St. Paul daily globe., 1891-04-27

largest WlllnIiS SciulllS III thC IIolOIy
of the American turf, Proctor Knott,
was bred at Belle Meade. In two years
his earnings footed up S79.455. The
highest priced Thoroughbred horse ever
sold at auction in America exclusively
for breeding purposes, IrOQuoIS, the
only Americana bred winner of the En-
gliSh Derby. is now in the stud at Belle
Meade. The only living broodmare
whose first ten fOals are all winners
Mariposa-roams the stud paddockS at
Belle Meade. Barnum, who has won
more races than any horse in the history
of the American turf since the days OF
Old Mistress, in-th latter part OF the
'30s, was bred at Belle Meade. During
his career on the turf he finished eighty
two times in front of the field that OPP
posed him. The three most costly STALL
ions doing stud service in America-the
$4,000 Iroqu0is, the $50, ,000 Luke Black
burn and the $4,000 Inspector b
are all quartered at Belle Meade.
Gen. w. &. Harding was the founder
of Belle Meade. says the Chicago Tri-
bune. He owned and raced many noted
horses, including the remarkable mare
Gamma, one of the queens of the turf
in her days. Those who were well ac-
quainted with Gen. Harding knew him
as a model citizen, While his record as a
TuFfftlan and Breeder
was as bright as that Of Robert A. Alex
ander in Kentucky and Mr.. Blenkiron
Of the famous English Middle Park
stud. He always had an idea that a
yearling colt should peyer go for any sort
Of fancy figure. and at one of his sales
when the auctioneer was crying colt
for $500 he arose from his seat and
cried out: KNOCK him down, captain :;
no yearing is worth that money" The
next colt sold reached about the same
6gure, and. niotioning TO Il boy to order
his horse. lie said lie would go home, as
be was tired of seeing people make
fools of themselves. Once a committee,
Rll prominent leaders in the church,
waited ON him and told him of the
many evils of horse racing, and ad-
Vised him that he owed it to bis religion
10 sell out and quit the business.
1--WE can't stop it," he replied. Car
ried on high points, l see no harm in it,
and ! had as we'll be engaged in it as
any one else; but l'n tell you what l
will agree to do. Let us get together
and see if we can't make it better" !"
This suggestion was always practiced
by Gen. Harding. On his death legal
complications threatened for time to
overthrow the great establishment he
founded. However, dissatisfied parties
interested in the estate were finally ap-
peaSed, and
Esy Forced Sale
the place passed into the possession of
its present proprietor, Gen. w. II. Jack
son, the sOn-in-law Of the pioneer
breeder. At this sale Gen. Jackson let
all the inferior mares pass off the place,
and retained only those that have made
their way to fame by the merits of their
produce. or are themselves high-claSS
performers or Of the pureSt blood lines.
Since that sale he has added number
Df fillies TO his brood mare ranks, and
there are now some ninety odd matrOns
in this great breeding stud. Among
the most prominent are MaripOSa. She
has the honor of having foaled four
teen successive seasons. record
which probably cannot be paralleled
in search through the entire stnd
book, when the fact is taken into con-
sideration that every one of these foals
live TO be trained and to earn turf re-
nOwn. She has produced winners by
five different stations, proving that her
fame is largely due to her own merits.
Among the yearlings now at Belle
Meade is filly out Of her by imp. Great
Tom that is, a counterpart Of her sister,
the flying Swift. Counting up the en-
tire winnings of the horses bred AT Belle
Meade nee its entry into the yearling
market, the figures show that the S3SS,
030 worth Of colts and fllieS there have
won lriile over s., 000, ,O00 in stakes and
purses. On several occasions the per-
former has won more than the entire
collection of yeariings sold for the year
he passed under the hammer.