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JIDDLESTICK is a dark bay or brown colt, 

 foaled 1873, by Lexington, dam Filagree, by 

 Stockwell ; 2d dam, Ecstasy, by Touchstone; 

 3d dam, Miss Wilfred, by Lottery; 4th dam 

 by Smolensk!; 5th dam, Lady Mary, by Benningbrough ; 

 6th dam by Highflyer; thus combining in his veins 

 the best and choicest blood of the American and English 

 stud-books. Filagree was imported when a yearling, in 

 1860, by Messrs. Dudley & Bruce, agents of the Kentucky 

 Importing Company, and became the property of John R. 

 Viley, Esq., Fayette County, Ky., who, after breeding from 

 her Alta Vela, Finesse and three others, sold her, in 1872, 

 to A. Belmont, Esq., Nursery Stud Farm, Babylon, L. I., 

 and the ensuing year she produced Fiddlestick, by that 

 emperor of American stallions, the immortal Lexington. 

 He is a very symmetrically-formed colt, fully 15 hands 

 2$ inches in height, with star in forehead, and two white 

 feet, that on the near hind foot extending half way to the 

 hock, while the near fore foot is white to the ankle. He 

 has a fine, clean cut, expressive head, capital neck and 

 shoulders, good middle piece, well ribbed up, and unusually 

 muscular hips and quarters. He has good legs, rather light 

 in the bone below the knee, and well-shaped feet. As a 

 two-year-old, he was trained, but never started, as he 

 exhibited symptoms of lameness when about ready to run, 

 at Saratoga, and was, in consequence, turned out of train- 

 ing; his fore-legs laboring under some suspicion of his 

 standing a strong preparation. During the early spring he 

 was twice blistered, and, thanks to the skill and constant 

 attention of his capable trainer, Mr. Jacob Pincus, he was 

 able to undergo a steady preparation. Mr. Belmont was 

 averse to running him in his early engagements at Jerome 

 Park, preferring to preserve him for Saratoga; Bertram 

 and Clematis being regarded as the hopes of the Babylon 

 stable in the Withers and Belmont Stakes. Fiddlestick, 

 however, was kept at work, and daily made marked improve- 

 ment. Having, one morning, tried Bertram and Clematis 

 together, it occurred to their trainer to put Bertram and 

 Fiddlestick together at a mile, and the latter won with such 

 consummate ease, that he immediately tried him with Cle- 

 matis, and he beat his second trial horse in exactly the 

 same style he had done the first. The stable was now 

 convinced that, in the son of Lexington and Filagree, they 

 possessed an extraordinary race-horse, and the programme 

 wns changed, Fiddlestick being sent to Jerome Park to 

 represent the maroon and crimson belt in the Withers and 

 Belmont Stakes. His opponents in the former race, which 

 was a dash of a mile, were Merciless, Algerine, Brother to 

 Harry Bassett, Freebooter, Waco, Sister to Milner, Dail- 



gaisian, Viceroy, and his stable companion, Bertram. The 

 Belmont pair were the favorites, with Merciless second 

 choice, and the others selling at equal rates with each 

 other. Fiddlestick, ridden by Feakes, took up the running, 

 after going half a mile, where he had all his opponents 

 settled, and, galloping on, won the race with the most con- 

 summate ease, by four lengths, in 1:46J, Brother to Bassett 

 and Merciless finishing respectively second and third. The 

 following week he started for the Belmont Stakes, a mile 

 and a half, in which his opponents were Brother to Bassett, 

 Barricade, Algerine and Red Coat. In this race he was 

 ridden by Hayward, and the betting was two to one on his 

 winning. Hayward made the running from the fall of the 

 flag, closely pressed by Brother to Bassett throughout the 

 first mile, which was run in ] :45 ; and on the retirement 

 of the latter, Algerine went up and challenged with such 

 resolution, that Hayward was unable to get a relieving pull 

 on his horse, and although he struggled to the finish with 

 the most indomitable gameness, he was finally beaten by 

 Algerine, in 2:40J. His next appearance was in the Jersey 

 Derby, at Monmouth Park, where he ran second to his 

 stable companion, Bertram, the latter only winning on suffer- 

 ance, for Fiddlestick was pulling over him in every part of 

 the race. Rappahannock and Fugitive also started. He 

 next came out for the Ocean Hotel Stakes, at the same 

 meeting, and won in the commonest of canters, from his 

 only opponent, Rappahannock. At the recent Saratoga 

 meetings he did not start, Sultana representing the interests 

 of the Babylon stable in both the Travers and Kenner 

 Stakes. In the former she was successful, beating Barri- 

 cade, Ambush and Fredericktown with great ease, but in 

 the second she had to succumb to Brother to Bassett, in 

 the fastest run race at the weights on record. The tide of 

 fortune which had generally set in his favor now turned, 

 and since this time he has not scored a single victory, 

 although often well up at the close. In the Jerome Stakes, 

 Oct. 2d, he was unplaced, Brother to Bassett winning, with 

 Sunburst second, and Red Coat third ; and three days after- 

 wards, he was beaten by Rhadamanthus, Preston and Free- 

 booter, in the $700 Purse for all ages, mile heats. October 

 10th, he was third in the two-mile Purse, Vigil winning, 

 with Athlene second. 



This year Fiddlestick has been still more unfortunate. 

 At Jerome Park, June 2, 1877, he was unplaced in the 

 Fordharn Handicap, won by Chiquita, and ten days later 

 he was third to Parole and Ambush in the Woodburn 

 Stakes, for four-year-olds. June 18th, he was second to 

 Chiquita, in the Free Handicap, with eight others behind 

 them. Spirit of the Times. 



