view raw text
Nelson Dunstan REFLECTIONS Bv Nelson Dunstan Attention Got 6000 in Suburban Settling Wagers on Prices of Horses Mike Dwyer Made Many Good Buys HorseinTraining Record 191362 NEW YORK N Y June 2 2When When did a horseintraining cost 55000 and three days later win back 27600 of his cost price It has never happened in this country in fact no horseintraining ever brought 55000 in this country before But the sale of Attention son of Equipoise brought many letters to our desk and some asked that an answer be given so as to settle some vagers that had been made In this column we will endeavor to comply and give the figures on various phases of horse sales Some readers confused hbrses mtraming with stallions mares and even yearlings True all three groups mentioned have had individuals bring higher prices than the 55000 Attention brought But the conditions were different Still others did not distinguish between horsesintraining sold in this coun ¬ try and those who were offered in England and other countries There is no basis of comparison for sales of yearlings and horsesintraining The first is an un ¬ known quantity but if a buyer strikes gold he has a lucrative two and threeyearold career on which to realize breathtaking dividends A fiveyearold such as Attention has usually passed his prime as a racer but due to his racing career and pedigree may be sought as a studr Such was the case with Attention son of the mighty Ekky Lets look into some of the figures that horses have brought down through the years The 55000 for Attention was not only a surprise but also an American record for a horse intraining For the old record we have to go back close to 50 years or to be exact to July 15 1895 when the Gideon and Daly stable was dispersed at Sheepshead Bay On that day and acting on behalf of August Belmont Andrew Jackson Joyner went to 37000 to secure Hastings the sire of Fair Play and grandsire of Man o War But although there is no record quite a few horses brought high prices prior to 1895 In the spring of 1886 Pierre Lorillard sold all his horses and the famous Dwyer brothers went to 29500 to secure the then threeyearold filly Dewdrop a brown daughter of Falsetto It was on November 20 1890 at the dispersal of the horses of Congressman W L Scott that Mike Dwyer paid 35000 for the twoyearold colt Bolero and it was when he and his brother Phil came to a parting of the ways and ended the greatest of racing partnerships that Mike Dwyer paid 30000 for the sixyearold King William II a brown horse by Spendthrift Kapanga Good prices were paid for horses back in those years of the mauve decade At Morris Park on October I 1892 they dispersed the horses of James M Brown who had been killed in the Garden Park riots and one of those offered was the unbeaten twoyearold GW Johnson a son of Iroquois Brunette by Bonnie Scotland He was knocked down to Dr Gideon Knapp of the Oneck Stable for 30000 A month later the horses of the brewer Frank Ehret were sold with Mike Dwyer again in the picture by purchasing the then twoyearold Don Alonzo one of the group he took on that illfated invasion of Europe with Richard Croker the exTammany chieftain Down through the years other horsesintraining have warranted good prices and well within the memory of presentday racegoers was Dauber who brought 29000 the bid of William duPont Jr at the dispersal of the C V Whitney racing stable on November 8 1937 That was one of the best dispersal sales we ever reported coming as it did in years before Hitler went on the march and horses brought prices near their worth At that same sale Earl Sande acting for Col Maxwell Howard bought boughtThe The Chiel for T handsomelyT 14100 The Chief earned his way handsomely Two American sportsmen however paid more money in England for horsesintraining sold by public auction than Attention realized George Alexander Baird who raced under the nom de course Mr Abingdon came to this country in the winter of 1893 He acted as a second for Jem Hall in the fight at New Orleans in which Hall was knocked out by Bob Fitzsimmons Baird in seconding his man stripped to his undershirt contracted pneumonia and died a few days ater less than 30 years of age with a fortune of 15 000000 and the owner of Meddler a son of St Gaticn Busy Body by Petrarch unbeaten at two in England On June 26 1893 Bairds horses were sold by auction at Newmarket and an American V H Forbes of Boston Mass outbid the Britishers and bought Meddler then three years old for 72500 He brought Meddler to this country but abandoned his plan to put the horse into training and retired him to the stud in 1894 Meddler became the leading sire in this country in 1904 and 1906 being split in those years by Hamburg Among his many successful sons and daughters was Balan coire II the granddam of Equipoise He was later sent to France where he died when 26 years old oldAt At Newmarket October 14 1921 the horsesintraining property of the late Frank Curzon were sold by auction The British Bloodstock Agency acting on behalf of that beloved sportsman Benjamin Jones of Audley Farm bought the then twoyear old colt Strolling Player a chestnut son of the Derby winner Grand Parade out of Comedienne dam of the Derby winner of 1927 Call Boy for 12000 guineas equivalent to 61200 This horse was turned over to the late Bob Smith and raced here at three However the worlds record price for a horseintraining sold by public auction is 39375 pounds sterling which is equivalent to 19136250 calculating the pound sterling at 486 This was the sum paid for the then fouryearold Flying Fox winner of the Triple Crown the previous year He was a son of Orme Vampire by Galopin He was sold by the order of the executors of the late Duke of Westminster at Kingsclere Thursday March 8 1900 the purchaser was the Frenchman Edmond Blanc who held the gambling concession at Monte Carlo John Porter had trained Flying Fox and Blanc intended to leave the horse in England to run in the Ascot Gold Cup and other weightforage races But Porter could not consistently train for Blanc so the horse went to France where he entered the stud in the spring of 1901
