The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-06-30
CAPTAIN BUSH
AS A BREEDER.
His Venture Into the Business Of
Raising Thoroughbreds AL
most an Accident-He Is
Proud of AlcedO.
REPUBLIC SPECIAL

SPECIAL
Lexington. KY. June e9.-Captain Thomas
J. Bush. clubman. inventor and man of the
world. bred Alcedo. the winner Of the Sub
urban Of this year. and the story Of his
almost accidental venture into the thorough
bred business has been the talk among
horsemen Of the old school since that VIC
tory. Captain Bush. more than any other
man. Is a connecting link between the old
and the new turfman, and the story gathers
interest from that fact. He Is known to-
day Is well In the clubs of New York.
Philadelphia and Boston as he is I'm the
Union Club of this city. and his venture in
thoroughbreds is due to a friendship with
James p. Scott of Philadelphia. first formed
In one of the clubs Of that city.
Lexington Will long remember the visit
Of Jimmie Scott and his party in the
spring Of 1880. There were In the merry
crowd besides Mr.. Scott. W. II. Biddle.
James Potter. Moncure Robinson and Evans
Roberts, all of Philadelphia. and Robert
Perkins of New York. They saw the coun-
try. had a good time. and altogether gave
the peaceful quiet Of the town a decided
jolt.
On the morning OF May 6 they drove
down TO the Runnymede sale. near Paris.
II was Just at the time when there was a
fever for buying yearlings and going to the
turf.
Look here. jimmie said Captain Bush.
I'VE ought to buy some of these yearlingsL"
The ought" does not exactly appear. but
Jimmie cheerfully acQuiesced with a Il
think 50. Tom" and they agreed to put in
$50 apiece. They commenced bidding. and
when they had finished they had bought
seven fllies for s9.0a. Out of the seven
they got three good stake winners In Glenn
cntine. La Colonia and Sweet Blossom.
daughters of Fonso. Hindoo and Longfellow.
The ofhor four Were mt Sn Cnpf and they
were sold at the end of their 2-yea--old
forms. They campaigued the three I'm their
3-year-old form and won about $1,000 in
stakes and purses. The three were then
sold at auction. La Colonia bringing $3.50.
Clementine s.. 80 and Sweet Blossom 5000.
The stable was closed out because Scott
was going abroad and wished to get out Of
the game.
In speaking OF what Il apparently a streak
Of good luck. Captain Bush said: You see.
Jimmie and / were just a little enthusiastic
and there Is no telling how many stakes we
entered these fllies IN or how many ~forfeits
We paid. We never took them East. but
they were entered in all of the events out
there. You see. we would sit up In the
club and every time one of those old breed
ers would mention a stake I would look
across at Jimmie and say. One Of our FLIES
ought to be good enough to win that and
away went the letter entering her. We fig
ured 1t out that II we had gotten a $3.50
purse which we let another man collect for
Us We would have come out just Is cents
ahead"
In the spring Of 1891 the firm had bought
nine allies. paying 5000. In the lot was .
brown lilly by Hindco. out OF Distraction, by
War Dance. which afterwards threw Alcedo.
She was SO bowed In the front legs that
you could roll q barrel between them, and
her trainer could never get her up to q
quarter better than q seconds. She cost
$sss as q yeariing and was put In the etud
Of Captain Bush. n he had assumed charge
Of the yeariings when h and Scott