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A TRANSCENDENT PERFORMANCE By SALVATOR. j Superlatives are often heaped upon the performance of race horses, though, as a matter of fact, they are only at rare intervals deserved. It is human nature to be carried away by a brilliant exhibition of speed and gameness and in the enthusiasm of the moment to throw up hats and pronounce it the greatest ever. But when the excitement subsides and reflection and critical judgment take its place, as a rule the perfervid eulogies ring rather out of tune. Which, however, does not in any way prevent another outburst of the same kind the first time any excuse for it eventuates. Granting all this, the performance of War Admiral in the Belmont Stakes must nevertheless be termed transcendent. Nothing else of the kind has ever equaled it. Analysis of the records reveal that statement to be the cold and literal fact, not the ebullition of a momentary glow of admiration. The Belmont Stakes, as is well known, is today the sole and only American stake event of the first class for three-year-olds that really stands upon a parity with the English Derby. It is over the full Derby distance of a mile and a half; whereas all our other multifarious "Derbys," so-called, from the Kentucky event down, have been reduced in route to, as a rule, a mile and a quarter, a mile and an eighth or even less. But the Belmont has been retained at the full mile and a half; and its winning, not the winning of the reverberant Churchill Downs affair, is the true equivalent of the winning of the English Derby at Epsom. This is acknowledged by American turfmen who discriminate between what seems and what really is. LARGER TRACKS NOWADAYS. In bygone times the distance of a mile and a half, or twelve furlongs, was one frequently raced at all American meetings of any repute or magnitude, and no horse incapable of getting that far, if three-year-olds or older, could pretend to-rank in the first flight. As the tracks of those days were as a rule very slow when compared with ours, the records made by the champions were far slower than they have since become a fact increased by the differences in track size then and now. Until the Sheepshead Bay course was built about 1880, America had no courses that were more than one mile in circuit. For a long while it was considered a fast race if 2:40 was beaten for 1 1-2 miles. One of the first horses that ever bettered it was Glenelg, bred in England but foaled in America and first a great race horse, later our premier sire for four different seasons. On August 2, 1870, at old Monmouth Park, Long Branch, N. J., he ran a mile and a half in 2:37, which was considered a wonderful performance. It remained the record for the distance until one of the greatest sons of Lexington, Tom Bowling, smashed it to atoms by running it in 2:34 over the old Kentucky Association track at Lexington the historic course that was finally cut up into building lots two years ago, after an existence of over 100 years. TOM BOWLINGS PERFORMANCE. This performance by Tom Bowling, which marked the first time in history when twelve furlongs in 2:35 or better had been made, stood untouched for six years. It was recorded on May 12, 1874 and did not go into the discard until on August 17, 1880, at Monmouth Park, the great Luke Blackburn lowered it to 2:34 flat that was the season when Luke Blackburn performed the feat of winning twenty-two out of twenty-four starts as a three-year-old, which has never since been equaled. I Luke Blackburns record stood for six years and was then equaled by Jim Guest, on July 24, 1886, over the old Washington Park track, Chicago. But four years more went by before it was lowered, giving it a life of ten full years. The honor of beating it then went to that wonderful race mare Firenze, by common consent one of the greatest ever seen in America and a daughter of Glenelg, mentioned above as the first horse that ever beat 2:40. FIRENZE GREAT STAYER. Firenze was the greatest stayer of her day, and as the route lengthened her prowess strengthened. On June 26, 1890, in winning the Coney Island Cup, at Sheepshead Bay, she ran a mile and a half in 2:33, lowering Luke Blackburns record a full second. She was then seven years old and carried 117 pounds, being ridden by Isaac Murphy, the renowned "Colored Archer." " It was considered a marvelous performance, but it stood only two years, for in 1892 the three-year-old Lamplighter, with 109 pounds up, ran it in 2:32 at Monmouth Park; this, however, was over the new course there, which was a mile and three-quarters around. Henceforth, reductions in the mark were at a standstill for almost six years, but finally Buckwa, on December 24, 1897, ran in 2:32 over the old Oakland Course, at San Francisco. He was the first champion at this distance not a high-class stake horse, being only a useful handicapper, a gelding, then six years old. However, on August 28 of that same year the aged plater Evanatus, carrying the "catch weight" of but 73 pounds, had equaled Lamplighters record over the old Harlem Chicago track. But on ac-j count of the weight the performance meant i little or nothing. I GREAT SENSATION. A real sensation was, however, created when the next July 16, 1898, at Washington Park, the three-year-old Goodrich, with 102 pounds up, won the Great Western Handicap the same event which, now revived at a mile and a quarter, was so gallantly won this season by Count Morse in 2:30. Not only did Goodrich lower the mark two full ! seconds he won galloping by four lengths and it was apparent that if ridden out he i could have run in 2:30 or better. So great was the astonishment with which this performance was greeted that as is I very frequent on the eastern seaboard there j were protests as to the accuracy of the time, length of the course, etc., etc. However, ; both were bona fide. The feat was, on the other hand, one of those which from time to time have happened in turf history, in i which a horse, just as good but not. a great ; one, on that day in superlative form and j with the conditions just right, not only out- j raced himself but set a milestone that was to j mark the speed limit of the thoroughbred I at that distance for many a year to come. LONG ESTABLISHED RECORD. As aforesaid, Goodrich posted his 2:30 for a mile and a half on July 16, 1898 and there it stood, in the table of worlds records, for no less than twenty-one years, unequaled and unbeaten, until finally at Laurel, Md., on October 11, 1919, that good horse Thunderclap, a three-year-old, with 108 pounds up, in winning the Annapolis Handicap ran in 2:29t with grand old Exterminator, under 128 pounds, beaten a head only. At last the 2:30 mark had been reached and passed. Apparently once this was accomplished the way was cleared for a new era, as the next July 20, 1920, the six-year-old Minto TI., an English-bred gelding of good but not by jany means exalted class, equaled Thunderclaps mark at Latonia, carrying 115 pounds and winning the Daniel Boone Handicap, worth VH.225. This proved the curtain raiser for something greatly memorable, j achieved by a real hero Man o War, no ! less! I The mighty son of Fair Play and Mahubah j had been smashing all kinds of records all that season, but had not been called upon to go farther than a mile and three furlongs, which was then the Belmont Stakes distance. He had run it in 2:14, to establish a new American record that has never since been beaten. NEW AMERICAN RECORD. His first effort at a greater distance came j in the Realization, run September 4, 1920, at Belmont" Park, a mile and five furlongs. I Nothing would run against him but Hood-1 wink, a negligible quantity, started only in I order that a race be not a walk-over for "Big Red." Clarence Kummer was up on him and jumping off at a high rate of speed which he maintained throughout, he finished off by himself in 2:40, a new American record and one that still stands. He carried 126 pounds. The first mile and a half of this race Man o War ran in 2:28, official, which was four-fifths of a second faster than the record for the distance of 2:29, held jointly by Thunderclap and Minto IJ.; but, of course, it did not classify as a record technically. But his chance soon came to establish one. Just a week later, on September 11, 1920, Man o War started at Belmont Park for The- Jockey Club Stakes, a mile and a half. Here also he had but a single competitor, as before put in to save the race from a walk-over, this being Damask. Again Man o War sailed away at the word and running at terrific sped all the way, finished the distance in 2:28, precisely the same time he had made in the first mile and a half of the Realization, but this time a technical record for the distance. He carried 118 pounds. HANDY MANDYS RECORD. For seven years this mark remained un-approached. Then in the Latonia Derby of 1927 the three-year-old filly Handy Mandy, on June 25, favored by the conditions with an impost of but 109 pounds, lowered it to 2:28, a mark still unbeaten and only now, after ten years, equaled by War Admiral in the 1937 Belmont Stakes. It will be interesting to compare the fractional times in the four races just described, two by Man o War and one each by Handy Mandy and War Admiral, which are the only instances in which a mile and a half has ever been run in this country below 2:29. Here they are: Man o War, 1920, 126, :23, :47, 1:36, 2:03, 2:28. Man o War, 1920, 118, :25, :49, 1:38, 2:03, 2:28. Handy Mandy, 1927, 109, :24, :48, 1:38, 2:02 2:28. War Admiral, 1937, 126, :24, :48, 1:37, 2:02, 2:28. That Man o War could have run still faster is beyond question. He was not ridden out in either effort and in both ran virtually alone all. the way. Kummer had a strong hold of him when he finished in each instance and had not really let go his head for an instant. "JUST GALLOPING." In the case of War Admiral there was almost an exact parallel. He went to the van immediately the start was made, dashed off several lengths in front, was taken under restraint and just rated along, the descriptions of the race state that all through the home slretch he was "just galloping" and he finished in that fashion, four lengths in front of Sceneshifter, never having been ex- tended after once he had taken the track. Had anything been able to get near him, he must inevitably have run much faster and we would today have a mark of 2:28 or better. War Admiral ran in early June, his sire in September. The latter carried 118 pounds in The Jockey Club Stakes, when setting a technical record, and 126 pounds when setting an unofficial one. War Admiral carried 126 pounds in the Belmont. According to the official scale of weight of The Jockey Club, a three-year-old, in September, should carry 11 pounds more than in June in races of a mile and a half. The performance of the Admiral therefore, when compared with Man o Wars, gains added luster. It was, in truth, a transcendent performance.
