Marcus Dalys Big Coup: Late Copper King Credited with Winning 80,000 When His Futurity Colt Wins, Daily Racing Form, 1924-08-26

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MARCUS DALYS BIG COUP of f Late Copper King Credited With Winning 80,000 When His Futurity Colt Wins, i. , e One of the biggest betting coups ever made in this country was that in which tho 0 late Marcus Daly figured in when he Avon the 0 Futurity with Ogden in 1896. John. S. Camp-0 bell, who had been trainer for the Bever- 0 wyck Stable ; A. P. Walcott and Hankins and jj Johnson engineered it. In 1895-9G Campbell wintered a portion of the Daly stable in Montana at the Anaconda race track, where at times it was thirty and forty degrees below zero, but a dry, bracing climate, and the colts and fillies became inured to the arctic-like temperature. 1 j Among the yearlings was an imported colt, Ogden, that in his trials was so slow that his s trainer tried to sell him for 50, without ; success. By the next May, however, this two-year-old had come on at a great rate, t and Campbell sent Avord to Marcus Daly that e they had a youngster aboe the average in the imported colt. At the June meeting in a Butte, Ogden made his debut, running second to a stable companion, Jim Blackburn. Two other times, once at Butte and once at Anaconda, he repeated this performance, t This was to save penalties for the Futurity, for which trainer Campbell and owner Daly ! already were planning the biggest coup of J the century with Ogden. Ogden then was entered in a race at Ana- conda against the two fastest matured horses in the Northwest at five-eighths, they to concede the two-year-old the scale Aveight. Ogden beat them both. In the middle of . July Ogden was sent from Montana to Sara- toga, Campbell preferring to give him his work for the Futurity at the Spa. There Avas no racing that summer 1S96 at Saratoga, , and the track was virtually deserted, which i gave Campbell the opportunity to work the . 1 colt almost Avithout observation, and after 1 1 resting the youngster after his 2,500-mile 1 trip, he sent him along in earnest. In spito ; 1 of the slim possibility of any "Peeping Tom" getting on to Ogdens work. Campbell was cautious about his gallops, which I took place in the early morning and late , eArening. Three days before the Futurity Ogden Avas ! still at Saratoga. That morning at 4 oclock 1 was set for a real trial of the colt, and Campbell and jockey "Doc" Tuberville, who , was to ride Ogden in the Futurity, were at the track before daybreak. Madge D., a three-year-old of proven speed, was selected 1 as Ogdens companion in the trial, and she carried 110 pounds, while the two-year-old carried 125. The pair were started in f the chute, and Madge D. took the lead for the first quarter in 234 seconds. But Ogden j was lapped on his older antagonist, and at the half, run in 47, showed a half length in s front. The rest of the Avay Ogden held f 1 the three-year-old safe and won the trial 1 by two lengths in 1 :13 1-4 for the three-quarters. 5 No one but the stable people and 1 bliiff old Puckett. the track superintendent, j saw the trial, and all hands were much impressed. I Ogden and his stable companions were s shipped South that day and joined the rest c of Dalys horses at Sheepshead Bay, where J Matt 1 Byrnes was in charge. The latter had Scottish Chieftain in the Futurity, with the C crack jockey, Fred Taral up, and when he S saw Ogden, which was rather undersized, o chaffed Campbell a good bit about his little brown "broncho." But when Campbell pinned him down to a a bet of a suit of clothes that his "broncho" v would come in ahead of Scottish Chieftain, f the man who had trained three Suburban v winners began to think Campbell had s something "on" him. After the race he Avas S sure of it. Such a crowd was at Sheepshead h Bay on the day of the Futurity that it . was a matter of difficulty to get inside 11 the betting ring, except at intervals on the t track side of the inclosure. So when Marcus I Dalys commissioners, John E. McDonald and V two others, started in with 0,000 each to b back Ogden, they had trouble from the outset. Sl OEXAMENT WAS FAVORITE. Ornament T. Sloan was favorite at 2 to 1 1, Avith Keenes Rhodesia Simms rated as s si second choice at 4 to 1. Then came the Daly pair at 8 and 10, with Challenger Doggett, 11 Rodermond J. Hill, Box V. Martin, Bus-tron ti Clayton, Panmura T. Griffin, News-gatherer S Ballard and others at long odds. Nailing several layers out of line for moderate ei amounts at 12 and 15 to 1 on the Daly pair, the commissioners butted their way toward w the center of the ring, where the principal ri operators were and got several thousand a dollars on at 10 to 1. In one or two C! cases, where moderate prices were laid on ti the Daly pair for a place, they got 10 to 1 Ol on Ogden for the place. On down the ring, hi here and there, as well as the crowd would t in let them, hurried the Daly commissioners, betting bi 00 here, ,000 there, until S to 1 w was the best price obtainable. They accepted C that price and were taking 7 to 1 W when the cry of "Theyre off" stopped further U business. Ornament, the kicker, had, as usual, raised a a circus at the post, following this colt and tl, 1,1 that, trying to kick them, in spite of all Continued on sixteenth page.j MARCUS DALYS BIG COUP Continncd from fourteenth page. his jockey, Tod Sloan, could do. Twice ho missed Ogden by a small margin and Tuber-ville was kept busier watching the vicious chestnut than the starter. When they did get off, it was Ornament and Ogden all the way, the Daly "copper, silver sleeves and green cap" and the brown colt from Montana drawing away from the blue grass-bred antagonist in the last eightn and winning by a length and a half in 1:10, a new record for the old Futurity course. Rodermond was a close third and Rhodesia fourth. By mistake of the judges, the number of Scottish Chieftain was first hung up as the winner. And trainer Matt Brynes immediately grabbed his .fellow-trainer, Campbell, and lifted him in the air, triumphantly claiming, "Me for that suit, Johnny." But when in an instant Scottish Chieftains number was taken down and Ogdens hoisted in its place, the trainer of Pontiac, Salvator and Montana dropped Campbell like a hot potato amid roars of laughter from the bystanders. Dalys commissioners were not able, owing to the crowd, to get down all of the 530,000 they had planned to bet. But jointly they placed enough of the big wager to win S0,-000. They were several days collecting the money and some of the layers were badly cramped to make good. Ogdens victory was worth 3,790, tho value of the first money in the Futurity to his owner, besides the betting proceeds of 30,000. This was probably the heaviest betting coup ever made by an American turfman on a home track and had Mr. Dalys commissioners been able to get all his money down, the coup would have amounted to close to a quarter of a million. But tho wngers and value of the stakes amounted jointly to 24,000 a wonderful showing for a little brown colt that less than a year before would have been considered well sold at 50. Jockey Tuberville received ,000 fee and Marcus Daly treated all his employes with princely liberality. 4


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Local Identifier: drf1924082601_14_1
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800