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MORVICH PEDIGREE HONESTY — r I r I - i t jb» I Brass Band and Cinema Champion Has Rich Bloodlines. i m ♦ j i t Californias Pedigree Glory — j Greatness of His Grand Cousins Shows in Colt s Speed. i-* ■ ♦ ■■■ ■« BY SALVATOR. ? | Everything "touchin on and appertainin to" Morvich is of interest just now, the son of Runnymede and Hymir being even a more magnetic center of attention to turfmen than was Man o War in the spring of his three-year-old form. It is easy to fill space "around him and about," as one has only to •xamine the columns of both the turf and the lay press to be convinced. He can be approached from many angles and seems. In fact, an inexhaustible topic. This being so, I may avail myself of the general privilege to offer something not primarily about the colt himself, but about some of his forbears that I have not noticed in the mass of matter of which he has been for the past nine months the hero. Thumbing over some old photos the other day I came across one long undisturbed in the pigeonhole which had been its snug harbor for a couple of decades. It showed a Stately stallion of great range and power, With a blazed face and the near fore and off hind leg white well up the ankle. Could the print have shown also the subjects color it would have portrayed him as a chestnut. 1 recognized it at once as Flambeau, the sire of Creorgia VI., the third dam of Morvich. And immediately there were evoked memories, many and poignant, of what have now become "the brave days of old." The late J. B. Haggin at Itancho del Paso in California and Elmendorf in Kentucky was the proprietor of the largest breeding organization that America has known. But before he had embraked upon operations of • magnitude so immense the leader had been another Californian, the late Leland Stanford, first governor of his state, later Its representative in the United State senate, and lastly memorable as the founder of that noble institution, Stanford University. Palo Alto, the Stanford breeding farm until the death of its creator in 1893, was the worlds largest speed nursery, and at the time mentioned over GOO stallions, mares and youngsters fi.led its stables and ran in its paddocks and pastures. SENATOR STAFFORDS HOBBIES. Leland Stanford divided allegiance between the thoroughbred and the trotter. He was perhaps most deeply interested in the harness horse, and the larger division of his stud was the trotting one. Still, his thoroughbreds occupied much of his time, also his famous experiment of producing half-bred trotters by breeding thoroughbred mares to trotting stallions, in which way he obtained two or three champions, including the stallion Palo Alto, the mare Sunol and the gelding Azote. Flambeau was one of the prize products of Leland Stanford on the running side. The otb.fr was Racine. The two colts were foaled j | the same year 1887 and within a few days of each other, Flambeau on January 27, Racine on February 2. Flambeau was by "Wildidle, the distinguished son of imported Australian and old ldlewild, by Lexington — ■ he Wildidle having been bred precisely like Spendthrift from which Man o War comes in the diiect male line, that progenitor having been by Australian — Aerolite, own sister of ldlewild. Racine was by Bishop, which ran back to Lexington through Shannon, Monday and Colton. Both were from imported dams, Flambeaus being Flirt, by Hermit whose blood Man o War also gets through the third dam of his sire, Fair Play, while Racines was Fairy Rose, by Kisber. Senator Stanford in 1S85 imported something like twenty of the most highly-bred mares that could be bought in England, mostly young and untried, and put them to breeding. Their blood lines were the "last cry*" at that moment and a number of t.um ! ; were In foal to the most fashionable English I sires. The results that he obtained from tii m were not, on the whole, what he had expected. Flirt and Fairy Rose were the only two that did much for their adopted country, but siiil another now, through the medium of Morvich. appears, if not in the spotlight, at least hovering on its fringes. This is, or was, Goula, by Exminster — Goura, by Beadsman. Georgia VI., the third dam of Morvich. is as above stated, by Flambeau, and from this mare Goula. Loth Flambeau and Racine were speed marvels. Which was the better of the two i was always a moot point at Palo Alto, whose i Staff was divided into two factions, adherents, respectively, of the sons of Wildidle : a:i l Bishop. Flambeau raced only on the I Pacific coast. Ho started eight times as a . two-year-old and won thrice. In each of the I other five races he ran second to his .stable i companion Racine, with which it was de-clared to win. On one occasion only both i colts were ridden cut. This was in their final outing for the year, the Autumn Stakes, , run at the old Bay District course, San Fran-else... • November 23, 1889. As it was to be tl i:- last appearance it was decided to let ■ them,. race it out on their merits. The dis-tance ■ was a mile and in a, desperate finish i Racine won by a short head. In the spring of lSDO the pair reappeared I at the Hay District in the two principal I classics fur the age that for many years ; were given annually by the old Pacific Biood 1 Horse Association, the Tidal Stakes and la-cific ■ Derby. In both they ran, as before, one-two, but this time the order was reversed. - Flambeau won both races, beating 5 Racine a half length for the Tidal, at a i mil* and a- quarter, and two lengths In the I Derby, at a mils and a half. As the sequel 1 Showed, both distances were beyond Racines 5 tether, he being one of the fastest milers that America ever produced, but unable to go much farther, whereas Flambeau could I keep coins; "till the cows came home." But t Flambeau broke down after his double victory, - whereas Racine trained on and, coming ; Last, at Washington Park, Chicago, in June I lowered the mile record of Ten Broeck, 1 :3i 4, , made against time thirteen years before, by f winning there in 1:39 Vs. Flambeau went at once to the stud at t Fa!o Alto. His success as a sire was negligible, - la fact, he was an almost total fail- - ! ; I i i : I . I i i , • ■ ■ i I I ; 1 ■ - 5 i I 1 5 I t - ; I , f t - - ure, none of his progeny approaching his own greatness. But bred to imported Gouia in 1892 he begot Georgia VI. She passed from Palo Alto to A. B. Spreckels, and at his Napa Stud became a consistent dam of winters, when bred to Solitaire II., the imported son of Ayrshire and Solesky, by Thunder. It was to Solitaire that she produced Georgia Girl, and Georgia Girt, bred to Dr. Leygo. produced Hymir. The cap to this breeding edifice was affixed when Hymir was bred to Runnymede, the produce being Morvich. In former days the names and stories that figure above were most familiar to me. Frank Covey, who, previous to the death of Senator Stanford, was long at Palo Alto and subsequently remained its superintendent until its dispersal ten years later, was a dear friend of mine. So was the late Joseph Cairn Simpson, who advised Leland Stanford in many of his breeding operations and as- sisted in the formation of his knowledge of both individuals and blood lines. For these reasons the performances of Morvich have for me much more than what otherwise would still be a keen interest. I cannot conclude these notes without. however, calling attention to still another feature of Morvichs ancestry. While the imported mare Goula founded his maternal line in this country, she was not of pure English blood and if foaled today would not be granted registry as "thoroughbred" in the English Stud Book. Goula, as noted, was ; a daughter of Exminster and Goura. by Beadsman, and was bred by the Duke of Hamilton in 1881. Her dam was Columbia, bred in ISf.O by Sir Joseph Hawley and a . daughter of the American horse Charleston, foaled 183:; and bred in South Carolina by Thomas Puryear. Charleston raced in high form in this country In 1S.".0 and 1S57, w:n- ning some brilliant races at mile and two-. • mile heats at Charleston, S. C. and else- where. He was then bought by Richard [ Ten Broeck and taken to England. There he raced once, was unplaced, broke down i and never returned to his native land, but ! did some stud service in the "old country." Columbia was one of his few foals. She pro-s . duced six winners and her female descend- . ants, in addition to coming to America, went to Austria and to Russia. Charleston himself was by imported Sov- . ereign from Millwood, a notable producing daughter of imported Monarch. His third j dam was no less a matron than Maria West, the dam of Wagner and the progenitrix of f a maternal line which is today among the i most prolific in America of stake winners, . And Maria West, as we all know, came from i one of our native families, "figurele.ss," to be sure, but famous still more surely.
