The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-31
MONUMENTS TO HIS HORSES.
LAST OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS COM
rANY OF WOODFORD COUNTY
SPORTSMEN.
DID MUCH FOR THoRoUGHBREDs.
Now in His Seventy-FourtH Year
Temperament of Ten BrOeck
and LOngfeIIow.


names of Buford, Blackburn, Harper,
Alexander. Swigert, Kinkead and Ford,
and, if they had not played their parts
on the breeding farm and at the race
track, the annalists of the American
turf would have a different story to
tell.
These men raced horses in the days
when they were run for glory and
when the bookmaker had not been In
vented. Of this school of turfmen.
Frank b. Harper, now in his seventy
fourth year, is the last survivor in
WOodford county and one of the most
lllUstrious Of them all. He is a nephew
of John Harper, who died in 1873 and
who laid the foundation of the great
thoroughbred nursery at Nantura
farm many years ago. After owning
and racing number Of horses, John
Harper's career was crowned, near the
Sc of his life, by the successes of
.gfellow, who was foaled in 1867. He
\ Ured Ten Brock, but did not live to
see any Of his performances.
Frank B. Harper was associated
with his Uncle John from childhood,
and it was under Franks regime that
Iongfellow won many of his greatest,
races and made his wonderful name in
the stud, and that Ten Brock made
the world ring with his exploits on the
track
The Harpers have been in Woodford
county for over 100 years. The records
of the Woodford county court house
show that in March, 1895, Jacob Harper
Sr., the grandfather Of the present
owner of the place, purchased from
one Andrew Lewis 100 acres of land
no Of
twelve pounds, lawful money" Nam
tura farm took its name from the great
race and brood mare of that name
the dam of Longfellow. The estate now
includes within its northern boundary
the old Ned Blackburn" farm, where
ex-senator J. c. S. Blackburn first saw
the light, some threescore years ago. 1t
IS a magnificent tract of 1.200 acres,
studded with grand old trees of black
walnut. ash, hard maple. burr oak.
hickory, elm ard now and then
honey locust and blackberry.
Mr. Harper is a heavily built, white
bearded old gentleman of the utmost
simplicity Of manners and life He
knows few greater pleasures than to
sit on the front porch of the little one
and-a-half-stoIy cottage-part log and
part brick. Of five or six rooms-which
constitutes his home and to talk of his
noble animals, which he has loved with
an affection rarely given by man to
man, and almost unheard of between
man and beast
Mr.. Harper is a bachelor. The quiet.
simple, lonely life he leads, and has
always led, is remarkable in man Of
r such large means. amply able to crafty
every wish his heart could conceive.
A very fair index of his character was
his famous and oft-repeated Injunction
to his jockeys to run his horses from
'eend to eend.' 1t we'll illustrates his
open and straightforward ma ture.
With the death of Ten Brock and
Longfellow, his most dearly loved
equine companions, Mr.. Harper lost in
terest in the turf. and. indeed, a good
deal of his interest in life. Those were
glorious days for the old man when
Longfellow and Ten Brock were both
on exhibition at "Nantura." and had
visitors from all over this continent
and Europe.
Imp. ROssington and Patton are the
present stations. but While they are
constantly earning money for their
master, they have not in the least as
suaged his grief for the dead heroes,
Ten Brock and Longfellow. Imp.
ROssington (who is a half brother Of
the great Ormonde. that sold for $780,
OOO) was purchased by Harper at auc-
ton in Lexington in 1887 at six years
old.
Il paid S12, 600 for him." said Mr.
Harper, and now he doesn't owe me
cent. I believe that I have been in his
debt for several years.
Rossington had eleven successful
two-year- olds. ard, all told, about six
teen winners out last season. one Of
the best of which is the two-year-Old
Traverse, out Of Betsy Brooks, by Ten
Brock, he having recently won sew
eral good races al San Francisco. Pat
ton, twelve years old, by Ten Brock
has been in the stud only four years
and has produced some good two and
three year olds.
When Ten Brock and Longfellow
died. Mr.. Harper gave them each a
resting place BETTING their great
achievements on the turf on a beautl-
full hillside in the paddock where they
were wont 10 gambol. Their graves
are marked by marble shafts, hand
somer by far than most of those to be
seen in the cemeteries of man. On
LOngfellow's monument is carved:
LONGFELLOW.
The King of the Turf
Brown horse, foaled May 10, 1867.
Died Nov. >. 1893.
II Starts: IA Times First
King Of Racers and King Of Stations.
Ten Brock is commemorated as follows:
TEN BROCK.
Bay horse. foaled on Nantura
Stock Farm, Wo- dfo Co., KY. June, 30, 1872.
Died June, % 1887.
PERFORMANCES
Mile .... 1884 222s Miles :. ..... 1884,
14sMiles E. 800. .2:49h 3 Miles =. :26H.
Miles :. 49,. .9:27l54 Miles . =. .7:15%
MIR. Harper was the first man in America
and is the only man in Kentucky to erect a
monument over the resting place of a horse.
Said Mr.. Harper:
"A story recently published about the
= graves of America great horses stated that
the late Robert Alexander erected a monu-
ment the grave of Lexington. and was
the first man to thus honor dead turf hero
This is a mistake. MIR. Alexander never put
a monument over LeXingtons grave. Keene
of New York, and myself are the only men
who have done such thing, and was the
first"
1t is very easy TO see that of his horses Ten
Brock was Harper's favorite, although Long
fellow. besides being a great race horse was
infinitely more successful in the stud and
his progeny has shed lustre upon ''Nantura"
to a greater extent than that of Ten Brock
This favortism is accounted for by the fact
that Longfelow already fully developed
and had made his reputation during the life
time of John Harper, while Frank Harper had
1.-The raising of Ten Brock who was given
to him as sucking colt by his uncle
''lJncle John didn't think much Of Tan