RACEALONG 167 



GIFT HORSES 



When Double Chance won the Liverpool Grand 

 National the racing world was advised that the 

 premier jumper of 1925 was a gift horse. Captain 

 Rothschild gave Double Chance to the English 

 trainer Fred Archer. He made good. 



For some unknown reason gift horses carry a 

 luck charm. No one has ever defined it but years 

 ago a phrase maker said ''Never look a gift horse 

 in the mouth." 



Many trotters were gift horses or traced to them. 

 In time they are forgotten except by a few. Still the 

 goo dfeeling which went with them was a bond that 

 knit groups together and reminded everybody that 

 the world is not such a cold blooded proposition 

 after all. 



When John H. Shults, after he purchased 

 Axworthy, hit the up grade as a breeder, he invited 

 friends to send mares to his court. One of them 

 was David Bonner. 



Mr. Bonner owned Wanda 2:17%. She was a gift 

 from Frank Work when her days on the road were 

 over. Wanda produced several fillies by Axworthy. 

 All of them were got by gift services and all of them 

 showed speed. They produced such trotters as Fin- 

 varra 2:051/2 and Escotillo 2:033^. 



While the descendants of Wanda had speed none 

 of them showed the championship form of the two 

 greatest gift horses in turf history — Stamboul, and 

 Peter Manning. 



