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History of American Thoroughbred i Eighteenth Installment. a " in The record of Blaek Maria follows: 1. 1S29 Oct. 3, Union Course, L. I. Match two mile heats Won ,000 n 2. 1829 Oct. S. Union Course, L. 1. Purse $ three mile heats Won 400 3. 1830 May 10, Union Course, L. 1. 1 Sweepstakes four mile heats. .Lost V 4. 1830 May 19. Dutchess County Course, s N. Y. Purse three mile heats. .Lost , 5. 1S30 Oct. 7. Dutchess County Course, N. Y. Purse four mile heats. Won 500 e 6. 1830 Oct. 27. Dutchess County Course, N. Y. Purse four mile beats. .Won 500 ji 7. 1S31 May 12, Union Course, L. I. Purse four mile beats Lost 8. 1831 May 26. Dutchess County Course, N. Y. Pnrse four mile beats. .Won 500 9. 1S31 Oct. 6. Dutchess County Course, h X. Y. Purse four mile heats. .Lost ii in 10. 1831 Oct, 26. Central Course, Md. Poststake four mile beats . .Won 4,500 11. 1S31 Oct. 29. Central Course, Md. Purse four mile heats Lost 12. 1832 May 17. Dutchess County Course, 1; ly N. Y. Purse four mile heats.. Won 500 j 13. 1S32 May 23. Union Course. L. I. Purse r four mile heats Lost - 14. 1S32 Oct. 4. Dutchess County Course, N. Y. Purse three mile heats. Won 300 1 15. 1S32 Oct. 13. Union Course, L. I. Purse four mile beats Won COO 1 16. 1833 May 2S. Union Course, L. I. Purse c three mile heats Won 400 17. 1S33 June 7. Dutchess County Course, J. Y. Purse three mile heats. Won 300 18. 1S33 Oct. 5. Union Course, L. I. Purse 1 four mile heats Lost- C 19. 1S33 Oct. 31. Uuion Course, L. I. Purse i four mile heats Lost 20. 1834 May 9. Union Course, L. I. Purse four mils heats Lost 21. 183-1 June 5. Union Course, L. I. Purse three mile heats Won 400 j 22. 1834 Oct. 5. Union Course, L. I. Pnrse I four mile heats Won 1,000 : 23. 1S34 Oct. 31. Union Course. L. I. Purse four mile heats Lost 1 24. 1S34 Nov. 13. Eagle Course, N". J. , Purse three mile beats Lost 25. 1S35 May 8. Union Course. L. 1. Purse four mile heats Lost Starting twenty-live times and winning in thirteen races eleven of them Jockey Club races at three and four-mile heats the hand- . some sum of 4,900. Seventeen four-mile races, and forty-two i heats of four miles making 163 miles. . ! This recapitulation of the performances of Black Maria fully justifies, we think, the high opinion we have expressed in the course 1 . of our article, of her surpassing speed and 1 wonderful powers of endurance. In summing ; up the large amount she won, and comparing it with the winnings of lirst-raters up to the middle of the nineteenth century, it should be recollected that while she was on 1 the turf the club purses were but half the value given at the last-mentioned period. Trifle, a nonpareil, and the most successful . racer of her day, won but 4,3S0. Post t Boy, a crack of later date, for a time at the i head of the northern turf, and a capital performer, won only 2,700, while Mingo, the s phenomenon, which ran well at all distances, , and won for himself the proud title of the 5 "champion of the north," won but 5,250. . Mingos winnings, however, were mostly in 1 purses. By setting down the purses won by , Black Maria at the respective sums offered about the middle of the nineteenth century for three and four-mile heats, she would have e left the turf winner of 8,500. Black Maria, like Post Boy, was hammered to deatli in training and came to the e post quite as often amiss as in condition. When lit she was too fleet for the fast and d too stout for the strong. Another reason for r her frequent defeats was owing to the management - of her high-spirited owner who was s never known to pay a forfeit, nor allow a a walkover if a horse in his stable could stand on three legs. He was a man always called upon to make up a field or a stake and was always certain n to do it without consulting his interests or! ir his trainer. In the hands of a gentleman n less regardful of the gratification of the public, i- and more alive to his own interests, s, it is doubtful whether Black Maria would not t have run on to the age of her granddam and d with equal credit. In 1836 she produced a bay colt by Go-hanna, - which Mr. Stevens appropriately J named Terrific, from its immense size. It tt was a colt of great promise, combining the ie best racing points of both sire and dam. At six weeks old Mr. Stevens refused ,500 for r it, Black Maria was finally purchased by the ie Hon. Balie Peyton, in company with his is friends Dr. J. G. Chalmers of New Orleans and J. S. Yeager of Yicksburg, Miss., for r ,000, a sum much below her value. Mr. Peyton bred her at once to imported :d Luzborough and. at the same time, proposed sd a " in n $ 1 V s , e ji h ii in 1; ly j r - 1 1 c 1 C i j I : 1 , . i ! . 1 . 1 ; 1 . t i s , 5 . 1 , e e d r - s a a n or! ir n i- s, t d - J It tt ie At r ie is r :d sd Produce Stakes for colts and fillies foaled 0 the spring of 1S39, to come off over the q Nashville, Tenn., course during the fall meet- ing in 18 43, with a subscription of ,000 each, a ,000 forfeit, four-mile heats. Black Marias n produce headed the list of nominations and when the stake closed there were twenty-nine subscribers, making the stake amount to 45,000. No stake comparable to that was ever made in America or Europe, as far as the amount of money is concerned, up to the time. At no time, probably since the commence- t ment of horse racing, up to the middle of the nineteenth century, has the turf stood ; higher or been more ably represented than 1 . the year 183D. bostox ix ms ritlME. 1 ti In that year Boston, probably the best ear- - race horse that ever ran on an American . track, was in his prime and almost, one ; might say, unbeaten. He started twenty- five times and received forfeit twice, suf- r fering but two defeats. Once, his first race, t when he bolted while running on the lead 1 j looking like a winner. The other in a race ! i j of two-mile heats at Petersburg, "Va., in i which he was outfooted by Portsmouth. In that year Boston, probably the best ear-urer, Clarion, Balie Peyton, Portsmouth, Decatur, Grey Eagle and the mares Omega, Andrewetta, Sarah Bladen and others scarcely inferior in renown. The crack mare Fashion, in her two-year-old form had not come upon the scenes of her triumph and the day when the matchless Boston should find nis match was not yet even in anticipation. Not one of the animals named above but was a real race horse, a good one and no mistake, though differing in excellence the one from the other. All had their sanguine friends and backers and more than one was believed by his own especial partisans to be invincible. Of none is this more true than of the two gallant animals Wagner and Grey Eagle and whose grandest exploit I am about to borrow from the Turf Register of 1S40, for which it was incomparably reported by my friend William T. Porter. Wagner, in his five-year-old form, was al- ready a tried horse, of proven speed, courage and bottom, a distinguished winner and, even in the aspirations of his owner, capable to compete with Boston. He was at least the equal of any other horse in America of his clay- He had been training continually since his third year. In 1S3S he had won three races at four-mile heats .and two of two-mile heats, beating Extio at New Orleans in 7:11, 7:57, considered in those days to be all but the best time. He was a beautiful chestnut horso of fifteen and a half hands with a white blaze on his face and two white hind feet. Fully aware of the indomitable gameness of the nonpareil under him, he thought if he could bottle him up for a few hundred yards there was still another run to he had from him. He accordingly took a bracing pull on his horse as though it was "go along" every inch. Wagner recovered his wind so as to come again at the head of the quarter stretch. Stephen, long ere this, had become so ex-y hausted as to be unable to give Grey Eagle the support he required. He rode wide, swerving considerably from a straight line. From the Oakland house home it was a terrible race. By the most extraordinary ex-i. ertions Wagner was up neck and neck with the gallant gray as they swung round the turn into the quarter stretch. The feelings of the assembled thousands were wrought up to a high pitch, absolutely painful. The most profound silence reigned over that vast as-d sembly as these noted animals sped on as if life and death called forth their utmost ener-e gies. Both jockeys had their whip hands at work and at every stroke each spur with a desperate stab was buried to the rowel head. Grey Eagle for the first hundred yards was clearly gaining, but in another instant Wagner was even with him. Both were out and doing their best. It was anybodys race yet. Now Wagner, now Grey Eagle, has the advantage. "It will be a dead heat!" "See! Grey Eagl.es headed him." "No, Wagners ahead !" A moment ensues the people shout hearts throb ladies faint a thrill of emo-k-t tion, and the race is over. Wagner wins by a neck in 7:44, the best race up to that time ever run south of the Potomac, while Kentuckys gallant champion demonstrates his claim to that proud title by a perform-is ance which throws into the shade the most brilliant ever made in his native state. To say that Wagner was better managed and had a better jockey in this race than Grey Eagle is to express the opinion of every ; I ; : 1 j j i ! i j i ! ; 0 q a n t ; 1 . 1 ti - . ; r t 1 j ! i j i unprejudiced individual who had the pleasure of witnessing it. WTtat might have been c the result of the race we cannot pretend to say. But we do assert, with perfect confi- i dence, that with Gil Patrick on his back, i Grey Eagle would have won the second heat, People differ in opinion, luckily, and were t it not so we should be in a mess. Had the managers of Grey Eagle been content to bide J their time, another tale might have been ! told. 1 THE "WAIT AD WIN" POLICY. "Wait and win" carries off more purses J than "take the track and keep it." Grey Eagle could outfoot Wagner in a brush of one hundred and fifty yards. He clearly demonstrated that fact hulf a dozen times in the course of the week, but in a run of five or six hundred yards Wagner could beat him J about the same distance. The two horses i were so nearly matched that good generalship and good riding did the business. In- 1 stead of allowing him to go forward and cut , out the work Grey Eagle should have been laid quietly behind with a steady, bracing pull, until within the distance stand, and then pulled out and made to win if he could. That was his only chance. Tiring down Wagner was like tiring down a locomotive. We must here break off, but not without remarking that, after being weighed, Cato was put up again on Wagner and, with the stakes in his hand 4,000 he promenaded in front of the stand, preceded by a band of music playing "Old Yirginny Never Tire." We have not room to give the details of the running on the intermediate days of the meeting. Suffice to say, that the fine Medoc filly Cub won the Post Stake for three-year-olds, in 3:45. 3:44; that the Woodpecker colt Ralph won the three-mile purse cleverly in 5:50 each heat; that the Eclipse mare Missouri won the Oakland Plate, two-mile heats, at 3:05, 3:44, 3:50; and that several other exhibitions of beauty, gameness and speed were given during the week. The first race between Wagner and Grey Eagle came off on Monday. On Saturdayy they again came out for the Jockey Club Purse of ,500, in four-mile heats. Throughout the week the weather had been clear and the attendance good enough to realize 5,-000 to the spirited proprietor. On Saturday there was an immense gathering from far and near and the sun never shone out on a more lovely morning. SECOND MATCH ARRANGED. The attraction, it must be confessed, could not have been surpassed Wagner and Grey Eagle were to come together again. After the race on Monday both parties immediately interested were willing to draw off their : forces and enjoy an honorable armistice un-! til next spring, but the interference and misrepresentation of sanguine friends ultimately broke off the truce existing between them and t the high contracting parties set about prosecuting the war with greater zeal and energy than ever. Some one wrote from Louisville, directly after the race to the effect that t Wagner had declined to meet Grey Eagle in 1 a match for 0,000 in four-mile heats, which letter made its appearance in the col- umns of a Lexington newspaper. This state- ment the friends of Grey Eagle did not deny, though it was made without their authority. In consequence Wagner was forced to notice J it. c i i t J ! 1 J J i 1 , : t t 1 J In an article by Authority from the pen of a distinguished correspondent of the Spirit of the Times, published in the Liouis-ville Journal, the writer remarked to the following effect: The reputation of his horse is dear to the turfman and it is his duty to shield and defend it as he would his own honor. The contest between Wagner and Grey Eagle will long be remembered by those who witnessed it. Wagners honors were nobly won. He earned them in a field where every inch of the ground was closely contested and anyone who would attempt to pluck a laurel from his brow, by falsehood or misrepresentation, deserves the scorn of every honorable man. The writer of this has been induced to make these remarks from the fact that a letter has been published in a Lexington newspaper, written from Louisville, containing a statement that Grey Eagle had challenged Wagner for 0,000 and the latter had declined the contest. This statement is positively false, and the owners of Grey Eagle will cheerfully bear temtimony to the truth of the assertion. The facts in the case are these : Wagner had gained a victory over Grey Eagle, a victory in which even the defeated horse gained the brightest laurels and won for himself imperishable fame. Hence, Wagners friends prized his victory the more highly. With that courtesy toward the friends of Grey Eagle which is ever due from the victor to the vanquished they would have been willing to leave Kentucky perfectly satisfied with his performance. But the communication above referred to leaves only one course to the owner of AVag-ner. He is willing to run him against Grey Eagle, or any other horse in the United States, four-mile heats, for 0,000 or any amount above that sum. This offer is made with no disposition to detract from the reputation of the game and gallant Grey Eagle, but solely on account of justice to Wagner, which has been placed in a situation by some of the friends of Grey Eagle that leaves no alternative. The article just quoted made its appearance in the Journal on the morning of the second race, which we are about to describe, but the friends of Grey Eagle were prepared to see it. If we are not mistaken it was read to his owner, as it was to several of his friends, two days before its publication, but was delayed in the hope that Grey Eagles friends would contradict the statement alluded to. In the meantime both horses were prepared to race. We saw both immediately after their first race. Both recovered well and Grey Eagle especially exhibited little stiffness or soreness. They improved from that time up to Saturday morning and we never saw two high-spirited racers in finer condition than they were when stripped to run their second race. In anticipation of a race which for severity and interest would throw their first in the shade, both parties were wide awake to secure every honorable advantage within their reach. Wagners rider, Cato, had become free about the time of the first race. If he rode the second as well as he did the first many were the odd twenties and fifties he was promised. Stephen Welch, Grey Eagles jockey in the first race, weighing but eight-. two pounds, was considered too light and en- deavor was made to find a rider nearer up to his proper weight, 100 pounds. To Be Continued.
