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jINGFISHER is by Lexington, out of the im- 

 ported mare, Eltham Lass, by Kingston. He 

 was bred by Mr. Alexander, and purchased 

 when a yearling by Mr. Daniel Swigert, who 

 has selected many good horses at that stage of their develop- 

 ment. The dam of Eltham Lass was by Pyrrhus, the First, 

 who got the famous mare Virago ; then in the pedigree of 

 the former are found Palmyra, by Sultan (he got Glencoe, 

 Bay Middleton, and a host of other fast and stout race- 

 horses); Hester, by Camel (son of Whalebone and sire of 

 Touchstone); Monimia, by Muley, etc., and so on for fifteen 

 crosses, ending in the old Montague mare, who will be for- 

 ever famous as the grandam of Mother Western, who was 

 the grandam of English Eclipse. 



Kingfisher did not figure much at two years old. He 

 ran in a mile race at Woodlawn, but was not placed; Lynch- 

 burg won it. At three years old he was a splendid colt, 

 fifteen hands three inches high, with very great power and 

 much quality. His head, neck and throttle were superb. 

 His shoulders were very muscular, his back was good, and 

 his haunches and quarters very large and fine. His action 

 was very clean and determined, but, like Vauxhall, the 

 brother of one of his famous opponents, he hit the ground 

 pretty hard when he was in rapid stride. The first race he 

 ran in 1870 was the Belmont Stakes, at Jerome Park. 

 There were seven starters. Kingfisher had been brought 

 on from Kentucky just before the race, and had caught 

 such a cold that Mr. Swigert and his trainer, Raleigh, were 

 not over-confident. When the former bought Kingfisher, 

 he also bought the chestnut colt by Lexington, out of 

 Verona, by Yorkshire, grandam the celebrated imported 

 mare Britannia, who was sister to Muley Moloch. This 

 colt had been sold while a yearling to Captain Moore, and 

 had been named Foster. He, too, had been brought on to 

 run in the Belmont Stakes, and after being four days in 

 the cars, had come out with a cough and running at the 

 nostrils. He had suffered very severely from distemper in 

 the preceding spring. The other runners were Midday. 

 Nellie James, Stamps, the Canary Bird colt and the Emma 

 Johnson colt. They both started, and neither of them 

 was up to fair condition. Kingfisher darted off like his 

 brilliant namesake of the brook, when he shoots all purple 

 and gold between the alder bushes. He was never headed, 

 and won by three-quarters of a length, Foster second. 

 Kingfisher was well ridden by Black Dick, while Foster 

 had to pull round his horses about four times in the race. 

 Kingfisher next won the Travers Stakes, at Saratoga, a mile 

 and three-quarters. Telegram was second and Foster third. 

 Chillicothe, Governor Bowie, Scathelock and Sarong were 

 not placed. Foster got off far behind in this race. At 

 Long Branch, Kingfisher was second to Enquirer in the 



Robins Stake, two-mile heats. Kingfisher won the first 

 heat. The track was heavy. At Jerome Park, in the Fall, 

 Kingfisher won the Champion Stakes, mile heats, beating 

 Haric, Midday, Chillicothe, the Canary Bird colt and Item. 

 Time, 1:49 1:49. He then walked over for the Annual 

 Stakes, two miles. At Baltimore, he won a sweepstakes for 

 three-year-olds, two miles, beating Midday, and that finished 

 his running in 1870. In 1871, before he was brought out 

 in public, he ran a two-mile trial at the Nursery Training 

 Course with Glenelg. The latter was a capital race-horse, 

 and he was in form that spring, as his race with Preakness 

 and Helmbold, in the Westehester Cup, showed. Never- 

 theless, Kingfisher won the trial with ease. Nobody, how- 

 ever, knew what the weights were but Mr. Belmont and 

 Pincus, and they would not tell. Moreover, Mr. Belmont's 

 faith in Glenelg could not have been much shaken by the 

 trial, as he laid a thousand even on him against Helmbold, 

 in the Westehester Cup, and won it. His horse would have 

 won the race, too, in our opinion, if he had been ridden as 

 well as Hayward rode Preakness. Concluding from this 

 running that Kingfisher was a very great horse that year, 

 a belief in which they were not at all mistaken, they saved 

 him for the Saratoga Cup, in which Longfellow was entered. 

 That famous horse had made a singular exhibition of Preak- 

 ness, Helmbold, etc., in the Monmouth Cup, at Long Branch, 

 by running clean away from them. The only starters at 

 Saratoga were Longfellow and Kingfisher, and it was a 

 battle of the giants. It was said of the British forces in 

 the Crimea that they were an army of lions led by asses. 

 The horses in this race were like that army, for they were 

 ridden in the most foolish manner. Longfellow cut loose 

 at a tremendous rate, and Kingfisher kept nearly with him. 

 The former ran the first mile in 1:39 J, and Kingfisher in 1:40. 

 This was the timing of Captain Cottrill, who stood where 

 they started and waited till they came back to him. The 

 second mile was, of course, much slower, but the two miles 

 were run in 3:33. Both were then tired, and no wonder, 

 after the cut-throat pace of the first mile. Longfellow won 

 by four lengths. At the same meeting Kingfisher walked 

 over, three miles. At the second Saratoga meeting he was 

 entered in the four-mile race with Helmbold and Long- 

 fellow. There was very heavy betting between the latter 

 and Kingfisher, but Kingfisher strained his leg in running 

 a trial at night and did not start. In the following year, 

 at Saratoga, Kingfisher beat Fadladeen and Ramadan, a 

 mile, in 1:43 1. He was not placed in three-quarters of a 

 mile, run in 1:16 by Alarm ; and was beaten a mile by the 

 same horse, in 1:42}. Alarm was a tremendous colt. King- 

 fisher's last race was run at Long Branch, where he broke 

 down in a four-mile race with Susan Anne and Lyttleton. 

 Sportsman. 



