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Select Group of Broodmares To Be Sold by Louis B Mayer Lot Headed by Busher Who Has Reverted to Ownership Of California Film Magnate MagnateBy By EVAN SIIIPMAN SIIIPMANStaff Staff Correspondent DAILY RACING FORM LOS ANGELES Calif June 7 Louis B Mayers magnificent stock farm at Ferris Calif soon to be sold and its thorough ¬ breds dispersed can boast as fine a group of mares and yearlings as this corre ¬ spondent has ever been privileged to see In a recent article dealing with the Mayer farm we spoke of the stallions Alibhai Thumbs Up Free France Domingo and Eiffel Tower with enthusiasm but as farm manager Harry Hart and Dr Baker resi ¬ dent veterinarian at Ferris showed us the matrons and young stock during two long recent visits we were even more impressed by outstanding quality The mares selected from the best strains of America Europe and Australia are all fine types all in superb condition and if praise needed any justification it would immediately be found in adjoining paddocks where the yearlings are at play playHart Hart and Dr Baker as interesting and informative guides as one could desire showed us the wares individually and on another afternoon repeated the process with the yearlings In spite of our interest this report for reasons of space must be pretty well confined to generalities If we do refer specifically to certain individuals their choice is not to be interpreted as at the expense of others say rather it is due to the particularly vivid impressions they make on a visitor visitorMares Mares Obedient to Bushers Will WillFirst First of all we saw Busher This grand big chestnut mare perhaps the outstand ¬ ing modern American race mare reverted to Mayers ownership when last Fall it was found inadvisable to keep her in train ¬ ing any longer She jvas in a paddock with a group of other mares but indisputably their leader the rest of the band apparently obedient to the great ladys every whim Busher like the attractive California stal ¬ lion Brie A Bac is one of War Admirals rare chestnuts and she has more size than most of her family In fact although her lines are beautiful she can be called mascu ¬ line in type Busher had Just been bred to Alibhai AlibhaiTorch Torch Rose dam of On Trust of course held special interest for us This fine daughter of Torchilla May Steil by Tchad had just foaled a full brother to E C Slices champion and both Hart and Dr Baker were proud of the wabbly Alibhai young ¬ ster While it is far too soon to comment on the conformation of this latest arrival one may say that the original result of this nick On Trust takes after his dam rather than Alibhai Apart from her chest ¬ nut color and rather finer lines we saw a strong family resemblance between Torch Rose and her sister May Torch dam of the good twoyearold Torchator TorchatorAcquisition Acquisition of Torch Rose Accidental AccidentalMayers j Mayers acquisition of Torch Rose per ¬ haps the farms leading matron is a curious story When the Kentucky horseman Clyde i Van Dusen came to Ferris to manage the farm some years ago Mayer bought all his mares so Van Dusen might have no outside interests to distract him Torch Rose be ¬ longed to Van Dusen but she was not in ¬ cluded in the shipment to California and neither Mayer nor Van Dusen remarked the omission The fact was that she had strayed to a back pasture and had been completely overlooked Weeks later Van Dusen stum ¬ bled on her rather than remembered her and sent her along after the others othersOn On our remark that Torch Rose was rather shortbred on her dams side our recollection of the French horse Tchad was that he was a complete failure in this country Hart said that on the contrary he believed Tchad had never been properly appreciated The veteran horseman re ¬ membered the family well had raced some of them arid assured us that the mares the few of them that ever had a chance were uniformly good producers producersWhile While Torch Rose was a lucky find for Mayer the rest of the matrons at the farm are there through a more logical system of selection Pedigree conformation and stakewinning ability is the formula Not all the mares at Ferris are stakes winners but a remarkably high percentage of them have earned this distinction There is no particular cross that the farm appears to favor all the leading families being well represented but we did gather the impression that SoninLaw blood was held in high favor here as a desirable outcross outcrossDonnemarie Donnemarie Rosary and Donatrice DonatriceOne One group of matrons that attracted our special attention was composed of Donne marie Rosary and Donatrice This trio had been shipped to America at the outbreak of the war by Laudy Lawrence who handles the affairs of MGM in France and who has long been associated with the French Turf While the mares are Mayers prop ¬ erty they have been bred here under an arrangement by which the first three fillies from each go to Lawrence Since Rosary has produced La Liberte and Donatrice has given Bellesoeur the bargain has not proved onesided even though Donnemarie is the I dam of Stepfather and Donatrice dam of The Dude DudeThe The selection of these three European i mares does great credit to Lawrences eye for a thoroughbred because even apart from the merit of their offspring they are hard or impossible to fault as individuals Dr Baker spoke of Donatrice as his con ¬ ception of the ideal broodmare We could not quarrel with his reasoning reasoningPainted Painted Veil a fine big Blue Larkspur mare out of Killishandra the dam of Mate has been a great favorite with Mayer ever since she carried his colors on the track We found all the quality associated with the Blue Larkspurs together with plenty of size and substance and she has already proved ability to get winners Mates halfsister is one of a fine group of American mares at Perris a list that includes such as La Bo heme sister to Jacola and halfsister to Johnstown Twilight Time by High Time Valonia by Gallant Fox Valkyr hence a threequarters sister to Vagrancy the at ¬ tractive High Time mare Lynn and one of the most noted matrons at the farm Panoramic a daughter of Chance Shot Dustwhirl This halfsister to Whirlaway was mated with Whirlaways sire Blenheim n giving the stakewinning mare Hemi ¬ sphere who is also a highly admired young mare at Perris Among the fine matrons of English blood we may have been particularly im ¬ pressed by the Gray Boudoir II a daughter of Mahmoud Kampala by Clarissimus fashionable breeding both here and abroad The third foal of this young mare had just arrived at the time of our visit and he is a well made youngster Blessed Isle by Nearco Notley Abbey by Friar Marcus is a big mare of a type that appeals perhaps more to English than American horsemen We however were struck by her scope and rangy lines and it was easy to see a re ¬ semblance to her halfbrother the Califor ¬ nia stallion Old English now standing only a few miles away at Ontario This as we have indicated is only a partial report but Perris deserves much more and when we describe the yearlings many of the other fine mares there will take their place in the picture as dams of outstanding pros ¬ pects pectsEditors Editors note Evan Shipmans article on the Mayer yearlings will be published shortly3
