American Thoroughbred 105 



in America, must be awarded more than passing mention in these pages, even if he 

 had gotten nothing but "The Coal Black Lady," known as Imp, who won the great 

 Suburban Handicap of 1898. Wagner was by Prince Charlie, the fastest horse in Eng- 

 land in his day, second to Wenlock in the St. Leger and winner of the Two Thousand 

 Guineas ; and his dam, the Duchess of Malri, was by Elland, who won the Queen's 

 Vase at Ascot and four other Cup races. The second dam, Bay Celia, produced the 

 Duke, who won the Goodwood Cup of 1866, and the Earl, who won the Grand Prix de 

 Paris. Hersey, the next dam, produced several winners ; and Hester not only produced 

 Chatham and The Nabob, both great sires, but also produced Palmyra, the dam of 

 Sesostris and Tadmor and second dam of the great Springfield, who was the best 

 horse of his day in England, at weight for age, as well as sire of Watercress and 

 Juvenal, two of our best importations. 



BILLET, by Voltigeur out of Calcutta by Flatcatcher, was about as unfashionably 

 bred horse as ever left England. He was own brother to Bivouac, a good campaigner, 

 but was not much of a horse himself. He was imported into Illinois, where he remained 

 in obscurity for several seasons till his son Volturno won the rich Breckenridge Stakes 

 at Baltimore and Volturno's full brother, Elias Lawrence, ran the fastest three miles 

 ever run at Saratoga in 5 :2g. Several other good ones showed up about the same time 

 and Billet's owner received an offer from Kentucky that he could not well refuse. Billet 

 headed the list of sires in 1884 and subsequently became famous as the sire of Miss 

 Woodford, the best mare of that day. Then along came Belvedere, a horse of more than 

 average class, followed by his brother, Sir Dixon, who was by far the most brilliant 

 three-year-old of his day. Sir Dixon's career in the stud has been uniformly good and 

 in 1901 he headed the list of sires with something over $250,000 to his credit, counting 

 in the moneys won" by his get in England and France. If a breeding expert in England 

 had been asked to send over a good stallion, it is safe to say that he would have picked 

 sixty before even thinking of Billet. How many horses have succeeded in America that 

 were not bred from a line of sire-producing mares ? The success of Billet only serves 

 to show how great a lottery is breeding in America. 



BUCKDEN, by Lord Clifden out of Consequence by Bay Middleton, was a good race- 

 horse, being imported by William R. Travers, of New York, and raced on all Eastern 

 tracks. He won several races and was sold to Capt. William Cottrill, of Mobile, who 

 always spent his Summers at the North. He purchased a farm in Kentucky and bought 

 some good mares to mate with his good bay horse. Buckden bred a great deal of 

 extreme speed, and this, coupled with the fact that his colts and fillies came early to 

 hand, soon made him a popular young sire. He died at the early age of ten, having 

 gotten such stake-winners as Ben d'Or (best weight-carrier of his day), Meditator, 

 Aleck Ament and Laura Glass, together with many useful horses not quite up to stake 

 form. 



HARTINGTON., who won the Cesarewitch of 1864, was, like Billet, a son of Voltigeur, 

 and as much better bred horse than Billet, as was possible to be. Yet he hardly figures 

 in any of our pedigrees, save as the sire of that good mare, Mary Howard, dam of Pearl 

 Jennings. Hartington came from the No. 7 family which produced Mundig, West Aus- 

 tralian, Cotherstone and Donovan, all winners of the Derby. 



GLEN ATHOL, by Blair Athol out of Greta by Voltigeur, one of the finest bred horses 

 ever imported, got Glenmore, one of the best cup-horses of his day and a winner of the 

 fastest second heat of four miles ever run. But outside of Glenmore, Glen Athol is 

 hardly known save as a broodmare sire. His name occurs in several good pedigrees. 

 Glen Athol was also the sire of that great cup horse, Checkmate, who conceded 21 

 pounds to Bushwhacker at Saratoga and was beaten by a bare length. 



THE history of imported Bonnie Scotland, who should have headed the list of 

 winning sires long before he did, is almost a repetition of the long-deferred triumphs 

 of the Godolphin Arabian. There seems to me to be in all the world's long history, 



