The Australian Thoroughbred 



to be thoroughbred and brought to Kentucky from Virginia bv Mr. T. D. Owings." 

 Then there was Picayune, dam of Doubloon, Louis d'Or and Florin, and I have 

 been astonished that sh ewas ever admitted into the Stud Book. Take Princess 

 Ann, by imported Leviathan, you will find she has no fifth dam, but she produced 

 seven fillies from which some good performers have come on in later generations. 

 Then there is that mare of unknown pedigree "from the stud of Harrison, of Brandon, 

 Va., to which trace such flyers as Molly McCarthy and her wonderful daughter, 

 Fallen Leaf ; Flood and Shannon, over the average as sires ; Kinglike, sire of a 

 Futurity winner; Joe Hooker, sire of the great Yo Tambien, and Hidalgo, winner of 

 the Emporium Stakes at Coney Island. Then you come to Madame Tonson, dam 

 of Monsieur Tonson and Sir Richard. Her pedigree ran out at the third dam, 

 yet it is well known that she produced to the cover of Pacolet (a Matchem horse 

 by imported Citizen) three of the best winners of their day, from one mile to four; 

 and that Monsieur Tonson was about the best sire in Tennessee, while in his prime. 



In this way I could go on indefinitely and cite cases where the Bruce Lowe 

 system could have no possible bearing on breeding in America. It would be different 

 if these faulty lines had all run out, but they have not. Spendthrift, never a premier 

 sire himself, but always clamoring loudly for a well-deserved recognition, got two 

 premier sires Kingston and Hastings and, in addition to them, has Lamplighter and 

 Boanerges coming right along as sires of something more than merely useful horses. 

 Yet he traces to nothing in the Bruce Lowe system, nor did Enquirer, one of the 

 best three sons of old Leamington, counting by the moneys won; and the very best, 

 if you figure according to the number of races won. I must therefore adhere to my 

 beh'ef, expressed above, that the Bruce Lowe system is of no value to American 

 breeders, except where the sire and dam are both imported, or where both the stallion 

 and the mare, if native bred, trace to some mare embodied in that system. 



I cannot close this without a tribute of respect to Mr. Bruce Lowe as a man. 

 He came of an old family of Scotch colonists and united the courage of the typical 

 pioneer to the modesty of a country school girl. When he died, I wrote of him as 

 follows : "Certainly no other American knew Mr. Lowe so well as I did. A total 

 stranger on a foreign shore, I found in him a companion whose nature was all 

 sincerity and his friendship a Heaven-born truth. His life was pure and gentle, his 

 bearing always manly. He was a confirmed invalid for years prior to his decease. He 

 beheld the springtide burst forth in its emerald sheen ; the summer, in its glow of sun- 

 shine and its plethora of ripening fruit; the autumn, with its vista of purple and 

 gold upon 'the embattled forests,' heralding the Frost King's approach; and yet, 

 in all those long and wearisome years, not one querulous whisper escaped his lips. 

 At length came the end for God had recalled one of his noblemen from a foreign 

 mission. The Infinite had approved a worthy life and rewarded it with a comparatively 

 painless death. Courageous in everything, he carried his sterling manhood unsullied 

 to the grave; and we can truthfully say of him, as Tennyson wrote of 'Chinese' 

 Gordon, that 'Earth hath ne'er held a purer, manlier man.' " 



