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CHICAGOS OWN KENTUCKY DERBY CANDIDATE WISE COUNSELLOR OUR HOPE . » . One of the Choices for the Golden Jubilee Derby Owned by Chicago Sportsman — Salvator Tells of Colts Greatest Race and His Interesting Pedigree ♦ A Chicago sportsman may win this years Golden Jubilee Kentucky Derby. This happy anticipation will be realized if Wise Counsellor is triumphant en Saturday. May 17. Last year when John Ward paid J6G.000 for the son of Mentor— Rustle, it was rumored in turf circles that a Chicago business man was a silent partner in that transaction. The silent partner is no other than Frederick A. Burton, president of the Burton Coal Company of this city. Because John Ward is supremely confident that Wise Counsellor will win Kentuckys most coveted race and, wishing his "silent" partner to share the glory that goes to the cwner cf such a superb creature of the thoroughbred world, he persuaded Mr. Burton to permit him to announce the Chicago sportsmans interest in the great colt. Chicago has every reason to be proud of its Derby candidate. Wise Counsellor is every inch a race horse. He started but five times as a two-year-old, winning all but his first race. It was at Latonia, June 19, that Wise Counsellor made his debut under the colors of T. C. Bradley, manager of the Kentucky Association at Lexington. In this race, a five-eighths dash for maiden two-year-olds. Wise Counsellor was away slowly and had to race wide on the turns, but finished a bang-up second to J. B. Respess Energy, beaten a half length. A few days later Wise Counsellor gave evidence of future greatness when he easily accounted for the Harold Stakes, defeating Worthmore, Hunter, Black Go!d and others in the fast time of :oI*. equalling the Latonia track record for five-eighths of a mile. Then came the Cincinnati Trophy and Wise Counsellor proved that his victory in the Harold Stakes was no fluke. He met Black Gold at equal weights, each carrying 127 1 pounds and easily triumphed over the Ixniis- I ana Derby winner of this year, defeating him by three lengths in 1 :121.-,, with Befuddle third and Worthmore fourth. Failure of his owner to enter Wise Coun- ; sellor in the rich Saratoga stakes left the ! crack colt idle during the August meeting at the Spa and it was not until October 27 I that Wise Counsellor again appeared under silks. This was at Latonia in the Queen City Handicap, when the son of Mentor for the first time carried the colors of John S. Ward, who had a week or so previously purchased the colt as mentioned above. The Queen City Handicap is a mile race and Wise Counsellor carried 125 pounds, con- | ceded weight to all his opponents, made all I the pace, simply running away from the oth- | ers to win by five lengths eased up in 1 :39?s, the fractional time being :22-i5. :4t and t:ll%. Behind him at the finish were Battle Creek. Bob Tail, King Gorin II., Cloister. Bracadale. Delectable, Peter Maloney, Black Gold. Chilhowee. Colonel Gilmore and Bob Cahill in the order named. This was indeed ! an impressive performance and placed Wis; i Counsellor in the foremost ranks of the years j two-year-olds. Great as was the performance it paled into I insignificance when compared to Wise Counsellors glorious triumph in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs November 17, his final appeaiance of the year. But let one tell of that memorable struggle who was present oti that momentous oeeasion, the day of the match race between Zev and In Memoriam. Reference is made to Salvator, whose contributions to the columns of Daily Pacing Form have always been a source of keen pleasure and enjoyment to those that love the thoroughbred and the great sport of racing. The following article was written by Salvator shortly after the Kentucky Jo. key Club Stakes was run and not only covers the race itself, but presents some interesting data concerning the breeding of Wise Counsellor, that is indeed opportune at th s time when so much is being written concerning the chances of this Chicago-owned colt in the U»21 Kentucky Derby: BY SALVATOR What a pleasure it is to the watchers on the outer walls, always with yearning gaz-vanning the horizon for something over which they may get up some enthusiasm, to see looming up such a colt as Wise Counsellor: Everything about him is m attractive and so satisfactory. Most especially, to the turf reporter or commentator, always listlessly in search of good copy" and, in s many instances, driven to the expedient of reaching up and pulling it down out of the air, or nearly that. When he won the Kentucky Jockey Club Continued on twelfth page. , I CHICAGOS DERBY CANDIDATE Continued from first page. stakes at Iatonia in such gallant style the same afternoon that Zev and In Memoriam raced their furious but indecisive to most people match. It could not but warm the hearts of those who admire a same and honest, as well as a fleet and facile colt. He went to the post, it is reliably stated, with a bad quarter-crack, which lie had very recently sprung. It had to be held together by a metal plate and obviously must have affected him adversely. The "speed of the race was electric. They were at the quarter in 2?% seconds and at the half in 45 flat, which s said to have been the fastest four furlongs ever run in Kentucky. He was third* at this station, but soon assumed the lead and was first at the three-quarters in 1 :10— the track record for that distance being 1:11. Battle Creek, which had been setting the pace, now began to falter and Mad Play, which had been laying back, to make play. The finish was a bruising one. Mr. Wards colt was tiring — and no wonder ! — and Mad Hatters game brother was at him with dogged determination. But Wise Counsellor refused to show the white feather and the verdict was his by a neck. REMARKABLE SPEED. The mile was run in 1 :37% and may be called the best ever run by a two-year-old. Garbage, at that age, ran a mile in the same time at Belmont Park, back in 1911. but had up only the feather of 90 pounds — or 32 less than Wise Counsellor. At Santa Anita Park, in 190S, Fitz Herbert ran a mile, as a two-year-old, in 1:37%. with 121 pounds up; that is to say, a fifth second slower, but carrying two pounds more. But this race was run as late in the year as December 19. Fitz Herbert is recognized as one of the greatest weight carriers that the American turf has seen and that Wise Counsellor has excelled his performance must be reckoned a notable feat. Taken in connection with his three previous winning performances — a mile in 1 :39% with 12.1 pounds up; six furlongs in 1 :12Vs with 127 pounds up, and five furlongs in 59 seconds with 110 pounds up. we must acclaim Wise Counsellor as a colt of triple merit. He has marvelous speed ; he can pack high weight, and he can go as far as two-year-r.lds are ever asked to in America and farther than they are in many countries. Not long ago in Daily Hieing Form I offered some comments upon the seasons unbeaten two-year-old. Sarazen. in which I pointed out out the fact that he was bred by a "small breeder," was by an untried sire and from an untried dam, hence was an "object lesson" to those unable to work with the most fashionable materials in the most expensive way. in their endeavors to produce stake colts. Wise Counsellor is almost a parallel case. He is not from a sire and dam so young and so untried as Sarazen, but he is from a parentage even less fashionable, as fashion now goes. Sarazen came from the great breeding ground of the blood horse, Kentucky, but Wise Counsellor hails from the far distant "tall timber" of Missouri. Neither of these young sensations was considered fit to parade before the critical buyers who every summer throng to the ringside of Mr. Trantors arcadian sale pavilion at Saratoga. All of which goes to show that fashion is not only a very fickle goddess but, on occasion, near-sighted. I have not seen the tabulated pedigree of Wise Counsellor in Daily Pacing Form as yet, so it is herewith offered : Hindoo f nanover Himyar h r Blackstock.. j Mannie 1 Mannie Grey I 2 [ Himyar... I Leamington v « I j Susan Beane .2 I f Onondaga .... J War Hanc-j g lMeta J Georgia i Woods ►j I Cna " Leamington oi j Fanny S3 I Washington fc , f Eolus fs.atl.clock O f Russell 1 j Fanny * I Washington W £ I [Tilly Russell | Leamington w 2 / Maggie It. M. ? m f Iroquois f Creat Tom I Lady I»uise. Tullulali [Tarantula... Bourbon Belli I doubt if there is another two-year-old of any note now "in our midst" that is so near 100 per cent American. Observe that you have to go back to the fourth generation to find an imported ancestor, and then you find only two different individual ones, although one of them appears three times — Leamington ; the other being Creat Tom. Leamington was foaled in 1S53 and imported in 1S6.1, Great Tom was foaled in 1873 and imported in 1S78. It is, therefore, almost half a century since the nearest imported ancestor of Wise Counsellor came to this country. What is more, if his maternal ancestry were to be extended, in the direct female line, it would be discovered that we would have to go dean hack to his fourteenth dam, the famous Cub mare, to reach an imported one, and she was foaled in 1762 and imported into this country before the Revolutionary War. over 150 years ago. Again, taking the top line and extending three more generations before we strike an importation — Gleneoe, which was foaled in lbol and imported in 1836. OLD AMERICAN STRAIV. To lovers of the truly American thoroughbred, how familiar and how loved are the names which we find in the final generations of the tabulation above —Hanover, Hindoo, Himyar, Mannie Grey. Leonatus. Susan Beane, Onondaga, Kolus. Fanny Washington, Iroquois, Maggie B. B. There are not only three crosses to Leamington, as shown — there is a fourth, for his son, Fn-OUlrer, sired old Mannie Grey, the grand-dam of Blackatock. Of all the names, however, the outstanding one to the breeder will be that of Hanover. .Nothing has caused true American turfmen more Borrow, of recent years, than the fact that the blood of Hanover was being let die la the direct male line. They have been hoping and praying that the destinies of the thoroughbred breed in America would vouchsafe- us some great n presenta-tive of this once so dominant line that would touch it with new potency and power and reinstate it among the leaders. There is evidence that Wise Counsellor may be that horse. His present credentials certainly qualify him for such a function, and if he trains on and proves as grand a three-year-old as he has been a two-year-old. he should be put to the stud at OQCe, under the most favorable auspices. for the carrying on of the work for which fate would seem to have singled him out.
