T'be American 'Thoroughbred 101 



Peter belonged to the No. 3 family and was its second greatest exponent. He fell 

 behind Stockwell in St. Leger winners but ranked one each ahead of him on winners 

 of the Derby and Oaks. A half dozen sons of Sir Peter two of them Derby win- 

 ners, Archduke and Sir Harry were imported to America, but none of them were 

 worth the hay they ate on the passage -across the Atlantic. 



In spite of the failure of the Herod and Matchem lines in the classic British events 

 since 1870, the intelligent English breeder knows he has got to come back to Herod 

 and Matchem sires before long. Mr. Allison, a long way the most intelligent breeding 

 authority in England told them, nearly six years ago, that the British thoroughbred 

 could no longer be improved by breeding from the male line of Eclipse. And having 

 said about all that can now be written upon this "horn of the dilemma," let me now 

 have something to write concerning sundry importations of British-bred horses into 

 the United States. Leamington, Glencoe, Leviathan, Bonnie Scotland, Billet and 

 Glenelg, have all received their due meed of eulogy at the hands of the breeding public 

 but there are some who have met with but little praise and who deserved a good 

 deal more. 



ALBION, by Actaeon or Cain (the former given as the true sire and generally ac- 

 cepted as such) out of Panthea, sister to imported Belshazzar, by Blacklock, was a 

 small black horse foaled in 1837. He was bred by Mr. E. Peel and imported as a 

 yearling by Hon. Lucius J. Polk, of Tennessee, about the same time that gentleman 

 imported Variella, a full sister tc> the great Voltaire, but for whom the male line cf 

 Blacklock would now be extinct. Albion was such <a little runt that the Tennessee 

 breeders fought shy of him and Mr. Polk said if nobody else would breed to him, he 

 would breed him to his own mares, which he did with signal success. Albion got 

 Bill Dearing, a large and handsome horse with a fair turf record ; Bill Cheatham, a 

 capital two-miler and good enough at three miles to defeat the North Carolina horse 

 Tar River, then one of three best four-milers in America, Nicholas the First and Sue 

 Washington being the other two; and that great three-year-old Socks who defeated the 

 great Planet, at Charleston, twice within one week. He also got three good fillies, 

 Sallie Woodward, Martha Worsham and Kate Hayes, all out of Eudora by imp. 

 Priam. From 1858 to 1864, Albion was very prominent as a sire of good winners. 

 Counting by the number of races won, instead of their moneyed value, Albion made 

 as good a showing as any sire in America at that period, but it was! as a sire of 

 broodmares that he shone more particularly. He got Canary Bird, dam of Harry 

 Bassett ; and Lucy Fowler, dam of Tom Bowling, they being easily the two greatest 

 sons of Lexington on the turf and about the poorest in the stud. He also got Banner, 

 dam of Morlacchi, Bonita, and Annie Bush, three first-class fillies by Lexington, the 

 latter being the dam of Bushwhacker, whose defeat of Checkmate in the Morrisey 

 Stakes at Saratoga, caused a lowering of the two-mile record, in races between horses, 

 though Ten Broeck had a lower one against Time. The blood of Albion has certainly 

 been emblazoned on the banners of more than one mighty conqueror. 



Belshazzar, ch. h. 1830, by Blacklock, out of Manuella (Oaks winner of 1812, and 

 own sister to Altisidora who won the St. Leger of 1813) by Dick Andrews, was a very 

 unlucky horse, having run third in the St. Leger of 1833, won by Rockingham, a son 

 of Humphrey Clinker who got the great Melbourne. Mr. Watt, of Bishop Burton, 

 who owned both Blacklock and Tramp, had no hesitation in saying that his colt had 

 been poisoned. He was imported in 1838, by Mr. Thomas Flintoff, of Nashville, but, 

 before leaving England, he got Cara who won the One Thousand Guineas ; and a 

 number of others fairly good, among which was Belle Dame, third dam of the great 

 stallion Hermit (by Newminster and Derby winner in 1867) who is the only stallion 

 in English history to head the list of Winning Sires for seven consecutive years. 

 Belshazzar was leased to Capt. W. J. Minor, of Mississippi, in 1842, where he was 

 mated with imported Brittania, a full sister to Muley Moloch, the sire of Alice Haw- 



