Los Angeles herald., 1891-09-27
His Highness May be Raced
in Great Britain.
Previous Experiments in This
Line and their Result.
The Contests of Spendthrift and
Duke of Magenta.
The Successes OF Parole and Iroquoas.
The Result OF the Invasion of MIR.
Richard Ten Broeck.

If Mr.. David Gideon should take his
fine colt His Highness to England-a
| plan which he has under consideration
he will be entering upon doubtful and
dangerous experiment, says clever
writer in The Weeks Sport. The differ
ences in climate and racing conditions
are so great that the horses which win
noteworthy honors in this country may
achieve nothing creditable abroad. Mr..
Pierre Lorillard bought the famous colt,
the Duke of Magenta, from his brother.
Mr.. George L. Lorillard, for $4,000 and
half his winnings abroad, and sent the
Duke to Great Britain. This racehorse
was one of the last and one of the great
est of the sons Of Lexington. Both as a
two-year-old and as three-year-old he
proved himself champion of the high
est class. He won every three-year-old
stake in which he ran, except the Jersey
Derby, in which Mr.. Pierre Lorilard's
Spartan defeated him, when he was suf-
fering so severely from collie that
he could hardly stand. 1t was mere
play for the Duke to outrun Bramble,
and yet Bramble was no mean race
horse. In the following year, when the
Duke of Magenta was in England,
Bramble made clean sweep of the cup
races-winning the Baltimore, West
chester, Monmouth and Saratoga cups.
This feat was not equalled by any other
horse before or afterward. The Coney
Island, Brooklyn and New York jockey
clubs had not then been established.
The Duke was noble looking animal,
of peculiarly proud and naughty bear
ing, and when he stepped upon a race
track it was with disdainful and con-
quering air that brooked no suspicion of
failure. This majestic horse never took
part in race in England. His lungs
became affected by change of climate,
and it was impossible to train him.
After a time he was brought back TO
America to serve as stallion. But the
usual i'll success of the sons of Lex
ington at the stud attended him
also. He has been the sire of
no horse of the highest rank. But then
Mr.. Lorillard never gave him half
chance as stallion, and few mares
were bred to him.
Another high-priced colt that Mr..
Pierre Lorillard purchased and sent to
Great Britain was Falsetto, the best son
of Enquirer. Who that saw those
memorable contests can ever forget
Trayers and the Kenner stakes in which
Falsetto met and vanquished Spend
thrift? After the chestnut son of Aus
tralian and Aerolite had won a stirling
series of victories in the west as 2-year-
old, Mr.. James r. Keene bought him
for big sum. Spendthrift was the all
winter favorite for the Withers' stakes,
and at that time there was considerable
winter betting on the Withers' stakes
and the Kentucky derby. 1t was be-
fore the days of the Suburban on which
in later years the betting for months
beforehand became much heavier than
on any other American race. But this
preliminary betting has almost died out
in this country, for reasons that may be
explained at another time, although it
still hourishes, but with diminished
proportions, in Great Britain. SPEND
thrift's chief rival in the Wither's was
Mr.. George L. Lorillard's colt Harold,
and Harold had run so fine trial that
Mr.. Wyndham Waldo, his trainer, con-
tidently expected him to win the With
er's. Mr.. Pierre Lorillard had no colts
of his own of any value in the Wither's,
and he backed his brothers. Harold to
win large sum. All Harold's chances
in the race were ruined by the blunder
of the starter, who dropped his
flag when Harold's head was
turned the wrong way. Hughes
was riding Harold, and he at
tempted to recover the lost ground.
Harold ran with amazing swiftness for
three-quarters of a mile and overlook
the others. But the effort was too ex-
acting for him, and he fell back in the
home stretch.
Mr.. Keene had two colts in the race,
Spendthrift, the favorite, and Don Spoil
ing, much inferior animal. The de-
feet of Harold through the starters
error allowed Spendthrift to take the
lead in the home stretch with Don
Spelling second.
"a tall slender Kentuckian, named
Mr.. j. w. Hunt-Reynolds, had brought
a small stable to the springs, and the
star of his little group of horses was
dark-brown colt, son OF Enquirer and
Farfaletta, named Falsetto. This Falls
etto had singularly long and sweeping
stride. a superb action, and looked every
inch racehorse. Moreover he had run
excellent races in the west. But the
spell of Spendthrift was upon almost
every sportsman, and Mr.. Keene's colt
was strong favorite over Falsetto for
the Travers. Falsetto overcame Spend
thrift in the race with striking ease, e,and
repeated his victory in the Kenver. Mr..
George L. Lorillard's pair, Harold and
Monitor, were both badly beaten in the
latter race. Mr.. Pierre Lorillard was
profoundly impressed by these exploits
of Falsetto, and entered into negotia-
tions for the purchase Of the colt. He
finally obtained him for $17 900, very
big price in those days. Falsetto was
shipped to England, but his fate was
like that of the Duke of Magenta.
His private work was amazingly fine.
If he could have been sent to the post
in great English race, he would have
astonished our British cousins almost as
much as Iroquis and Foxhall aston
ished them afterwaId. But he fell ill,
and could not be trained. When it was
no longer possible to hope that he could
ever win race in England, he was sent
back to America, where ne became the
sire of the renowned filly Dew Drop.
1t is true that all American inyasions
of the English turf have not been fail
ures. Mr.. Richard Ten Brock had some
success with Prior, Prioress and Startle