostensibly from the pen of Bruce himself was really written and that gentleman wrote mi some years before his death in PMJIi tjint he wrote it on a train en route westward from New York to Chicago The statement is made in this preface that the compilers effort had equaled the laltor of Sisyphus and there is no doubt that yds was no exaggera ¬ tion for it represented over twenty years of arduous research and conftdlation conftdlationThe The publication of Brilces lirst volume was at least a success of estimation and he went busily to work to complete the second and final one as originally planned This took him live years and it did not appear until 1S73 In the meantime he and his Chicago associates hail fallen out and an almost lifelong feud between him and J C Simpson eventually evolved from it Bruce however got hold of tin plates of this first volume and when he brought out his second volume in 1S73 in New York under the Turf Field and Farm imprint he reissued it revised and corrected in uniform style And in order that those who already possessed the original lirst volume might not simply buy the new second and thus complete their set he adopted the expedient of lidding to the revised lirst volume the mares under the letter L As the original book had only included those under K it was necessary to have both volumes of the new edition to have a complete work Another interesting sidelight is obtained by comparing the ded ¬ ications of the two publications That prefixed to the original Vol L which like the Preface was written by J C Simpson ran as follows As an Humble Mark of Respect to the Memory of f One Who Labored Long a fur the Improvement of the Blood Horse and Who Earnestly Str the Sports of the Turf Above Reproach and as a Toli Token of Friendship and High Personal Regard This the First Volume of a Work that lias Required the Labor of a LifeTime Is Dedicated to the late Robert Aitchcson Alex Alexander of Woodburn Kentucky and John J McKinnon of Chicago Illinois by The Ant That prelixed to the revised issue of IS73 was printed from the lame plate but the name of John J McKinnon was tii leted and only that of Mr Alexander retained HOW THE JOCKEY CLUB BOUGHT THE STUD BOOK FROM BRUCE BRUCEThe The revised and corrected Vol I of the American Stud Rook contained SSI closely printed pages typographically inferior to the original issue and without illustrations Vol II cuntained 037 As above stated they appeared in 1S73 but in lSS1 a new edition witii some additional matter was printed and this undoubtedly is what has led Exile into supposing that America had no stud book until that date dateAs As a matter of fact a third volume had previously been published in 1SS2 It contained 421 pages and the title page stated that L C Bruce was coeditor this was Col Pruces son Leslie It should also he noted that his brother Benjamin had assisted him in the compilation of Vol I and II but nonotlicially Vol IV containing ViS pages appeared in 1SX4 the same year as the rev Neil lirst two volumes Vol V containing S pages came out in ISXi nnd Vol VI containing 1212 pages in ISJI ISJIThe The expense of publication had been great and but for linancial assistance furnished by prominent breeders including the late August Belmont D D Withers Pierre Lorillard and others Col Bruce would have been unable to continue the work Shortly after the sixth volume appeared or about that time this country experienced a great linancial depression Equine values were among the tirst to suffer and the Turf Field and Farm began to meet with reverses Coi Bruce was unable to carry the Stud Pook farther on the former basis and endeavored to sell the property to The Jockey Club The inside his ¬ tory of this somewhat deplorable affair need not here be gone into tullice it to say that the parties interested at last took their grievances into the courts and the verdict was in favor of Col Bruce It was appealed but the stewards of Tin Jockey Club to the credit of their better judgment decided to settle the case out of court and did so by paying Col Bruce the sum of OalflO ami becoming the owners and publishers of the American Stud Book which has since been their olltcial publication publicationSuch Such is tie history of our standard repository of racing genealogies Exile as I think he will gladly admit has done American breeders and breeding some injustice in his statement that no effort was made toward recording or registering our thoroughbreds until 1SSI lie al t lalxirs under a mlsappre hensiou in stating that the lirst volume of the English General Stud Pook appeared in 1S27 It was originally publ publir ir in VS03 ami the edition of 1 27 was the third Wlten we consider however that t history of the British turf antidates that of the American by nearly two centuries the Markham Arabian and Places White Turk were imported into England in the reign of James L who ascended the throne in 1 3 previous to which the sport was an oldestablished one in Britain was it not the English who comparatively speaking were the more dilatory in the matter of a stud bonk and not the Americans The EngiNn had no stud book until lSd while efforts toward one for America were made as early as ISli That these failed was not unnatural The conditions made that inevitable Racing in England was confined to a small extent of longsettled nnd thickly populated country while in America it was in the early days widely disseminated over an immense area and its various centers often separated by thousands of square miles of virgin wilderness this situation obtaining within the memory of some men still living Nor should Exile look down ton contemptuously u our native families which alas do not sport Bruce Lowe figures I sometimes think the Figure System has done far more harm than good to modern breeders and most especially American breeders It has now reached that stage where it re ¬ sembles the magic word Abracadabra with which mediaeval wizards used to work their spells If yiu have the Magic Number you are all right if you havent you are all wrong Meanwhile a whole lot of performers that are all wrong keep on getting there just the same And why should British breed ¬ ers except f r t chauvinistic reasons which Exile imputes to Americans scorn our native born Their own are stabled so to speak in glass housts so far as pur sang is concerned Some years ago an iconoclastic person with a genius for figures not of the Bruce Lowe variety sat down and did a littln bit of calculation over the pedigree of Eclipse and when he had concluded he announced that on a mathe ¬ matical basis that famous progenitor was at least seventy and possibly ninety per cent unknown or non oriental in blood And there are a lot more of the founders in the same boat
