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The Stock Farms of Kentucky By W S VOSBURGH IL XALAPA AND CLAIBOURNE The morning broke clear On the Road an much warmer than the to Paris day previous as with Mr MrGeorge George Widener as our pilot we drove to Paris and thence to Xalapa Farm The master of Elmendorf remained at home in consultation with his racing cabinet Messrs Lewis and Welsh It is at Xalapa Farm that Mr E F Simms has established a stud with an enterprise and liberality that should command the success it deserves We knew Mr Simms years ago when with his horse The Kentuckian he raced on the eastern circuit Ever an en ¬ thusiast where the thoroughbred was con ¬ cerned other matters engrossed his time and he was compelled to forego the pleasures of racing But in recent years he has re ¬ turned and taken a position second to none among the turfmen of the country countryXalapa Xalapa Farm bears every Xalapa Farm evidence of a lavish expendi ¬ ture that proves his heart is never far from the thoroughbred The roads are except in size the equal of the great boulevards of the principal cities the fenc ¬ ing is a model of masonry being largely of stone beautiful stone bridges cross the streams that meander through the grounds while the buildings are most modern sub ¬ stantial and ornate In brief Mr Simms has stopped at nothing in his endeavor to make Xalapa a sort of fairyland where he can enjoy the dream of his youth almost on the very spot of the dreams and it is to be hoped that he does so although possession seldom realizes anticipation anticipationThe The master of Xalapa was not NeQofol at home but the old colored stud groom received us kindly and led us to the box of the noted French horse Negofol winner of the French Derby and sire of Hourless A gigantic brown with two small stars in his face a snip on his nose near fore and both hind pasterns white he is about the tallest horse we ever saw Go nearer to him and youll get a better idea of his height observed Mr George But when we did so it only confirmed our first impression He is a very narrow horse but for speed we have a liking for that style He has a good development of quarters and stifles good length but rather short neck By Childwick son of SL Simon and Plais anterie from Nebronze by Hock a son of Robert the Devil his breeding is fashionable enough enoughIn In England they dislike the cross of Robert the Devil said Mr Widener that evening when we were speaking of Negofol NegofolNo No we returned they called him a chance horse but that was because hh breeding was not from Derby winners Yet he was by Bertram a son of The Duke by Stockwell As a race horse he was one of the best of his generation generationBend Bend Or defeated him for the Derby DerbyYes Yes but by the smallest margin and that due to his jockey Rossiter being caught napping by Archer But Robert won the Grand Prix the St Leger and then put up the fourteen pounds St Leger penalty and won the Cesarevvitch with 118 pounds He sired a great colt in Chitabob but failed otherwise otherwiseWhere Where is Prince Pala Prince Palatine tine we asked askedOh Oh he and all our stal ¬ lions are out in the paddocks yonder re ¬ plied the old colored grocm The one you see up on the hill thats Prince Palatine Hes in the corner looking over the fence and hes trying to pick a quarrel with Theo Cook which is in the next field Ill go catch him if youll come along and we followed to where the twice winner of the Ascot Gold Cup stood making his defi to Theo Cook to come over and have it out and as we drew nearer we saw a horse whose grace and beauty Wrinkles Apollos and makes stale the themorning morning for Prince Palatine is the beau ideal of Continued on eleventh page STOCK FARMS OF KENTUCKY i Continued from first pas6 beauty in horse flesh A blood bay with near hind pastern vhite he has an ex ¬ quisitely modeled head wide between the eyes and between the jawplates with pro ¬ file somewhat concave like most of Per ¬ simmons children small at the muzzle nostrils large enough to permit full disten ¬ sion in breathing ears long and narrow and carried erect shoulders well laid the scapula almost as high as the withers The neck is long and deep where it joins the body The points of the scapula and hu merus incline toward each other while the radius and ulna are connected with the humerus in a manner that gives proper set to the elbow He is a longmuscled horse his knees and hocks are not as close to the ground as horsemen like nor are his quarters and stifles as heavy as most horses In fact he is light in the quarters but that we have found is a peculiarity of the best stayers Prince Palatine was the best stayer in England He trained until six and won the Gordon Stakes St Leger Doncaster Cup Coronation Cup and Jockey Club Stakes all over distances and twice the Ascot Cup at two and a half miles and was sold for 200 000 He is a triumph of breeding being a son of Persimmon from Lady Lightfoot by Isinglass second dam Glare by Ayrshire third dam Footlight by Cremorne The sires of the mares of his maternal line for five generations were Derby winners It ia the line that has produced more great racers than any in recent years Achievement Lord Lyon Bend Or Lady Audley Gardevesiure Pageant Blue Mantle Pilgrimage Jannette Illuminata Ladas Cicero Flair Lesbia Vivid Chelandry Neil Gow Royal Lancer etc etcIt It was impossible for forThe The Best Race anyone fond of the thor Horse in England oughbred horse to regard Prince Palatine without a feeling of inspiration The best race horse in England the mostly highly tried racer that has crossed the Atlantic since Morte mer and a picture horse in the bargain I couldnt get Mr Vosburgh away from him said Mr George Widener that eve ¬ ning alluding to our inspection Prince Pala tine reciprocated the attention He has a fashion of lowering his head and turning j it half aside as he stands gazing at you I When the groom released him he began trotting around us in a circle He dun learned that in England where they hold a horse on a leash they call it lunging re ¬ marked the old groom and bidding the gold cup winner adieu we followed the groom over the fence to where Theo Cook Theo Cook held forth a rather small horse of the Ben Brush type a good performer and a highly successful sire of that smart kind that get their feet when the barrier rises and win so many races Leonardos down there said the old groom pointing to the far end of the inclosure Ill go fetch him and the giant winner of the Hopeful of 1920 was caught and brought up the hill j We had not seen Leonardo since that fateful day when he led the field for I Leonardo II ue Brooklyn Handicap to within a furlong of the post looking a winner all over only to stop and limp home closing a career at times brilliant He has more size than often falls to the get of Sweep and more length and liberty than the average type of the Bonnie Scotland line In the next field Eternal was madly galloping as if he thought he was winning that Brooklyn Han ¬ dicap when he made every post a winning one and proved great racer that Eternal c was Purchase could not concede him twelve pounds He looks rough and hardy as do all the Xalapa stal ¬ lions They are not coddled but turned out and kept as near as possible in natural con ¬ dition ditionMy My Plays down there in Die My Play hollow Its too far for you to walk Ill go fetch him said the groom and off he went full half a mile down the hill to the far end of the paddock and re ¬ turned with the full brother to Man o War as everybody speaks of him Bodily My Play looks well He wears a plate on his near fore foot to remedy a trouble that necessitated his being thrown out of train ¬ ing He was injured in the race for the Kentucky Derby said the groom and came to us in July guess theyll train him in the spring springIt It was nearly noon and we were com ¬ pelled to cut our visit short thus being unable to inspect the weanlings We saw four of them a chestnut by Prince Palatine and three by Negofol By an admirable arrangement at the Xalapa Stud the wean ¬ lings are kept four in each paddock with a shelter lodge This avoids bullying and often injury when a large number are kept together while in the event of fire fewer are lost lostTheres Theres Omar Khayyam Theres Omar now exclaimed Mr George Khayyam Widener as we approached Mr A F Hancocks Claiborne Stud and caught sight of a chestnut horse browsing in a field to the right of the road Sure enough it was and we hastened to pay our respects to the Saratoga Cup winner of 1917 The blond beauty has changed little since his memorable struggles with Hourless He looks almost like a horse in training we thought He never was of the blccky type and we recalled the day he won the Realiza ¬ tion when a gentleman remarked Hes pret ¬ ty but delicate too effeminate We re ¬ sented the expression It reminded us of an episode at a summer resort where a lady remarked to a proud father that his son looked delicate Madam replied the father what you call delicacy we call re ¬ finement And so of Omar Khayyam he is an intensely refined horse and his career as a racer hardly proved him a delicate one Some of the best race horses have been called delicate because they were the reverse of coarseness Hindoo was one Oh what a long weak back we heard them say Roamer too was anything but coarse Sir Dixon a very refined horse was indeed delicate but a grand performer The fa ¬ mous Priam was called a marelooking horse In England Newminster was of this delicate type a paragon of beauty but as a sire the only rival Stockwell ever had If to be considered the proper type a horse must be a coarse brute with a ponderous carcass we might as well shoot our thor ¬ oughbred stallions and breed to Percherons Mr Hancock was at the The Claiborne stallion stables and received Stud us with his usual courtesy courtesyOf Of course we had to see the stallions Celt who led the winning sires in 21 a year also marked by his death is naturally missed but Mr Hancock ordered Ambassador brought out A very neat whole colored brown he struck us as a very likely horse to sire early ones A son of the now popular Dark Ronald from Excellenza by Haut Brion a son of St Simon he traces to the family that produced Galopin His racing record is quite classy embracing the July Stakes the oldest racing event of England while his daughter Constancy has established bis reputation as a sire sireBring Bring out War Cloud CloudAmbassador Ambassador and called Mr Hancock and War Cloud the winner of the Dwyer DwyerStakes Stakes came trotting around the corner of the stables little changed since the days when he bore the Macomber stripes He and Star Hawk had only recently returned from France where they sojourned the past three years By Polymelus dam by Persimmon is a pedi ¬ gree to conjure with War Cloud was one of our best colts of 1917 and 1918 The Walden Annapolis Preakness and Dwyer stakes were among his winnings Bred as he is he offers a fine outcross to a great many mares of the native strains and as he is of the Cyllene Ben Or the most suc ¬ cessful branch of Stockwell he should prove a well patronized stallion stallionJim Jim Gaffney big and burly Jim Gaffney followed It is many years since we had seen this old favo ¬ rite Doesnt look his age does he asked Mr Hancock We had forgotten how old he was Seventeen how the time flies No he doesnt show his age but he is a mammouth horse of evident constitution and this he has transmitted to his children Dodge Sennings Park War Pennant Franklin Sedan Edict etc all testify to that His daughtetr Edict was quite the best filly out last season among the twoyearolds Jim Gaffney took high rank as a racer winning the Hopeful and other events He was too heavily topped to train on into an old horse but his get train on By Golden Garter son of Bend Or and from a mare by Maxim son of Musket he traces in the maternal line to Emelia the dam of Australian the same family that produced the ever remembered Spinaway SpinawayStar Star Hawk came out full of Star Hawk fire anl energy Breeders seek ¬ ing to breed winners of the Fu ¬ turity and other events for the twoyearolds can hardly pass Star Hawk He is the em ¬ bodiment of energy and bred as he is to the Derby winner Sunstar from a daughter of Lucania the mare that won the Withers Stakes of 1895 he presents the high speed of the line of Vedette with the sturdy old Amer ¬ ican strains Walter Jennings to this day vows he could not have lost the Kentucky Derby had he not been left at the post but he made amends when he showed what a stayer he was winning the Realization and Louisville Cup He has a very highbred appearance his head clean cut as a cameo with the side bones of the face prominent like all the Sunstars we have seen In his first season in the stud before going to France he sired Startle the best filly in the West and winner of the Kentucky Oaks Mr Hancock has a full hand as regards stallions and no breeder for public sale is more deserving of success none has shown greater enterprise and liberality than ho in securing sires and mares of attractive breeding and highclass racing His late father made a name as a breeder with a very limited stud producing from it moro good racers than other studs of far greater magnitude It has remained for the son to embark in breeding on a great scale and with pronounced success Mr Hancock is a big man in more than one respect
