Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-08-19
THOROUGHBREDS.
What English Writers Think
of America.
VERY BIG PRICES FOB ANIMALS.
Local Items of an Interesting
Nature-Events of
Saturday.

| A recent issue of the London Field con.
tains long article on the prices Of thor
oughbred stock in America. 1t opens
with few remarks about the vastness OF
the American continent, saying: every
thing there is huge and stupendous.
Nature is formed in larger mould than
in other lands, and all her operations
are full of life and vigor. The storms
are fearful in their violence, and foods
sweep over the country like seas. Mighty
rivers scoop out fresh channels in q
night. and mock to scorn mans vain ef-
forts to restrain them. The lakes aie
seas, and there are vast deserts in the
interior which find no place upon the
largest map. Through thousands of
leagues of forest the wind walls and
whispers, and traveller may wander
day after day across the great plains
without seeing tree. If a man desires
to realize fully his own insignifcance.
few weeks passed among the Rocky
mountains will open his eyes as effectu-
ally as gaze at the midnight heavens,
which are nowhere so dazzling in their
transparent brightness as in North
America"
Referring to the recent sale of Mr..
Haggin's thoroughbred yearlings at New
York, it says:
"The great feature of the sale was that
one yearling colt-King Thomas, by
King Ban, out of Maud Hampton, by
Hunters Lexington-was knocked down
to Messrs. Appleby and Johnston, book
makers, for $38 1000, or about 7 900 gum
cas-. Nor is the story yet complete. The
chief opponent of Messrs. Appleby and
Johnston when bidding for King Thom-
as was Senator Hearst of California, and
the battle was long and spirited. 1T
was,' says one of our New York contem-
poraries, the struggle OF the century,
At first there were four prominent COM
petitors for this much-coveted yearling-
Mr.. Gratz, of Pennsylvania, Mr.. Dwyer,
of New York, Senator Hearst, of Cali
fornia, and Mr.. Appleby, of New York.
Mr.. Gratz was the first to tire, as he
stopped short at $5 900, or 1000 guineas.
Mr.. Dwyer, commonly supposed to be
the best judge OF thoroughbred stock in
America, was stalled off after bidding
SIS 900, or 5000 guineas. The struggle
was then reduced to a match between
Senator Hearst and Mr.. Appleby. cat
it," said our contemporary in true Trans
atlantic phraseology, "they went ham,
mer and tongs, pitchforks and sawlogs.
It was the West against the East. The.
people stood up and shouted. Hearst
made squirt at the $4,000 post, and it
seemed all over. But Appleby came
again gamely, and was clearly leading
at the 1000 post. Then the people
went mad. The Californian was sorely
distressed, but struggled on to $37, 900,
his final bid. Then Appleby shot past
at the $4,000 post. and, after brief
You can have him at that, from Senator
Hearst, the hammer fell"
Speaking about the Western States,
the article says: In the meantime, we
can but remark that California seems de-
termined to "take the cake" for bigness,
even on continent where size is appre-
ciated beyond all other qualities. In the
famous equatorial telescope of the Lick
Observatory, the Golden State already
possesses the biggest optic glass in the
world. Governor Stanford, Of Palo Alto.
in California, has monster stud farm
which in size distances all similar estab-
lishments in Europe or America. Fin
ally, a Californian has Just given for q
yearling sum twice as big as was ever
embarked in a young horse. The
price seems all the moro amazing
when we remember that the late
Mr.. W. H. Vanderbilt parted with
Maud S., the "Queen of the ,Trotting
World" and absolutely without an
equal for precisely the same figure.
One circumstance we feel bound to
notice in conclusion. The enormous
price paid for King Thomas is likely to
give great encouragement to patrons of
the Turf, and to all who take interest in
it. Even if horse racing should ever
wither in Europe, which is little likely,
the enthusiastic support lavished upon it
by Americans and Australians will pre-
serve that noble sport from decay until
tha crack of doom