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! : . , i STRANGE PRANKS OF FATE How Two Famous Mares Were Sold for Proverbial Song and Actually Disappeared. Close to six hundred horses were scheduled to be offered at the fall sales of the Fasig-Tipton Company in 1907. The prices realized, however, were so ridiculously small that a wholesale withdrawal took place. The sale, billed to cover a period of five days, was consummated in three. In the report of the last days sales, November 28, there appears under the caption. Property of Perry Belmont: Ionis, b. m, 12, by Magnetizer — lone; L Blume $ 70 Bay colt, by Kthelbert — Ionis ; C. Moore 100 Morganatic, br. m, 15. by Emperor — Lassie ; Mr. Christman 40 A few years later one of these mares would have had the leading breeders of the times bidding against each other for their , possession. The Kthelbert colt from Ionis, afterward named Dalmatian, turned in six wins in succession, and was the leading three-year-old of his year. His dam, Ionis, was shipped to Mexico, along with about forty other thoroughbreds which L. Blume had 1 purchased cheaply in this country and was 1 lost to the breeding world forever. No sooner had Fitz Herbert won the Suburban Handicap than there began a still hunt • for his dam. In the search the above records 1 were located but that was all. Mr. Christ-man, " who had purchased Morganatic, was 5 unknown. His address was said to be Idaho ; • others declared he was from western Canada, • but he was never located. The breeding industry was not the onl;- loser as a consequence, " for Mr. Christman could have realized 1 a substantial profit on his purchase. At the same time that Morganatic was sold for the proverbial song, the records show that 1 More Trouble, chestnut sister to Fitz Herbert, became the property of Harbison and Company for 5. and that Yaqui, the dam of Piute, • was sold to J. Le Masone for 25. In the ; light of 1iutes achievements this was but 1 a fraction of her real worth. Among those - who would have liked to become the owner r of Morganatic was S. C. Hildreth, then owner r of Fitz Herbert. It was Hildreths intention " at that time to become a breeder and he would have made a good offer for the 2 mare if she could have been found. Morganatic was by Kmperor, an unbeaten 1 race horse owned by P. Lorillard, and a son 1 of Knquirer and Vesperlight, the latter the e dam of Vandal ite, the best mare of her day. • Morganatics dam was Lassie, by Mortemer r — Wyandotte, by Leamington, her dam Nemesis, " by Kclipse. Nemesis was a mare which a was raced successfully in 1S68 and 18G9, and 3 then proved a great brood mare by producing Retribution, the dam of that trio of noted I performers, Nick, Arab and the Futurity winner Requital. From the wonderful racing records of Fitz Herbert and Dalmation it seems that if Perry Belmont even retained his small stud 1 of mares and kept Kthelbert in Kentucky he would have had great success in the breeding S business. Few breeders can boast of sending S out in one year the leading three- and four-year-olds, - and still when Perry Belmont bred d these two great racers he had but eleven n brood mares.
