AND OTHER SKETCHES 31 



THE KING'S PLATE WINNER IN 1909. 



There is a little history in connection with Shimonese, 

 the winner of the King's Plate in 1909, that may prove 

 interesting to Canadian turfmen 



Some years ago Mr. Joseph E. Seagram purchased at 

 auction in New York the mare Spark, a full sister to 

 Lamplighter, one of the crack race horses of his day. If 

 my memory serves me right, and I was present at the 

 sale, the Squire of Waterloo paid $1,500 for her. A few 

 minutes after she had been knocked down to his bid a 

 prominent trainer approached Mr. Seagram and offered 

 him $500 on his bargain. The offer was declined. Spark 

 was brought to the Waterloo farm and bright hopes were 

 entertained that she wcnild prove a star matron of the 

 Waterloo stud. Her career, however, as a broodmare 

 while there was a dismal failure and the writer was 

 instructed by her owner a few years later to catalogue 

 her for the annual auction sale. 



Her first foal was club-footed and was destroyed. Her 

 second foal was also deformed and shared the same fate. 

 Her third was ''no account," and she was reluctantly 

 admitted to be a failure. At the sale, which took place 

 at the Repository in Toronto, Spark was purchased by 

 Dr. Andrew Smith for the sum of $120, who in turn 

 passed her on to Mr. Hendrie. That gentleman bred her 

 to his own horse, imp. Derwentwater, and the produce 

 was Lyddite, with whom, in 1902, he won the first King's 

 Plate, being his second victory in the classic race of the 

 Canadian turf (his first being scored with Butterscotch, 

 with whom he won the Queen's Plate in 1899), although 

 he had persistently struggled for success every year with 

 horses of his own breeding. 



