Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-04

Virgil. While a two-year-old the young
ster showed very moderate form in his few
races the following year, Virgil did so we'll
that Williams took him east.
At Saratoga in 1876 Virgil won a couple
OF good races. and then his breeder sold
the colt to the Dryers for $500. big
price In those days. But the Brooklyn tuf-
man found Virgil worth more than his pur-
chase price. for that fall he won a num-
Der of races In their colOrs. Among them
the Dixie and Breckenridge stakes at Bal
timore. defeating the hest three-year-olds in
training.
Time went on and two years later Will
liams developed another good horse At
the Belle Meade yeariing sale Of 1873 he
purchased for something like 5000 bay
colt by Bonnie Scotland-Nevada by Lex
ington and named the youngster after Ken
tucky's favorite son. Luke Blackburn.
Since Bonnie Scotland had been brought
from comparative obscurity in Illinois to
the bluegrass country of Tennessee, Gen.
w. G. Harding had given the grandly-bred
English stallion every chance at Belle
Meade. His best maj es were mated with
the son of Iago and Queen Mary and old
Scotland electrified the turf word by turn
ing out winners galore.
So that when Jim Williams purchased
the Nevada colt he had every reason to
look for merit in the youngster. His dam
Nevada was q great race mare herself, and
from his first gallops In the paddocks her
young son seemed to take after her. AS
two-year-old. the namesake of the Ken
lucky senator justified his breeding by
showing Williams some fast trials, and he
entered him in many valuable stakes east
and west.
But when Luke Bla ckburn, after winning
g. race at Nashville and another at LeXing-
ton as a two-year old. was shipped to Sara
toga. he proved a good deal Of disap-
pointment to his owner. He had great
speed. but developed an apparent lack of
stamina as the season went on that caused
him to quit in many of his races Just when
IA seemed ha them all n which
was very disappointing to Williams.
Finally, along in the fall of 1879. Will
liams became disguised with Blackburn and
sold him to the Dryers for 50, 500, con-
WINGED that he was well rid Of gutter"
But the colt wintered we'll under James
Rowes care, and as three year-old in 1880
he could go any distance, winning race
after race for the Brooklyn turfmen. and
some $4,000 in stakes and purses.
That was one Of Jim" Williams lost op-
portunities, and never afterward did he
what the youngster could do year later.
Luke Blackburn was one OF the best horses
this country ever saw and Williams to this
day berates himself for letting him go for
a song.
But Blackburn's meteoric career was cut
short by breakdown in the spring of his
four year-old work. This was in June,
1881, at Sheepshead Bay, In the famous
race for the Coney Island Cup. won by
William Jennings great horse Glenmore.
Blackburn never ran another race, and the
next year went TO Belle Meade Farm, where
he reproduced his like many times over.
After his mistake in letting Blackburn
go so cheap Williams naturally looked
around for another horse like him. and at
the sale of 1881 at Belle Meade. when Bon
ME Scotiand's last crop of yearlings were
offered, he bid up to $4,000 for the dead
sire's soma full brother to Luke Blackburn
But the Dryers, Pierre Lorillard. Milton
Sanford and others carried the bidding on
the colt up to $500. at which figure the
Dryers got Kim. They named the young
ster Joe Blackburn, but he never won a
race, and they finally sold him to farmer
for country stud service, and Williams
chuckled at his narrow escape from getting
the gold brick"
At WOODBURY., however, Williams had bet
ter luck. He secured the yearlings by Glen
Athol and Virgil respectively, that he after
ward developed into the noted stake win
ners Checkmate and Fair Play. Checkmate.
by Glen Athol-Full Cry, he raced with
great success east and west for several
years, the big gelding5s successes at Sara
toga in 1882 starting David c. Johnson on
his successful career as betting plunger
and owner.
At Sheepshead Bay in the fall of 1888
when Checkmate was six years old, VIII
liams sold the old gelding to his good GUS
toners. the Dryers. for 5000, after he (Wil-
liIns) had in four years won many times
that amount with the veteran. Strange to
say. Checkmate as q seven-year-old the