The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-10-27
BEN ALI HAGGIN.
Some Information bout the Great
California Sportsman.

l was out at Jerome Park this week,
and saw the Dryers badly beaten on
Blue Wing, and the Haggins' Ten Day,
which was brought by Mcmahon at til e
late Haggin sale, pay for himself in his
drst race, says writer in the Brooklyn
Eagle. There was something said not
long ago. in one of the papers, about
Ben Ali Haggin, AID his curious name
was explained as the result of a trip
made by his father years ago to Con-
stantinople, and his friendship with a
Turk, after whom he named his son
who was born just after his return.
The truth is that Ben Ali comes by his
name more directly, for j. B Haggin
is Turk himself. Ynuve only got TO
look at him TO see it, and every one o,
his children, including Ben Ali and his
daughter, who lives in this city, are
markedly oriental in type. Ben Ali
Haggin, who represents The biggest of
all the American racing firms at its
eastern end, if put into turban and
flowing cloak, wouldn't look out OF
pace in the streets of STEAMBOAT, and be
has the Turkish lmpassiveness ABOUT
him too. No one ever saw the express
sion of his face undergo the slightest
change when be is watching the most
exciting contests between his own and
other mems horses. The Sphynx could
not be more composed and inditf rent.
The elder Haggin is named Ben Ali,
too, and got his Irish surname through
his mother. The story of their origin,
as they tell it, is something like this:
j. b. Haggin' father was Turk, Who
fled from his country because of some
political trou bles and went 10 the est
Indies. His name was Omar, or some
thing Of that Turkish sort, but his
father had been named Ali and &C
cording to the Turkish custom, he
therefore, became Omar Ben Ali, or
"son of Ali" In the West Indies, he
prospered - probably the political
trouble was remotely connected with
the taxes, as is generally the case in
Turkey-and became as far as possible
European in dress, language and
custom. He married a sprig htiy Irish
girl with money, by the name of Hag-
gin, and though the father objected at
first to the Turkish alliance, he finally
succummed on the condition that the
son in law should assume the name of
Haggin. As Ben ALI had No surname
of his OWN the European sepse-he
consented, and that accounts for the
curious combination of Irish and Turk
ish In the name.
The son, was also Ben Ali, made
great fortune In G .lifornla, and is now
the owner OF the largest racing estab
lishment in the world. His stables on
the Rancho del Passas, IN Southern
California, have no rivals, and it is
good day S journey on horseback to en-
circle the Haggin dem sne. He has,
for one thing, over $40 brood mares,
and some of the most valuable stal-
lions in the world. He never ste p3 at h :,
price for a stallion il he has the quail
ties he wants to infuse into his stud.
This spring, he came to the conclusion
the strain was getting light, and needed
more staying qualities. He looked
over the stations Of the world and their
record, and came to the conclusion hat
what he was looking for could be had in
Sir Mordred, the famous Australian
stallion. The horIe wasn't for sale, but
Hagein got him all the same, and
though he won't tell what he paid, that
horse is now safe and sound in the Del
Passas stables. The stables are so big
that they have been divided into three
Ben ALI, the son, looks after the east
ern contingent here in New York, the
OLD man tends to the California third,
and they have an agent with another
big stable in the western circuit. They
are tremendously rich, and don't de
pend on horses alone, though their
sales, three times year, net them big
sums, but they own besides large inter
ests in western mines and railways,
and are probably worth over score of
millions.