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THE BELMONT STAKES HISTORY OF THE OLDEST AND GREATEST SWEEPSTAKES SWEEPSTAKESFOR FOR THREE YEAR OLDS 1867 TO 1921 FROM PATRON 1892 TO ILDRIM 1900 BY W S VOSBURGH VOSBURGHPATRONS PATRONS YEAR Although the Belmont of 1892 had 172 nominations and was wasworth worth 20500 to the winner only two came out for it The 1892 Withers had produced a brilliant race with Tammany Patron PatronYorkville Yorkville Belle Mars and Dagonet But the Withers was a mile mileand and the Belmont a mile and a quarter and the growing dread of distance was felt besides the track was very muddy Mr Lewis Stuarts Patron won in a canter beating Mr Marcus Dalys Shellbark Patron was a bay bred at Woodburn a son of Falsetto from Patrimony by Pat Malloy Mr P Loriilard offered Mr Stuart 20000 for him but Mr Stuart did not agree with the late Sir Tatton Sykes that it was better to sell and repent than to keep and repent as he declined the offer and within a few days the colt broke down and Mr Stuart has repented ever since Time 217 Value 5610 CGMANCHES YEAR The celt Dr Rice after his sale to Fred Foster had won the theWithers Withers and was a strong favorite for the Belmont of 1893 1893 for which there were five starters out of the 140 nominated nominatedWilliam William Sims on the Empire Stables colt Conianche woa by bya a head beating Dr Bice with Rainbow third Prince George and St Domingo unplaced In deference to the growing dislike of horse owners to racing any appreciable distance the Belmont had been still further reduced to a mile and a furlong Conianche was a chestnut by Sir Modred from Ethel by King Ban He was a colt of great speed and with ability to carry weight but with hard racing he became later a sulker and would not try Time 153 4 Value 5310 5310HENRY HENRY OF NAVARRES The Belmont of 1894 did not contribute greatly to the thefame fame of its winner the famous Henry of Navarre one oneYEAR YEAR 1894 of the best allaround horses that ever wore iron Out Outof of 184 nominations it brought only three starters and andaside aside from the winner they were not of great quality Henry of Navarre 117 pounds defeated Prig 119 pounds and Assignee 115 pounds very easily with Sims in the green and gold of Byron McClelland Henry of Navarre a chestnut with a roan star and one of his fore coronets white was bred by Mr Lucien Appleby near Shrewsbury N J and was a son of Knight of Ellerslie from Moss Rose by IllUsed His career proved him a race horse of the highest type His power was not apparent he was not an attractive horse but like Parole The Bard and several others he was better than he looked For three seasons he met all the best of those seasons and defeated them a test few other horses have been able to stand As a sire he failed just as Salvator did before him and as Gladiateur Common and so many good performers in England have done Time 15G Value 56680 BELMARS YEAR There came near being no Belmont for 1895 It had closed handsomely in 1893 but upon the New York Jockey Club closing 1895 its affairs owing to legislation the Belmont and other events were declared off On May 9 1895 Mr August Belmont in ¬ formed me of the proposed organization of the Westchester Placing Association and the leasing of Morris Park and requested me to frame sweepstakes and make a program for the meeting to be held at Morris Park the coming autumn He suggested retaining the names of the old stakes under such conditions as I deemed best I made the Belmont Withers Jerome and Hunter all handicaps It was necessary to do so as even weights or even penalties and allowances in the autumn when the form of the horses is exposed and classified were out of question Thus the Belmont was made a handicap purely as an emergency measure and its continuity saved The race filled well considering circumstances having twentysix nomina ¬ tions Unlike previous Belmonts run in the leafy month of June it was run November 2 in a furious autumn gale under a leaden sky with falling rain Five very good ones started Colonel Rupperts Counter Tenor with 126 pounds was favorite but was beaten a short head after a close race by the Preakness Stables Bslmar 119 pounds Nanki Pooh 126 pounds was third Fred Taral rode the winner Brandywine and Monaco were unplaced Belniar was a dark gray by Belvidere from Adele by Australian a very game and consistent colt He wen five races during the meeting each by a small margin Time of the race 2llVj Value 2700HASTINGS 2700 HASTINGS YEAR The Belmont of 1896 was opened the winter prior to its being run together with the Belmonts of 1897 and 1S9S and the life 1896 of the great old classic insured Of course closing so short a time before the race it received a small entry thirteen but butit it produced a great race between great horses Hastings and Handspring Handspring in the colors of Mr Phil Dwyer had won the Withers beating by a head Mr Belmoits Hastings at even weights For the Belmont Hastings 122 pounds defeated Handspring 125 pounds by a head Mr Marcus Dalys Hamilton 112 pounds third It was claimed that if Handspring had not got away so badly he would have won The distance was at a mile and three furlongs which had been fixed as the regular Belmont distance Hastings was a brown bred by Dr Neet in Kentucky and purchased by Mr Belmont at Gideon Dalys sale as a twoyearold He was a son of Spendthrift winner of the Belmont 1879 from Cinderella by Tomahawk or Blue Ruin and was a fine race horse throughout his career Time of the race 224 Value 3025 3025SCOTTISH SCOTTISH CHIEFTAINS There were eightyseven nominated for the Belmont of 1897 and six ran Mr Belmonts Octagon was favorite YEAR favoriteYEAR 1897 at 10 to 9 on but the race resulted in the success of ofMr byScherrer Mr Marcus Dalys Scottish Chieftain ridden by Scherrer beating by a length On Deck Octagon third with Horoscope Don de Oro and Ogden unplaced Scottish Chieftain was a brown bred by Mr Daly in Montana and was a son of imported Inverness from Miss Darebin by Darebin He was rather a plain colt which had never shown much form before the race and little afterward How he won is one of the unexplainable things in racins as all of the colts he defeated were better race horses than he was Time of the race 223 Value 3550 3550BOWLING BOWLING BROOKS Bowling Brooks year will long be remembered not for Bowling Brooks victor so much as for the defeat of Hamburg The TheYEAR i o o o YEAR 1898 race had 104 nominations Four colts started Hamburg was wasa a great favorite He was the sensational twoyearold of the theprevious previous year He had made the twoyearolds of his year look like selling platers He had crowned the edifice of his glory by his marvelous victory for the Great Intern Handicap when he carried the unprecedented weight of 135 pounds and ran away from a big field He had been sold to Marcus Daly for 540000 and was in the hands of Lakeland who had trained the great Domino and many others The idea of his defeat was deemed impossible Bowling Brook was in the race and had beaten Hamburg in a race Ihe year before besides he had on the opening day of the meeting won the Metropolitan Handicap in good style But these Continued on page three THE BELMOHT Continued from first page things counted for naught It was Hamburg alone which was considered as a winner winnerA A heavy rain had rendered the track deep in mud and before the horses had gone a half mile somebody called out Hamburgs beaten and at the end of a mile that fact was evident Hamburg floundered all over and Bowling Brook ridden by Fred Littlefield carne home six lengths in the lead with Previous second ridden by Tod Sloan and Hamburg with Fred Taral up three lengths behind Previous Consternation was on the faces of Hamburgs followers When they had recovered their breath they wracked their brains for an excuse It was the mud It was Fred Tarals mistake lying too far out of the race It was lack of condition They could not give Bowling Brook the credit The fact probably was that Hamburg was not ready as in his after races he ran like a different colt At the same time Bowling Brook was too good a celt to have been ignored He was a bay bred by his owners Messrs J A and A H Morris of Westchester N Y and a son of Ayrshire from the mare Vacation which had been sent to England to be bred to Ayrshire a daughter of Tom Ochiltree He was an enormous colt too heavy for his legs and broke down soon after but he was a grand race horse and worthy to rank among Belmont winners Time of race 232 Value 7810 7810JEAN JEAN BEREATTDS There were 124 nominations to the Belmont of 1899 which fur ¬ nished a better contest than it promised as while only four colts coltsYEAR YEAR 1899 started Mr Sidney Pagets Jean Bereaud ridden by Clawson beat beatMr Mr P J Buyers Half Time by a head after a well contested contestedrace race Jean Bereaud had been an overwhelming favorite as he was at that time considered the best colt of the year having been the crack twoyearold of the year previous But he wasj evidently in bad shape as he did not race again that season Glengar finished third and Filon dOr unplaced Time of the race 2 32 Value 9445 9445ILDRIM ILDRIM S YEAR For the Belmont of 1900 there were 174 nominations The race racebrought brought out seven starters with Mr Featherstones colt Missionary 1900 favorite but Eugene Leighs Ildrim won the race like a thoroughly thoroughlygood good colt ridden by Nash Turner a head in front of Mr Keenes KeenesPetruchlo Petruchlo with Missionary third Henry Spencer rode Petruchio and Winnie OConnor was on Missionary and the finish between the three great jockeys resulting in three heads on the post was one of the great treats of the season Ildrim was a brown by Kingston from Libbie L He was not very successful afterward but at his best was a grand racer and went into the Rancocas Stud where he sired some good performers Time of race 2 2l Value 14790 14790To To be continued I
