view raw text
SIRES AND DAMS 1 By Nelson Dunstan Kentucky Has Many of Worlds Finest Sires Breeders Invested Millions in Top Horses Powerful Groups at Farms in Blue Grass Nasrullah an Adonis of Claiborne Sire Band BandLEXINGTON LEXINGTON Ky May 12 12While While inspecting yearlings here we also had an opportunity to see many of the worlds most famous stallions In Lexington one cannot help but be impressed with the quantity of the sires but more with the quality and the potential that exists for breeding the very best racing stock in the world Many millions of dollars have been invested In sires and they repre ¬ sent over 200 years of intensive study plus the dollars that but breeders have put into them Before the turn of the century some breeders in this country and abroad main ¬ tained huge farms and one was the Rancho Del Paso the California establishment of James Ben Ali Haggin on whose 44000 acres he maintained 40 stallions 600 brood ¬ mares and annually marketed yearlings in groups of hundreds With the many econo ¬ mic changes that have taken place in this country and the steady rise of real estate values in Kentucky and other breeding areas it would be impossible for any breeder to carry on such an operation these modern days True the fabulous King Ranch in Texas embraces approximately 900000 acres in eight counties and its 500 windmills and artesian wells furnish water for 85000 head of cattle and 3000 horses But thoroughbred breeding is actually but a very small part of the operations at this ranch which is the second largest in the world worldIn In Kentucky today there are many farms which have one top stallion such as Count Fleet at the Stoner Creek Farm of Mr and Mrs John D Hertz and Noor at Charles Kenneys Springside Farm with the newcomer Johns Joy There are other farms that operate on a much larger scale as for instance Calumet where hi one barn may be seen Bull Lea Citation Coaltown Faultless Fervent Sun Again and Ponder who joined them a few weeks ago Henry H Knight master of Almahurst Farm imported some four years ago the French stallions Goya n Priam n Hierocles and Adaris When he purchased Coldstream Farm recently he added Heliopolis and Nirgal to his im ¬ posing list Leslie Combs n has the greatest array of stallions to be found in Kentucky at his Spendthrift Farm for they number no less than 16 Five of them are imported while others are sons of foreign stallions Then there is the world famous Claiborne Stud which how houses 12 stallions and hi this group are Hill Prince Black Tarquhi Princequillo Nasrullah Ambiorix Double Jay Apache Some Chance and Fighting Fox Also Gallant Fox and Blenheim n who are now 25 years old Gallant Fox served but one mare this year while Blenheim n one of the greatest ever brought into this country had 16 mares in his court courtIt It is known that Henry H Knight paid 860000 for the four French horses he purchased from Marcel Boussac When the precocious Nirgal one of the best horses to race in France during the present generation was brought here the price was not an ¬ nounced nor was any price mentioned when the Almahurst breeder took over this French horse along with Heliopolis It would be impossible to say what Valuation Calumet Farm would place on such a trio as Bull Lea Citation and Coaltown Of the 16 stallions at Spendthrift it is recorded that a syndicate paid 500000 for Alibhai that Shannon n cost 300000 Bern borough 297000 and Ardan 240000 Jet Pilot was syndicated at a huge sum This list is by no means complete and to get a true valuation of stallions at any of these farms would mean the inclusion of every domestic horse now standing along with those who were imported Suffice it to say that the value of im ¬ ported stallions alone runs into many millions While Shannon n was sold in Europe for 87000 his success in this country promptly increased his value to 300000 300000Two Two of the latest syndicated sires to be brought to this country are Nasrullah and Ambiorix When Nasrullah arrived it was reported that Joseph McGrath who sold him to the American group said the purchase price was 372000 He is undoubtedly one of the handsomest stal ¬ lions this writer has ever laid eyes upon Years ago the late W S Vosburgh handicapper for The Jockey Club de ¬ scribed the chestnut horse Purchase as having the size of Melbourne the power of Stockwell the beauty of Or ¬ lando the speed of Ormande and St Simon and the in ¬ domitable courage of Lexington That was just about as fine a rating as a horse could be given and Purchase was entitled to it for he was the most beautiful specimen of a thoroughbred of his generation Purchase was a short bodied horse and very high on the legs Nasrullah is a bay horse but he is much quieter hi disposition than Purchase who was a difficult horse to handle Standing about 161 hands and weighing about 1250 pounds Nas ¬ rullah is the type of power horse whose symmetry and balance grows as you watch him In this writers opinion he is one of the most bloodlike and beautiful horses standing in this country today His head is set on a stout neck he is very deep through the heart and he is fairly wide between the hips A son of Nearco Mnmtaz Bejum by Blenheim H he was a stud success on the other side before coming here hereClaiborne Claiborne Stud is an example of the constant changes that take place on a highly conducted breeding farm Ten years ago the stallions Sir Gallahad in Snark Jacopo Stimulus Hard Tack and Omaha were standing at the Paris Ky establishment and at Hancocks Ellerslie Farm in Virginia they housed Tinta gel Foray n and Pompey Of these 10 stallions Blenheim n is the only one still active today Besides those mentioned Double Jay has joined the Claiborne group and the racing world is keenly awaiting his first crop of yearlings as well as those by Nasrullah Black Tarquin and Ambiorix The latter was bred and raced by Boussac and is today considered one of the best race horses developed in France in the present generation He is by Tourbillon out of Lavendula by Pharos and was re ¬ ported to have cost the syndicate over 250000 He could sprint and stay and while he differs from Nasrullah in appearance both have as Arthur B Hancock Jr described it the disposition of an old cow Black Tarquin Double Jay Nasrullah and Hill Prince are four fairly young stallions so the Hancock farm has a quartet that will be siring racing stock for many years
