Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-12-29

/
! thoroughbred Cthey were by Diomed out
, of dam bv imported Shark)-did either of
( these. although half brothers of Potomac,
produce runncrsY ! have never heard of
/ one. Most Of them were capital racers
I themselves. We're they, too, chance
/ horses? All of them bad extended pedi-
erees don't bclieve that Potomac was
/ chance horse. With blood he had the pro-
per conformation of parts, which we donot
ofton see IN many horses. In a lat OF more
than one hundred imported stations now
At my elbow, not including Diomed, not
ono half of them put together produced %
many capital racers as the native horse,
Sir Charles" &c. DC.
What this writer says of the full-pedi-
greed sons of Diomed IS partially true,
even of Balls Florizel. called the High
flyer Of America; and although there Is
no cross in pedigree more highly przed
than one from Balls Florizel, yet there are
but few of them Even he did not produce
as many racers ~ Potomac. whose dam
Fairy compares favOrably with the fully-
pedigrced dams Of Diomed's other sons IA
this respect, the advantage being decidedly
with Fairy.
THE LEADING RACE-HoRsR REGION CT loOO-'3O.
At the time Potomac was in the stud the
race in all the country round about MN
was for imported horses. Potomac STOOD
chiefly in Mccklenburg county, on the
southern border of Virginia. adjoining
brunswick county. Va. and Halifax and
Warren counties IN North Carolina anu
in that region-swcpt by radius OF btty
miles around him stood at and near the
time, imported Stirling, Dragon, Cormo-
rant. Cour de Leon. Buzzard. Eagle mot
Spread Eaglo). Archibald, Spectator, aud
Archdukc. Tested by the performances OF
their offspring. what sorry proof OF their
1 - 2 Lu4r hArClu
If we except Hepheation by Buz-
gard. and Gentle Kitty by Archl-
bald. All Of the nine together did not put
rs many racers IN the field as Potomac. de
spite the fact that they almost monopo-
lzcd the thoroughbred mares Of Their day
and left the uupedigrecd 10 Potomac. BEL,
lair, and Medlcv's excellent and neglected
son Grey DiOmed. Those three too-nuch
tabooed hOrSes-tabOOed because native
brcd-put moro winners on the turf than
three times their number of heayily-pedl-
creed imported horses. Spread Eagle was
superiOr 10 the nine other imported ones
above named. and did we'll in the stud. but
did not the English breeder who shipped
him TO Colonel Iayl0e admoDish HIM 10
breed in his own stud nothing from the
Joins Of Spread Eagle"? Mr.. flo0mes OF
Caroline county, imported more weeds
than good ones"
Looking casually into the meagrc min
utes that have been preserved OF the races
Of that period find a report OF racing IN
1890. at Warrcnton, n c., then a prolni-
ncnt racc-hOrsc centre, where William Il.
johnson. the Napoleon of the turf, who
had removed to Virginia. was Oh ms native
heath. Tho produce OF Potomac ran fore
most OF among the foremost IN every rae"
IN which they were entered. T0ndy, by
Potomac, beat her competitor IN the hrst
heat and dlsiaucod her IN the second.
mn ant POlaoac, by Potomac, beat his
competitors. and distanced one OF them IN
the thiri heat. Hell and Potomac. The
name tells its own story. The colt was
bred by " Ham Il. Johnson, and the name
given him indicates the CONSERVATION
which the sire had produced among the
owners of competing horses whenever he
appeared on the turf. II was natural mat
50 phenomena "a runner rs the sire 81 lt@ti
and Potomac should have hecn disparaS"d,
detained. and suCmatizod by those whom
he Ia! SO ciiectually taught 10 dread nm.
Although Potomac's tinc son of ms own
name, out of Lowis'S IRIS, who went to
Kentucky. was reputcd to be very fleet
only at snort distances, yet turfman who
knew aim better than the public, sad Oi
him that " lac was perhaps equal to any OF
tho OF spring of ha sire at any distance
A. - dams, Potomac WAS certainly the
sire Of several very fine ones. OF Jenny
publications.. says: she was the most
iimou. mare of her day, and dam of Maid
of Lodi, Creeping Kate, Betsey HARRISON,
dam OF tie good race-horse Denmark"
&c. dc. ] viii add that she was also the
dam o. Su,ctte, "a noted mare herself, aud
dam of tine fine racer i)ODeIall, son OF Lex
iugtOu OF Maybcrry's old Potomac mare,
Colonel John l.. White, an importer and
breeder of thorcughbreds of Pittsylyaua
10 hot gt a
best stock was descended from her"
Iou yourself Mr.. Editor, bear testimony
20 the sup, r-cxcolloncc OF Betsy Malone IS
"a race-mare. rating her as one of the hes;
of her day" Lady Franklin. a daughter
Of Potomac. was no mean runner, and her
daughter. Lucy Long, was "A still better
one. But Lucy Long owes her chief CO.
lebrity TO her son, Red Eye, by Boston.
The old turfmcn of Virginia recollect tins
great horse as beautiful III every feature,
majestic III presence, and one OF the
smOotbest. hccte>t, and lOngwinded
racer, that We had tor years on the Nr-
NINA turf. lie frequently met Nina, the
renowned dam Of Planet, IN tour-m'le
heat races, and IL was nlp-and-tUck be-
tween them. he beating her nearly rs often
a. she beat him and could there be higher
proof OF "a stalWaTt racer than the fact that
ne could put such competitor as Nina up
to all sne could 10?
An examination of the racing and breed
ing records that came into print after 1928.
(thcrc were no rcguiarly-kept ones before,)
will disclose many other descendants uf PO-
tOmac vino achieved honorable distinction
IN field and stud. Potomac came upon the
turf In 1906 and into the stud III 1903. HIS
immed ate sons aud daughters ran IN times
when their trumphs did not enjoy the adj
vantage of systematic registration; and u Is
unjust 10 ignore that difficulty III COM
pairing ms services IN the stud with those
oi horses whose progeny ran at a later
day, the greatest ol which latter class for
many Years as sire Of winners was Sir
Charles.
FAIBY AZ INJURED INNOCENT.
l come now. Mr.. Editor. to the pedigree
which Won give OF Potomac in the article
have quoted at the beginning Of tins letter,
which you take from Colonel Bruce's IL
valuable stud-bOok. and winch he took
from Edgar. For ono | repudlate that pcdi-
gree. Ed -ar's etud-bopk was published
in 1891. i be book is not now under eye
and write from memory. It's author was
an eccentric old Scotch iri7h bachelor who
cmigrated into lower Virginia early in life.
He wa thoroughly honest and sincere, but
the vcriest bundle of fondnesses and an
tipathics with whom Dame Nature ever
tainted the human race. lie was q crank
of the first water and cantankerOus 10
a degree as provoking as cOmlC9l.
His stud-book j. valuable as preserving
many pcdigrecs that would otherwise have
been lost in oblivion. But 1t is not stand
ard, and wherever his passions were en-
listed IS wholly unreliable. Its publication
was hopelessly unrcmuncrative TO It's
compiler" who was sJured by the fact.
IL offended tho racing and breeding public
of the time and did not so TO an intended |
second volume. IL was unfdvOrably re-
ceiyed and was the subject of no
little suppressed derision. You will |
hardly find mention Of it in the !
American Turf Register of that period and !
this silence is significant of crushing con-
domination. What must be thought of au
American stud-book that fails to give the |
pedigree Of Sir Archy? Ii is like a list Of |
the Apostles without the name of st. Peter, |
or of the American Presidents that leaves |
out Andrew Jackson. 1t was said that Sir |
Pat. believe he was a real Knight, was IN |
friendly tot the owner of Sir Archy, and that !
that was the explanation OF the omission, |
but what an explantlon.
DON oUxoTE WITHOUT sANcHo.
His fantastic figure Is still rccOlectcd in |
Southern Virginia, mounted on a sorrel |
mare, Che disdalned TO own horses in any |
form but mares, and those sorre) with |