Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-02-02
THE SANTA ANITA STUD.

Rumors that the Emperor of Nor
folk Is 10 be Timed again.
The victories of E. j. Baldwin, called
Lucky" for the sake of brevity, have
always been popular with Eastern race
goers, because the stable has always run
to win, and the hackers of the Santa
Anita horses have always been sure of a
run for their money. Whenever the
Maltese cross was in front the cheers
were loudest, while such could not be
said of the Haggin colcrs, especially
when Murphy and Spellman had charge
of the Del Psso horses. For this reason
Los Angeles has sort of moth erly inter-
est in the victories of the Santa Anita
horses. Here were foaled Volante, Sill
yer Cloud, Lucky B., Gano, Grismer and
Fallen Leaf, all nags that made the name
OF California famous abroad.
The rumor is that the Emperor of Nor
folk, unquestionably the greatest three
year-old that has ever raced in America.
is to be pulled out from his retirement to
the harem and again placed in training.
Whether his leg will stand the sort of
work necessary to bring him to a great
race, is one of the things yet to be dem-
onstrated. 1t is not likely he could
escape the eye of the Handicapped and
squeeze into rich stake with anything
on him but q genuine staggerer.
Again, it is questionable whether
any new victories would increase
his value as breeding horse.
He is the only horse that ever
won ali three of the great 3-year-old
events at Chicago, and that proves him
unquestionsbly the superior of Volante,
Favor, Spokane and Silver Cloud, espe-
cially when it is considered that he won
with an accumulation of penalties. Con-
sequently his reappearsnce on the turf
is one of those cases where he has every
thing to lose and nothirg to gain.
The prevailing idea is that Mr.. Bald
win made great mistake in not leaving
this famous colt and Volante at the
East. where they could stand for larger
figures than in California, and fill the
Santa Anita stud with an importation
either from England or Australia. The
latter horses are preferable, as having
better bone. generally speaking, besides
which they are matured in damp eli
mate and not addicted to roaring"
Mr.. Haggin has already led the way by
importing one stallion from Australia
and another from New Zealand and the
fact that out of six Sir Modred colts tried
last year four proved to be stake-win-
ners, should have set the millionaire of
Santa Anita to studying which foreign
cross would be most desirable to sue
ceed the once famous Grinstead, now
slowly waning into senility, with Ruth
erford downright failure.
The truth is that the Santa Anita stud is
overcharged with the blood of Lexing-
ton. Grismtead and the Emperor are
descendants of this family through the
male line, while Gano, Verano and
Rutherford have it on the dams side.
The daughters of Grimstead have been
bred to Rutherford, and his daughters
have in turn been mated with the EN-
peror of Norfolk. All this means de.
terioration of the once famous stud,
which still boasts the best mares in
America and which should have at least
one stallion fully equal to them. The
cheers that greeted the victories of Vo-
lante, Silver Clo1d and the Emperor are
not likely to be heard in the future, un-
less there is change of sexes and that |
right speedily. Santa Anita needs new
blood.
Hon. J. L. Rose says that he will turn
his special attention hereafter to the
breeding of thoroughbreds. Trotting
stock, which has been 80 largely in
favor for many years, is becoming glut
in the market. Some of the best trotters
are bred up from common stock, and
many of the most noted in the list of
wonders were without pedigree. Occi-
dent will be readily recalled as belong
ing to what may be termed the founding
tribe. But trotting has received black
eye from the jockeying practices which
that mode OF racing seems to encourage.
If it were not for about ten men in the
United States, who have maintained the
integrity of the turf, the sport would now
be in as bad odor as prize. fighting
Running races are becoming popular,
not only because they are the best test
of speed and of the fore of the noble
animal, bat because there is the mini
mum of possibility of hippodroming in
these contest. Besides, the breeding of
thoroughbreds preserves the purity OF
the race, and tends to ennobls the turf.