The Sun and the New York herald., 1920-07-18
WHAT ONE MARE
CAN DO FOR TURF
Fairy Gold Produced the Sires
of Both Man o. War and
Inchcapc.
BY @. j. FITZGERALD.

|
whose name is on the lips Of turfmen
everywhere to-day. Her present day
fame is largely due to the performances
OF Man o. War and Inchcape, the for
mer the undlsputed champion OF the
turf and hailed by many as the greatest
horse Of all time In the United States.
and the latter, an 'unbeaten juvenile OF
phenomenal promise. sold on Tuesday
last for S150.000.
Had neither of these appeared Fairy
Gold would still have earned enduring
fame through the qualities OF her other
descendants, which have not only won
the best OF the American racing prizes
but carried on the laurels In England
and In faraway India. The influence OF
! this mare on the thoroughbred horse
stock Of the United States bids fair to be
Of lncalculable value, and It is to be re-
gretted that the Nursery Stud has but
one Of her descendants In the female
line to, carry on the work which she has
so splendidly begun,
Fairy Gold was foaled In England in
1895. She was by Bend Or, the founder
OF a great family Of horses and him
self n superb performer. Her dam
Dame Masham, was daughter OF Gal
Hard. Her best performance on the turf
was a victory in the $4,000 Woodcote
Stakes, at two years old, defeating Des-
mond. among others She was bred TO
81. serf, and In 1901 produced the MY
ST. Iucre, which when mated With Am
phion gave the turf Golden Legend.
| Golden Legend bred to Dark honalo
produced Dark Legend, which ran thlro
| for the English Derby Of 1917 and was
sold for S35, 900 for export to India,
where he won the Viceroy and Emperors
cups among other trophies. Mated with
Marcoyil Golden Legend threw Golden
Orb. a splendid sprinter in England az
the present time. Among his victories
recently are the Empire Stakes al New
bury. where he defeated the crack mare
Dladem, and the Nottingham STAKES, a,
Ascot, where he triumphed over He'u
| of twenty-four competitors.
Fairy Colds second foal was Golden
| Measure by FIorizel H., and whlle ne
was not a first class race horse ne was
noted stayer and won among other
! races the Ascot Gold Vase at two miles,
defeating Hammerkop, the dam OF Spion
Kop. winner Of this seasons Derby.
Fairy Gold missed to Isinglass In 1898
but was with foal by the same sire when
| Major August Belmont secured her az
the McCAlmont Stud dispersal sale that
same year for $4,000. He bought an
other mare atathe same time IN Hau-
tesse. now famous as the granddam OF
Hourless, paying $4,000 for the daugh-
| ter of Archiduc.
| The Isinglass foal died. and after be-
| ing brought to Kentucky Fairy Gold was
bred 10 Hastings, then the premier sire
at the Nursey Stud. From this union
came Fair Play, in 1905, and the pres
| ence of the phenomenal Colin alone pre-
vented his being the best of his age In
| 1907 and 1908. A perusal Of the record
| for the latter year shows that Colin
beat Fair Play in both the Withers and
Belmont stakes, but from that time for
ward Collins name does not appear in
| any of the great races over distance
| except the Tidal Stakes at Sleeps
head Bay, while Fair Play earned his
triumphs in gruelling races over long
routes and always with his weight up.
| He was victorious In the Realization,
at n mile and five furlongs; the Coney
| Island Stakes, at a mile and half the
Jerome Handicap, one mile and five-six-
| teentks; the First Special, one mile and
quarter; the Brooklyn Derby, one
mile and a quarter, and the Municipal
Handicap, at one mile and three-quar-
| ters. He gave away as much as ten
| pounds to horses like King James, Frank
Gill and Hessian,
The test of great stock horse Is his
ability to sire a greater performer than
| himself, and this Fair Play accom-
| plished when bred to Mahubah, by Rock
Sand. Fair Play would have been con-
sldered success without Man. o. War.
| which was the result of this mating, but
| that colt by his extraordinary qualities
has put the cap-sheaf upon his great
| ness.
Golden View by Hastings, came In
1906 and she In turn gave the turf Rock
view. by Rock Sand. a performer above
the average and a sire Of budding
promise, mare known as Rock OF
Gold, which is the last OF the Fairy
| Gold female line, as already stated In
the possession Of Major Belmont. For
tunately Rock of Gold is with foal this
season to Hourless, and she may carry
on the greatness of her dam. Others
by Octagon, Rock Sand and Hastings
were born to Fairy Gold between 1905
and 1913. These included Flittergold,
fast but uncertain horse.
1t was in 1918. however, that Fairy
Gold gave the turf horse that bids
fair to be the greatest of her brood.
This was Friar Rock, by Rock Sand
| He was fair performer as .two-year-
old, but at three he was a brilliant race
horse He won the Suburban Handi-
cap and should have won the Withers
| Stakes but for Loftus's foal riding. He
| took the Belmont Stakes in hollow
| fashion, and followed It up with a SUI
perb victory In the Brooklyn Handicap
over the best field Of the year. In win
ming both the Brooklyn and Suburban
he accomplished something no three
year.old has ever done before He was
beaten in the Saratoga and Empire City
handlcaps, but defeated Roamer and The
Finn for the Saratoga Cup at one and
three-quarters miles.
II was after this race that he was
bought by J. E. Madden for $4,000 and
retired TO the stud. Friar Rock was
subsequently sold by Mr.. Madden to ].
H. Rosseter of California together with
a number of mares with his first crop OF
foals by their sides for 100000. One of
these foals was InchcApe. sold for $780,
900 on Tuesday. Mr.. Hildreth on
Wednesday tried unsuccassfully to pur-
chase Friar Rock himself, but Mr.. Rosse-
ter declined to put prica on the horse.
Friar Rock is but seven years old, and
his record In having such a performer
In his first crop Of youngsters is unique.
II Is understood that Mr.. Hildreth was
prepared to pay S250,000 for him.
Fairy Gold was barren In 1914, 1915
and 1915 and roamed the blue grass pas
lures at Nursery the noblest matron OF
them ala big bodied short legged
type that gladdened the heart Of every
lover OF the thoroughbred who saw her.
Mated with the young sire Vulcain In
1916 she produced the colt now known
as Fair GAIN for which Joseph q. Wide
ner gave $4,000 at auction. Fair Gain
is winner. but is not colt Of quality.