New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-10-13
Roamer Still
Going Strong,
Despite Years
Gclding Has Started in
Lightweight Races and
Won Thirty-eight

cord and whalebone gelding now near
ing the close of his sixth year of rae
ing. Rivals have come and gone, but
Roamer, the marvel horse of the dec
ade, is as sound and tireless as in his
three-year-old career, when he won
twelve QUE of sixteen starts and low
cred the colors of every good horse in
training.
At an age when most thoroughbreds
are either broken down or have lost
their speed and powers of endurance
Roamer is fourishing like q green bay
tree. To date he has started in
eighty eight races, of which he has
won thirty-eight, the last at Jamaica
a few days ago; has been second IN
twenty two, third in six and unplaced
in twenty-five.
His winnings are almost $95 900, and
IN this connection it must not be for
gotten that many of his victories were
achieved during the lean years of rae
ing, when the sport was kept alive
through the existence of fund con-
tributed by a number of gentlemen
who believed in the thoroughbred
horse and refused to let him become
extinct.
Small Stakes Cut Total
The rewards were naturally much
smaller than during the years when
the sport was at the height of its popu-
larity, or even to-day, when racing Is
fast regaining the favor which it en-
joyed before the crusade of 1908. For
was generally worth around $4,000,
had value of but $1,000 in 1914, when
Roamer was a three-year-old.
The Travers Stakes, q Saratoga clas
sic since ante-bellum days, was worth
only $4,000, and it is safe to assume
that the great gelding would have fig
ured among the very largest winners
on the American turf had the fates
destined him to appear when turf
prizes were at their maximum.
Bred the property of the late Wood
ford Clay, he is of purely English line
age, his sire, knight Errant, being by
Trenton, son of Musket, while his
dam. Rose Tree H., is by Bona Vista,
by Ben dor. knight Errant was little
better than good platter, but he had
the blood of st. Simon through his dam,
St Mildred. He ran in the colors of
the late Philip j. Dryer, and the story
goes that Roamer owes his existence to
q the fact that his dam, Rose Tree H.,
was mated with him because the pre-
mier stallion on the Clay farm was
blind.
Rose Tree II was herself sightless.
She had been the medium for ire
mendous betting coup in England on
the part of Edward Corrigan and his
associates, who claimed her out of a
selling race. After being brought to
the United States she became blind
If a list of the races taken part in
by Roamer could be given here it would
be found that he had been an active
participant in virtually all the sensa-
tional tests in the last five years, or
ever since he was three-year- He
has made more track records than any
other horse that has sported silk in
this country at any period and has
dazzled and thrilled thousands by his
matchless speed and dauntless courage.
An analysis of the big handicaps
shows that he was always in the first
flight forcing the pace, and he has to
his credit more miles in 1888 or better
than any other performer the American
turf has ever known. Add to this the
fact that Roamer requires twice as
much work to keep him fit as any of his
rivals, and one gets some idea of the
marvellous makeup of this phenome-
non in the shape of a racehorse. Let his
trainer, Jack Goldsborough, tell of the
way ne ndnOleS MIN.
Called Roamer Freak"
"Roamer is freak, that's ALL said
Goldsborough few days ago, land
can't be handled like an ordinary horse
You must set him down-hatten him
out--or he isn't worth a quarter. If
had kept a record of the miles in / 40
CT better that he has worked it would
amaze those who think they know
something about horses.
TO give you som idea of what you
have to do with him let me tell you OF
his preparation for his Saratoga cam
pagn this year. He ran three times
during the two weeks at Empire. Be.
fore shipping to Saratoga he got 8
mile and a quartz, in 2:06Az. The day
after he arrived here l worked him in
He then went out and won the Saratoga
Handicap.
"That amount of work would hav.
cooked any ordinary horse, but it only
put Roamer on edge, and he got it hot
and heavy up to two days before he
lowered the mile record. Taking hin
all in all, he is wonder. He has neve,
weighed over 1000 pounds, and as {
younger horse | had the greatest diff
Guilty getting him to cat six or sever
quarts Of oats day. He was given thi,
at night, and you never saw poore,
hay eater. He wouldn't eat mash un
til recently, and l don't know where
he got his vitality. His action is VIVA
makes him great His feet and leg,
are like iron, and his heart must b,
as big as my head. He has no pets II
or around his stable and won't e
around the track with a pony. | neve,
expect to see another like him"
Andy Schuttinger. who rode Roamel
in his recordbreaking mile, and wht
has been his pilot in nearly all of hi.
races of recent years. has the follow
ing to say about the peerless gelding
"The old fellow is unlike any othel
horse l ever rode. When he wa:
younger he wanted to dive into the BIZ
and stand his opponents on their head.
the first half mile. Now, as he grow.
older, have to ride him nearly all the
way. He likes a fast, hard track, ane
on that kind of footing you would thinl
you were in rocking chair.
when the track is soft or chopp,
he shortens his stride and is a chopp,
mount. He is as smart as thew come
but is as honest as the day is long. HI
will give up the last ounce of speed hi
has on tap, and it was for this reasor
that | begged Mr.. Miller and Mr.. Colds
borough to have no pacemaker at Sara
toga."
VxyaIs AL