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MAN 0 WAR AND FAIR PLAY Like Other Great Horses, Look the Part lll-Favored Giant Waterboy. PY C. J". FITZ GKKALO. NKW YOItK. N. Y.. December is. Croat horses as a inle look the part. Man o War does, and so does his sire, Fair Piny. A. J. .Toyner, who saw the latter in Kentucky recently, pronounced him the finest looking stallion in that state. Joyner knows Fair Play and his qualities better than anybody else, as he trained the sou of Hastings when he wis at. the zenith of his powers as a race horse. He has always declared that Fair Play could beat hi rival, Colin, over a long distance of ground. "here is no trainer of thuroughhrcds in the Inited Slates hose opinion is entitled to greater respect than that of .l yner. as he has hud a wide experience in his profession both here and abroad, where In was most highly regarded by the turf authorities and the followers of racing in general. T"-vo other stallions which impressed Mr. Joyner were the- former rivals, Honrless and Omar Khayyam. He says that Houriess has grown into a splendid horse and that his first crop of foals Are most promising. Omar Khayyam has developed into a fine type of thoroughbred sire and is also attracting the attention of the breeders of the country. He also had a good word to say for th.-brothers. Ambassador and ltrown Prince, the latter recently imported from Kngland by a syndicate composed of Messrs. Miller, Johnson and lleadley. While many of the best of the American thoroughbreds which have achieved distinction have been remarkable for some special quality, there are exceptions enough to justify the old saying that good horses come in all shapes and sizes. Joyner had one of these in he brown horse Waterloy, by Watercress, and he has always maintained that the ill-favored giant he was almost seventeen hands high and very loosely made was a race horse of greater powers than tile general public suspected, though his races as a four-year-old were extremely good. WtiiSrl.viis as gootl a horse for his looks as this country has produced," said the trainer on? afternoon recently at the offices of the Jockey inb, "although he went through enough to kill an ordinary horse. He was among the lot of youngsters sent fiom California by J. 1!. Ilaggiu to Charles Littlefield, Jr., lo break in the autumn of 1900. He was most unprepossessing long in the back and with his neck put on upside down. When he was going slow his gait was rough and awkward. He .nly ran once as a two-year-old. in 1101. It was at Sheepshead Pay and Johnny Se-glosscr. who was my foreman, came to me after the event and said lie liked the way the big colt ran past him up the chute. I had no idea at the time that I would ever have anything to do witli Waterboy. Charles I.ittlefield died the following year, however, and Sydney Pager, for whom I was training, entered into a partnership with Mr. Hag-gin. The colt had shown pretty fair form in his three-year-old races, but unfortunately he dislocated his pelvis in the last of them. This is an injury to the hipbone, and it was thought that it would interfere with his racing career. With the hope of saving the colt for the stud he was pat in slings for three months. He was a wreck when he came out of them, but went sound on a trot and was finally put hack into training. "When tin; weights for the Suburban Handicap of 1903 weie announced Waterboy got in with 112 pounds. We all thought that lie had a royal chance to win with that impost. There was winter betting in those days on the big handicap. They offered 100 to 1 against Waterboy and I sent ISml Henaud of New Orleans 50 to place on him. He got it all on at 100 to 1. The next spring Waterboy trained in a way that made us happy and as the day of the race approached our hopes of winning grew stronger. WATERBOY WINS SUBURBAN. RENEWAL. "Unfortunately, however, it rained the day before the race. Waterboy was not a good mud horse, and though I stood to win a big bet, I was in favor of scratching him. Mr. Paget wanted to rim. and we agreed to let Mr. Hoggin decide. Mr. Ilnggin took my view of the situation and the horse was kept in the barn. Africander won the Suburban that year, after a hard fight with Herbert, and, on account of the track conditions, several other eligibles as well as Waterboy did not go to the post. Among these was Irish Lad, then a three-year-old. Mr. Whitney approached President Ijhw-rence with a proposal to give a renewal of the Suburban. The race was held, being decided over a fast track. Waterboy won easily with the Whitney pair. Irish I.ad and Goldsmith, second and third. Wateiboy had the best of the weights on that occasion, but he showed what he was capable of by picking up 124 pounds and winning the Prighto:i Handicap in 2:03k;. He followed this up witli a victory in the Saratoga Handicap, in which lie carried 127 pounds, beating Africander, Ilermis, and all the other cracks of the year with the exception of Irish Iid. "Then came the race for the Saratoga Cup," resumed Joyner, "in which he was beaten at weight-for-age by both Africander and Heno. I have never been able to fathom that race. There must have been something radically wrong with him tiiat day. He worked well before and after the race, and in his next start, which was at Sheepshead" Pay for the Century Stakes at weight-for-age, over the mile and a half course, he played with Hermis. The Picket. Heno and Major Daiugcrf ield. Willie Shields, who was training Hermis at the time, sent us word that his horse was very good and sure lo beat us. Odom had been riding Waterboy in all his races, but as he was under contract to Mr. Thomas he had to take the mount on Hermis. We selected Frankie ONoil. who was just, coming into the form which has made him I he best -known jockey n the continent. "When I put him up I told him to remember only one thing and that was to lay a length away from Hermis. which 1 knew would go to the front, until I three-eighths from home, and then to make the little red horse run for his life. ONeil rode a perfect race, challenging Hermis at the right time. The big li-orse simply ran Hermis into the ground in an eighth and made him so dizzy that he finish last. Waterboy won easily in 2:31. which was fast in those days. It would have taken a mighty race horse to have boat him just about that time, and he was never quite as good for the remainder of his career. There were a heap of better looking horses than Walerlxiy. but few that could match him for speed and stamina when he was just right."
