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r- f Still a Difficult Feat And Still Man o War Leads j ; , By SALVATOB j From, the date when the Belmont Futurity was well established which is. to say a period of over forty years it has been a source of continuous comment, especially by those interested in breeding, that it seems almost impossible for a Futurity winner to sire a Futurity winner. The event, for several years past the worlds richest race, was first run for in 1888 and counting the recent renewal for 1932, it has now been contested no less than forty-five times. Yet during all this stretch of time almost half a century its roll shows that only three different winners have sent out a son or daughter to follow in his footsteps. They are as foljows: Pennant 1913, sire of Bunting 1921. Man o War 1919, sire of Scapa Flow 1926. St. James 1923, sire of Jamestown 1930. In the case of Pennant it took eight years for him to perform the feat, while Man o War and St. James each took seven. Prior to the running of the recent 1932 Futurity it seemed almost as good as settled that a fourth name would be added to. this short list, that of Pompey, as his son, Ladysman, looked practically certain to carry off the coveted prize; but when it came to racing, he had to be content with second money. Had he "come through," it would have, on his sires part, equaled the record held by- Man o War and St. James, as Pompey won in 1925, or seven years ago. FEAT WOULD BE BOOMERANG. The best way in which a new one could be established in this respect would be for a Futurity-winning colt to go to the stud as a three-year-old and get a Futurity winner that same season, making it possible for a period of but four years to elapse between the two victories. Such an achievement would be, indeed, remarkable and we may possibly see it recorded but on the whole, the chances are all the other way. A six-year-old sire with a Futurity winner to his credit would, in the vernacular "have the world by the tail." But, by the same token, he would have "set a pattern" not only for all rivals, but for himself to follow, that would place him under a severe handicap; for nowadays fashion is quick to desert any stallion that cannot keep "doing it again" and yet again. There seems, however, to "be a special difficulty attending such a feat as the one in question namely, for the winner of a celebrated fixed event to beget a winner of it later on when he goes to the stud. The case of the Kentucky Derby has long been a famous one in that regard. Established as far back as 1875 or thirteen years before the Futurity, hence having been contested no less than fifty-eight times, its honor roll shows only two instances of winners that have begotten winners, these being: Halma 1895, sire of Alan-a-Dale 1902. Bubbling Over 1926, sire of Burgoo King 1932. As will be seen, it was not until the present season that the second name was added to the list -Halma stood "alone in his glory" until Bubbling Over whom Colonel Bradley . -.4 still insists is the best horse he ever bred came across so handsomely. In a sense, the achievement of Bubbling Over is also the most creditable of any of those we have been passing in review, for he won the Derby of 1926, as stated, and begot the winner of 1932, a period of only six years elapsing between the victories of sire and son. We have seen that none of the instances of double victories of this kind in the Futurity has been accomplished in less than seven years, though the Futurity is for two-year-olds and the Derby for three-year-olds. Hence we may account Bubbling Over a truly precocious sire. BELMONT REAL DERBY EVENT. Our nearest analogue to the English Derby, however, is not the Kentucky Derby,, but the Belmont Stakes, which not only antedates the Blue Grass classic by eight years, having been first run in 1867, but is at the true Derby distance, while the Kentuckys has been shortened to but a mile and a quarter since 1895. It shows, how-.ever, a better record than either the Kentucky Derby or the Futurity, as to date four different winners of the event have sired winners, while two of them are also credited with two each. Here is the list: Hastings 1896 sire of Masterman 1902. sJommando 1901, sire of Peter Pan 1907 and Colin 1908. The Finn 1915, sire of Zev 1923. Man o War 1920, sire of American Flag 1925 and Crusader 1926. Here again we find a circumstance that is surprising. Not only had a sire and son. won the Kentucky Derby within the period of but six years, whereas no sire and son had won the Futurity within a shorter period than seven years, though the Derby is for " three and the Futurity for but two-year-olds in the case of the Belmont we find still a better record, for Man o War won it in 1920 and his son, American Flag, in 1925, or but five years afterward. MAN O WARS GREATNESS. This is the earliest possible date at which any colt could do so or any sire score such a feat. In order for a Belmont winner to have one of his offspring win the same event but five years later he must go to the stud the very next season, in his four-year-bid form, and beget a Belmont winner that year, among his first crop of foals. That is what Man o War did and it. is something without parallel. And as he followed with a second winner, Crusader, the next year of 1926, he accomplished a double feat that was truly astounding. Previous to Man o War, Commando had also scored two winners after winning himself in 1901, these being Peter Pan 1907 and Colin 1908; the sequence being a year longer in production than that of Man o War-American Flag-Crusader. As we have previously found that Man o War was one of the three Futurity winners that had sired Futurity winners, he is the only stallion appearing in more than one of these groups of unique sires another tribute to his surpassing greatness.
