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j ; . I : i , ; i I i , . . ; I 1 C , i R. T. WILSONS FINE RECORD Few Breeders Can Show Greater Measure of Success. Close to 00,000 Won by His Horses During Past Sixteen Years. Few breeders in this country, taking the small number of mares in his stud into consideration, can show a greater measure of success than R. T. Wilson, president of the Saratoga Racing Association. Seldom a year passes that Mr. Wilson does not have a liorse of more than ordinary quality racing in his own colors that was the outcome of his own theories in mating. The year 1920 was no exception in. this respect and Yellow Hand, Dry Moon and Thunderstorm, the largest contributors to the years stable winnings of 4,319, were aU bred by Mr. Wilson. From a monetary standpoint the year 1920 was the most successful enjoyed by the Wilson stable during the past sixteen years, the grand total of winnings for that period now standing at 89,077. Identified with the success of the Wilson stable is that astute trainer Thomas J. Healey, who has been a big factor in the splendid record made by the horses of the president of the Saratoga ltacing Association, the following tabulation showing the winnings of each year .from 1905 to 1920 inclusive: Year. 1st. 2d. 3d. Won. 1905 16 32 31 $ 29.335 1900. 2G 22 20 50.960 1907 ......... ... 37 38 34 59.850 190-V.v,.....:.-..r.. 36 - -.33 27 35:495 1909 47 28 32 46,060 1910 44 30 48 09,990 1911 57 58 52 37,401 1912 48 05 51 29,931 1913 59 58 51 41,585 1914 73 82 60 49,630 1915 53 68 43 41,845 1910 33 34 20 71,035 1917 40 38 35 46,929 1918 ........i 28 35 35 50,527 1919 23 26 16 48.185 1920 45 36 30 74,319 Totals 665 683 591 89,077 On the question of breeding Mr. Wilson has always been a firm believer in the good old American stock, while at the same time being convinced tliat an exchange of blood, blending of the best of English, French and American strains, is a good tiling for the thoroughbred pf the future. He entertains high hopes that Campfire, the winning two-year-old of 1916, will prove as great a success in the stud as Olambala. Once asked his views on breeding, Mr. Wilson said: "There are breeders in this country who have been prone to overlook the greatness of some of our American families, while unduly exploiting the merits of others. We are all ready to concede the iwtency of the Bonnie Scotland and Hanover families, but back of Hanover and Hindoo there was a mighty liorse a horse of great individuality whose qualities have come down through generations of gcod horses. I refer to Virgil, son of Vandal and grandson of the immortal Glencoe. This horses blood, to my way of thinking, had as much to do with making Hanover great as did his Bonnie Scotland dam. "Virgil spent many of his best years in obscurity, was used as a hack and buggy horse, being driven about the streets of New Orleans by the late Col. R. W. Simmons, who frequently told me that the liorse could show a three minute gait on the trot. He could jump and he could run far and fast. Had he had an opportunity equal to other sires I could name whose place in turf history is almost a blank, his name would be on everybodys lips. He lived to get in Hindoo n phenomenal race horse and sire, while a sister to that liorse was the dam of Firenze, a mare whose equal for her inches this country has never seen. "I am well pleased to have an infusion of Virgils blood so close up in Olambala and Campfire," went on Mr. Wilson, "and think much of their merit came through it. Olambala has it closer perhaps than any horse in the country, his dam Blue and White being a daughter of Virgil. It is a strain which lias nicked witli English blood in a truly remarkable way, as is. shown in Canlpf ires per-. formances, and were I nn English breeder, I would seek it with every confidence. The Glencoe strain is what England lacks today-. They need a desirable outeross just as emphatically as do we in the United States, and while we have drawn from their storehouse more freely in the past, it would not surprise me if in the near future there should be nn active demand for our best American mares for foreign account. Rlioda B., which had this Virgil strain through Hanover, foaled the Epsom Derby winner Orby, and what she has done others of the same tribe should be able to accomplish. "This exchange of blood," said Mr. Wilson in conclusion, "Is a good thing for the thoroughbred of the . future. The well-bred mares which our breeders have, secured of recent years from abroad represent strains which were unpnrchasable before the war, and they cannot fail to make good when mated with the best of our sires and when I say best, I say it advisedly witli the idea firmly placed that the American sire will hold his own with, the imported if given an equal opportunity to demonstrate his worth." A
