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Photo by Meadofs BULL LEA Sire of Gen Duke Bull Leas Get of Good Disposition Gen Dukes Sire Has Begot 2 5 Winners in 100000 Class Ebelhardf Calumet Farms Manager Credits Ben Jones For Stallions Great Success SuccessBy By HUGH J McGUIRE McGUIRELEXINGTON LEXINGTON Ky May 3 Paul Ebel hardt manager of the Calumet Farm of Admiral and Mrs Gene Markey is thor ¬ oughly convinced that Ben Jones is gifted with an inner sense of perception of in ¬ tangibles of horse values When Ben took over the training of the Calumet horses in 1939 he realized that Bull Lea unable to be an outstanding racer in top stakes competition where he was classified had the qualities that earned him a chance at stud It was on the recommendation of Jones that Bull Lea was retired to a career a1 stud that saw him lead the nationjs stal ¬ lions in five years yearsThis This wasnt all In Miami in Decem ¬ ber last year to attend the TRA conven ¬ tion and while the racing world was hailing Calumets Barbizon as the main threat for the threeyearold crown Jones told Ebel ¬ hardt that a horse called Gen Duke who had started only twice as a juvenile was shaping up as his main reliance in the sophomore division Ebelhardt advances these two instances as evidence that through the years Ben Jones has lost nothing of his perceptive ability abilityEtirly Etirly Association With Bull Lea LeaEbelhardt Ebelhardt himself had a close associa ¬ tion with Bull Lea even before he joined the Calumet staff in 1944 Prior to that time Ebelhardt was manager of the Rook wood Farm of the late Jack Howard and he recalled that one of the first mares to be bred to Bull Lea was Joe Browns Isabella who like most of Browns breed ¬ ing stock was arid still is quartered at Rookwood The resulting foal died and the late Warren Wright gave a return season to Bull Lea This mating resulted in the good colt Junior Atlas who later stood at stud at Rookwood This first association of Ebelhardts led to many with Bull Lea He found Junior Atlas smart sensible and understanding and later at Calumet he learned that this was no accident and that the Bull Lea foals were uniformly wellbehaved and that they were the quickest to wake up and get their legs under them and to begin eating In the Calumet fraternity from the stud man through the foaling man and those in charge of early training of foals there is a tremendous respect for Bull Lea and his foals A phrase relative to the get of Bull Lea was coined by Ebel ¬ hardt and has caught on with the other personnel of Calumet It is By Bull Lea from a Blenheim mare by Ben Jones and it signifies the success of this com ¬ bination Never Had Chestnut Foal FoalIt It is indicative of the strength of Bull Lea as a stallion that although he has been bred to many chestnut mares during his career he has never had a chestnut foal Exercise boys on the farm are aware of the good disposition of the Bull Leas as well as their ability and Ebelhardt re ¬ called the standard phrase of exercise boy George Stone after he had outrun his rivals in workouts while astride a Bull Lea Stone would invariably say I was just eatin cherries I was wasEbelhardt Ebelhardt agrees with the racing world that much of the success of the Bull Leas is due to the training methods of Ben and Jimmy Jones particularly in that they never have their charges under early pres sure They are advanced just so far in their training but instead of going on with them as many others do they are then eased off and brought back later This requires a great deal of time and money but it pays off Gen Duke is an excellent example of this practice Ben Jones has often com ¬ mented You can never make a bad horse good but you can make a good one bad Jones has also said I cant train by a book What would happen if I lost a page This kindly disposition of the Bull Leas remains even after they have gone to the racing wars and are returned to the farm for stud duty or to have their foals Ebel ¬ hardt pointed out that such capable racers as Citation MarkYeWell Twilight Tear Twosy and Bewitch were unspoiled by racing racingGen Gen Duke and Iron Liege are doing their parts to continue the most sensational modern stallion record of this country Bull Leas accomplishments are too lengthy to be told completely here but condensed they include earnings of 11096220 by his get from 1943 through 1956 including four years that topped the one million mark and five years as the nations leader He is the sire of the worlds first million dol ¬ lar thoroughbred Citation of the world leading money winning gelding Armed and mare Bewitch He is sire of 25 winners of more than 100000 He has sired the Triple Crown winner Citation the Derby winner Hill Gail and has had 51 stakes winners With Gen Duke Iron Liege Amoret and others still rated as very formidable the veteran Bull Lea appears well on his way to another good year
