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Equipoise as a Sire By SALVATOR The result of the Kentucky Derby may y be regarded as having given the final accolade - to the dead hero Equipoise, as a sire. . It was all that was wanting to stamp once e and for all across the pages of our turf f history his greatness as a sire. The net value of the Derby to Shut Out t was 4,225. Previously this season that j. colt had won 0,242, making his score e alone 4,467. Others of the get of the e "Chocolate Soldier" have already, since the e campaign opened, won more than enough a to put their sire above the 00,000 mark. Last year the get of Equipoise won [ 38,676, which placed him at the head of f all American-bred stallions for that season. . The three that outranked him on the general list were the three imported horses 3 Blenheim II., with 78,981 of which a i single son, Whirlaway, earned 72,386 • : Sir Gallahad III., with 70,010; and Bull i Dog, with 63,827. When it is recalled that Equipoise has s been dead for four years; that he made only three regular stud seasons and one partial one previously, and that none of the crops were large ones, the impressive-ness of this showing sinks deeply into the mind of the student of breeding. Retirement to Stud Delayed As will be remembered, Equipoise had been twice announced retired to the stud before he finally was sent there. These ; delays were due to the insistent demand I by the track managers and the public that • he be retained in training. Today we can, with the clearness of ■ vision that subsequent events has brought, realize how great was the loss when this J demand was bowed to. Had the original | determination to retire him been carried L . out, instead of the scanty family of sons and daughters that he left behind him on [ his tragically early death, we might have , a much larger one. Also, not impossibly, he might be himself still alive and busy in the great work of procreation. During the three and a half seasons of I his stud service he got only about seventy-five , foals, all told. To date, with the present . season still far from the half-way r mark they have, since the first few appeared . as two-year-olds in 1938, won about ; 175 races and, in round figures, 25,000. ! That is an average of over 00,000 per season. It is an average of over 25,000 i per annual crop of foals. Often it has been remarked that Equipoise was never a lucky horse, and that was I . true. Everything that he won in the way of fame and money was won the hard way. As a performer, the dice often seemed to , have been loaded against him. Dame Fortune frowned upon him again and again i and it was only by dint of honest work and persistent bravery that he fought his way • to the very top. The same thing has to a considerable I degree proved the case with his little family. Instance after instance might be cited in which his sons and daughters did not get the breaks when they meant a great deal. Outstanding Foals Suffer Mishaps As is well known, a number of what were regarded as his best get never proved themselves in public, misfortune preventing them from demonstrating their class. When a sire has a large family of foals — there are stallions now before the public that had more individual foals to start during the single season of 1941 than Equipoise sired during his entire life — such things may be evened in a way in the future. But when, as in his case, that is impossible, they can not be charged to profit and loss and a new leaf turned over , in the ledger. ■ Should the little band of Equipoises continue through the season of 1942 in the way they have gone thus far he is certain to j t t s s it y - . e f t j. e e e a [ f . 3 a i • : i rank high among the winning sires again. He might, with luck, even top them all. But whether this comes to pass he has already demonstrated that his greatness as a sire equals his greatness as a performer. While we were forced to lose him so soon, it is a matter for congratulation that he has left behind him such sons as Shut Out, Attention, Swing and Sway, Equifox, Bolingbroke, Carrier Pigeon and others that when the time comes may take up work as sires and disseminate his blood through our breed of horses, and among his daughters such as Level Best and numerous others should prove valuable matrons. In this way he will remain a living force as a progenitor through coming years. All that is needed is the wise use of what we have, small though the number be, for to grow by accretion into a mighty asset.
