view raw text
In England and France in recent years they have had a host of good greys ; The Tetrach, Mumtaz Mahal, Filibert de Savoie, et al., nearly all descendants of Roi Herode, which comes of a line that begets mostly greys as did Roi himself. Prior to 1924 there were racing seasons in America without number in which less than a dozen grey two-year-olds have faced the starter. Now with youngsters by Stefan the Great, Grey Fox, Royal Canopy and White Magic available we shall have many greys. And this is desirable. The grey is the horse of legend, of history. Famed warriors, conquerors, have ridden grey chargers. Rosa Bonheur helped to glorify the grey. His popularity with racegoers has been notable ; this possibly because for years some racing men and vast numbers of racing followers whose opinion was worth little but who spoke in glib terms that gained them listeners held the grey in contempt Wherefore the general racing public, so frequently sympathetic with the under dog, was inclined to root for any and every grey horse. And if the object of their sympathy made good for them his popularity knew no bounds. Don Domo, mentioned a moment back, enjoyed a popularity that has been the lot of few selling platers. If Nicholas should win classic races with the frequency of Zev he will become easily the most popular horse since Man o War, largely because of his color or lack of it, as you will. A few turfmen are of the opinion that Mo-rello was a great horse. Hardly any racing man denies him the reputation of a truly good one. Because his racing after his two-year-old I form was in the west he lost an opportunity to meet the best of his time. Good horses that finished behind Morello in his short and ill-fated career were Yo Tambien and Aloha. Kingston beat a host of good ones, nearly as many as did Firenze. Terra Cottal, Vo-lante, Firenze, Strathmeath, Tenney, Los Angeles, Raceland, Tournament. King Fox, Potomac and Belvidere Avere among them. He did not meet Salvator and failed to beat The Bard, Hanover and Tremont. The Bard beat Hanover, Sir Dixon, Race-land, Firenze, Kingston, Inspector B., Bar-num, Elkwood and Volante. "I do not believe any man can make accurate comparison of the best horses that have raced in this country since Longfellows time," says Major August Belmont. "Such comparisons, given by racing men of experience and discernment, if without bias or prejudice, are always interesting. "Unquestionably we had a few great horses in the seventies and early eighties. But they raced over tracks and were trained and ridden in a manner Considerably different from the horses of the past thirty years. And even in the last three decades there have been constant changes in these elements of racing. "You can not compar horses of different eras by the time test. Also it is difficult to say which of the contemporaries of our best horses-were truly good and which were not so good. And then, just what makes a horse really great? "It is as hard to prove, even to ones self, why a horse should be acknowledged great as it is to define class in a thoroughbred. Also, it is sometimes unjust to deny greatness in a horse because of failure on a particular occaion, a failure that may have been due to something beyond control of horse or trainer. Luck, you know, has played as great a part in the careers of many horses as it has in the running of a particular race. "Many people doubtless think, because I bred him, that I always considered Man o War great But some of my friends and racing associates will tell you that I steadfastly refused to acknowledge greatness in the colt until I saw him do something that, to me, proved him a really great horse. That something was, of course, the manner .in which he responded to Kummers last furlong call in the John P. Grier race. "I have seen a few other horses that I believe were entitled to be classed as among our greatest But I wouldnt care to pin myself down to specifying the best two. One that I eliminated might he every inch as good a horse as the two I mentioned, even better than Man o War." John E. Madden, when asked to name tlie three greatest horses he had known, said "Since you are limiting me to three horses, I would select Man o AVar, Hamburg and Sir Barton. I should like to include Grey Lag, for he rightfully belongs in such distinguished company."
