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CRACK TWOYEAROLDS OF 1920 PRUDERY AND LEONARDO II By W S VOSBURGH 4 Some two hundred years ago Alexander Pope the English poet when asked by u Mrs How What is Prudery V wrote the following in answer to this question questionWhat What is Prudery Tis a Bedlam Seen with wit and beauty seldom Tis a Virgin hard of feature Old and void of all good nature Lean and fretful would seeiii wisu Yet plays the fool before she dies diesVery Very different in the racing mans understanding of Prudery in IJtl and in the absence of a more accomplished versifier I bee leave to offer the following as a sort of respectful perversion of Mr Popes idea and as representing rating sentiment Tis a famous racing lilly i Brown and buxom tried and true V x She that sports the Brookdale colors Dainty brown and bonny blue Swift of foot like Atalunta AtaluntaOr Or an antelope as fleet AVins her races in a canter Good to back and bad to beat beatIn In following Mr Popes lead I am only too sensible of how far my humble effort falls short of the merits of the original Hut I hazard nothing in stating my belief that among racing people as bctwcch his Prudery and my Prudery the lattef is an odd oddoit oit favorite Prudery was the filly of her year 1020 unless its records speak in vain and we have the opinion of the astute Mr Madden that opinions die but records live It is impossible to compare horses of different years but one should consider her un unusual lilly She certainly outclassed her contemporaries to u greater degree than any tilly of recent years and what is more important she beat the colts As great a filly as Spinaway was in 1H80 a twelfth penalty defeated her as did Kaskaskia in 1914 and Comedy in 1914 Itegret carried it but she was an exceptionally good lilly In England the penalties in the firstclass stakes for twoyearolds do not range quite as high as ours oursNow Now Prudery carried the topweicht for fillies in six races of the eight for which she started And of the eight starts she won six In her first Rice at Belmont Park May 20 she beat her field handily at level weights May 29 she conceded weight to all her Held except Step Lightly with whom she car ¬ ried level weights and won in hand June at Jamaica she won the Rosedale Stakes with 15 pounds up after being crowded on the rail For the Saratoga Special August 14 she was beaten a neck by her stable companion Tryster with three pounds sex allowance Tryster was all out to beat her by a head and there were many who thought she should have won as Rodriguez on Tryster hampered her toward tlie finish For the Grand Union August 21 she took up 127 pounds and beat Oriole Normal an Dlmmcsdata eaclr 113 pounds after Ixsint slow to Jfav t the barrier For the Splnaway Stnkfs Aieiir 28 Mitfi 127 iHiiml stie ofjatM8teiirl ofjatM8teiirlisBtly isBtly tl yOuif NiiuVyM2SrrliiritAiiiUVaMaothetsV setting away sixth anil after being crowded crowdedGREATNESS GREATNESS OF PRUDERY IN HOPEFUL STAKES DEFEAT DEFEATPruderys Pruderys greatest race was in defeat when she ran second to Leonardo II for the Hopeful Stakes August 31 with 127 pounds beaten only a nose by Leonardo II which had up only 115 pounds When the barrier rose Prudery was the last of the field of fifteen while Leonardo II took the lead almost immediately after he start At the end of half a mile Prudery was fifth or sixth but coining with such a finish as seldom is seen she closed on Leonardo II and in the next stride after passing the post she was in advance of him It was the judgment of nine people out of ten who saw the race that Prudery should have won It was such a finish as one sees once in many years It reminded us of Spendthrifts great finish for the Lorillard Stakes of 1S7 and what one had read of Mamelukes and Lord Clifdens St Leger finishes of 1827 and 18K 18KThe The fact that Prudery was made an oddson favorite for the Futurity is a sullicient indication of what the speculative public thought of her race for the Hopeful But in the Futurity she was never prominent enough to be dangerous She was about fourth or thereabouts at one time but fell away toward the finish She had 124 pounds rip the highest weight of all the fillies It was her last appearance of the season and probably it was none too soon Pruderys claim as the lilly of the year is based on substantial grounds She defeated Nancy Lee every time they met She defeated Step Lightly the Futurity winner four times and in the Spinaway and Hopeful conceded Step Lightly fifteen pound She defeated Careful every time they met and the fillies mentioned were the best of the year when Prudery is omitted Pruderys failure for the Futurity I cannot explain but it must not be forgotten that her Saratoga campaign immediately prior to the Futurity was severe In the final two weeks at Saratoga she ran four hard races the Special Grand Union Spinaway and Hopeful with the highest weight in the saddle and against the best twoyearolds of the year There was only a weeks interval between the Special and Grand Union and the Grand Union anil Spinaway and only two days between the Spinaway and the Hopeful Possibly the severe campaign had affected her vital energy as a race over a straightaway like the Futurity is more likely to find a weak spot in a horse than in a circular course coursePrudery Prudery is a brown filly with a broad blaze in her face left hind pastern white She lias a plain head and neck and good depth of banel but dips in her back not to the extent of being hollowbackvd but there is a distinct fall behind the saddle She lias a good development of quarters and gaskins indicative of great propulsive power and her pasterns are very long a great thing for speed but not for a lung career She is by Peter Pan Polly Flinders by Iturgomaster second dam Slippers by Med ¬ dler the dam Cinderella the dam of Hastings and Plaudit Her sire Peter Pan Is the son of another Cinderella by Hermit from Mazurka Prudery would readily pass for a Hamburg filly She has the name white blaze and that indented profile that made the Realization winner of 1898 so marked a char ¬ acter In appearance she has seemingly bred back to Hamburg as her maternal grandsin was Ham ¬ burgs best son the gigantic Burgomaster the best twoyearold of 1905 su colt whose top was too heavy for his legs and shortened his career as a threeyearold threeyearoldLeonardo Leonardo II s first race at Kmpire City July 14 left no doubt that he was a Ilyer of the first water Indeed we can recall no twoyearold since the days of the black whirlwind Tremont which could get its feet and start so quickly It is saying a great deal perhaps but not too much to say that he was possibly quicker than Tremont and for this reason In Trcuionts time 1SS there was no barrier Horses were started by the flag and were in full action when the lag fell In Leonardo II s year the barrier held the horses standing until it was released and aroe it was a standing start Accordingly to get away quickly was far easier in Tremonts year than in Leonardo IIs That Leonardo II s merit had not escaped attention is evidenced by the fact that in his first race notwithstanding he had never been seen in public he was made a hot favorite SPEED AND AGILITY WERE FORTES OF LEONARDO II IIThe The field Leonardo II defeated in his first race was not of the highest class Uuvnor and General Average finished second and third fifteen in all but Leonardo II never left the race in doubt taking the lead and beating Guvnor ten lengths pulled up For his second race at Saratoga August which was also an overnight sweepstakes fifteen started They too were of moderate quality Hildur being the only one with any pretention to class It was 7 to 10 Leonardo II and 5 to 1 Hildur which led for half a mile when Leonardo II passed him without any urging and won witli ridiculous ease by six lengths In this race Leonardo II carried 108 pounds to Ilildurs 110 there was not more than seven or eight pounds between him and any of his field but the beating he gave them would not have been overcome had he conceded twice that amount of weight weightI weightconardo I conardo IIs third appearance was at Saratoga August 20 an overnight sweepstakes at live and onehalf furlongs His other races had been at live furlongs Again the field was of quality rather moderate and Leonardo II was a favorite Jt I to i any odds against the others When the barrier arose he dashed away and opened a long lead of as much as eight lengths but Schuttinger seeing he had the others Iwaten eased his colt at the finish was three lengths ahead and under restraint In this race Leonardo II carried 122 pounds Muttikins which finished second 110 pounds Polly Ann tins third 112 pounds eleven started and one or two carried as little as 105 pounds poundsLeonardo Leonardo IIs last race was the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga August 31 over a threequarter mile course fifteen starting It was a higher class field than he had ever met but that his stable had every confidence in him the betting would Indicate as he was as good a favorite as the Whitney trio Prudery Kxodus and Dartmoor 7 to 10 The field comprised such good ones as Oriole 115 pounds Nancy Lee 127 Step Lightly 112 Star Voter ISO Grey Lag 115 Intrigante 112 Dimmesdale 115 Touch Me Not 127 Smoke Screen 122 Leonardo II went off at a desperate pace while Prudery and Nancy Lee were off last of all At the end of n half mile Leonardo II had at least two lengths of lead with Oriole fol ¬ lowing Prudery was about fifth or sixth and apparently out of it but in the last hundred yards she closed on I eonardo II and all but won he beating her a nose Oriole half a length behind Prudery which postThat was ahead of Leonardo II in one stride after passing the post That Leonardo II and Oriole both tired at the finish is the only way one can account for Pruderys wonderful finish She was so far behind entering the lust eighth that it is difficult to believe she could otherwise have overcome the great lead Leonardo II had at that point If Leonardo II did tire it would suggest the idea that he was not a stayer as he had not previously been asked to cover a full three quarter mile course Moreover lie hud up only 115 pounds to Pruderys 127 pounds and it has been a rare occurrence when a filly at two years can concede twelve pounds exclusive of sex allowance to a colt of high class The conclusion then would be that if Ixonardo II did not tire anil lose ground at the finish Pruderys second for the Hopeful was one of the greatest rwes ever run by a twoyearold lilly in this country and if Lcoimnlo II did tire he is a nonstayer nonstayerLeonardo Leonardo II is a brown colt by Sweep from ICthel Pace by Troubadour granddum Sunbeam by Hindoo third dam Manhattan by Leamington fourth dam Mr John Hunters old mare Columbia by Glencoe and tracing to Maria West the family from which Kogret Thunderer and so many excellent performers have come It is a pedigree that would forbid the notion that Leonardo II was a nonstayer His dam Kthel Pace was the dam of Alfred Noble Housemaid and other fast ones He is a well balanced colt rather long in the forehead straight in outline of back well ribbed to the coupling with plenty of power in tiie quarters His legs are well under him which helps his quick starting Taken altogether he is a colt of as great speed as any but he has yet to establish a reputation as a stayer Leonardo stayerLeonardo II races in the colors of the Nalapa Farm His owner is not a novice lie raiVd horses more than twenty years ago In the interval his love of the sport never faltered and he returned to it upon a scale that realized his dreams have purposely omitted to quote his name as I believe that when a man takes an assumed name and pays the fee required by the Kules of Kticiug he has good pel fiouul reawm for BO doing and tlutt they are eiititkd to respect
