The New York herald., 1921-11-20
US. SUPREME COORT
I JUDGE A TURRMAN
Gabriel Duval, Associate of
John Marshall, Was Member
Of Maryland Jockey Club.
WROTE RACING MEMOIRS
His Contributions to Spirit of
the Times and Turf Regis
ter Are Turf History.
BY GURNEY c. CUE.

BY GURNEY c. CUE.
Justices OF the United States Supreme
Court are not contributors TO Daily Rae
ing Form, the Morning Telegraph and
other representative turf journals OF to-
day. but it was different a hundred
years ago. When John S. Skinner, the
personal friend of every President from
John Adams to Andrew Jackson. estab-
lished the first sporting periodical in the
United States at Baltimore IN 1929, one
OF tho many distinguished men who
wrote for his American TaGf Register
and Sporting Md9o@ire, beginning with
It's first issue, was Gabriel Duval, then
an associate OF John Marshall, Joseph
Story, Bushrod Washington and Brock
hoist Livingston in the highest court of
the country.
With the patriotic public spirit which
characterized every important act of his
long and useful life Skinner started his
magazine ito serve as an authentic rec
ord Of the performances and pedigrees
OF the bred horse" and Ito collect and
save many precious materials that would
soon be otherwise lost" as he said in
his introduction. and Judge Duval, over
his own signature, sent in this contri-
button to the early history of the turf:
Old England Flew the Track.
~QREAT RUNNING BIZ SELIM AT PHILA-
pELpHIA IN 1867.
MARIETTA, juno 26, 1929.
"Mr. Editor. Sir-According to prom
ise you have an account Of the race run
at Philadelphia in the year 1857, by
Cr-If -Al.z Tcs as.nI
from the Maryland Gasette of Mr.. Green,
October %. 1867; by him taken from
a Philadelphia paper.
'.On Tuesday last the following horses
started for the Gentlemen's Subscription
Purse OF 100 guineas:
Samuel Galloway. Esq.'s bay horse
Selfm ...-....-. L L
Mr., Learys bay horse Old England di.
Mr.. Samuei's bay horse CRANKY. 5 DIR.
Mr.. Andrew Orr's gray horse North
umberland dis.
THE first heat was run in minutes
seconds, Selirn winning from Old Eng
land by a single length. The second
heat. after running three miles close at
the heels Of SeliIn, Old England flew
the course.
The standard was ten stone. selim
was then eight years old and carried
140 pounds full weight. Old England
and Northumberland were both i'm
ported.
1T Is believed that this running was
never exceeded, IL eQualled, in this coun-
try. To form correct Judgment OF the
speed of a horse the weight carried must
always be recollected. If. as the old
and experienced sportsmen say, seven
pounds are equal to a distance, which
is 240 yards, IL follows that fourteen
will mako the HiffQroDcA of 80
yards, space which would consume
thirty-two seconds of time in running. at
the rate OF running at Philadelphia.
Deduct this from s minutes 2 seconds
and it leaves IA minutes. in which the
race would have been run il the stand
ard had been nine stone. ! have never
seen an account of a race where the
four miles were run in ~ minutes in
the United States.
Figure beat Selim in 1868 at Upper
Marlborough, but Selim was undoubtedly
in bad condition and had been lately
cured OF the distemper in tho throat
He was certainly a capital racer. ] saw
him beat the celebrated Silver Legs from
Virginia in the year 1872 at Annapolis,
four miles and repeat. He was then
thirteen years old and Silver Legs only
nine. With respect and esteem,
&c. DUvAL."
Learned horse talk and interesting
turf logic this from a member Of "the
highest judicial tribunal in Christen-
DOM"
Marshall n Turfman Too.
To the next issue of the magazine
Judge Duval contributed a list of the
distinguished progeny OF the Godolphin
Arabian, showing pretty clearly that he
was one OF the very few American
horsemen who then possessed Weather
by's English Stud Book, two volumes of
which had been published. These he
must have gone through, page by page.
noting each foal by the great progenitor
OF race horses, until he had a complete
list of them, with their names. colors,
ages and other particulars. 1t was an
Interesting compilation and was copied
without credit in one or two horse books
published in England.
When il Is remembered that very few
men OF prominence in any walk OF life
mt this period permitted their names to
be published in any connection with turf
affairs, even as breeders, such was
public sentiment concerning horce rae
Ing. one wonders that a Judge OF the
Supreme Court did not follow the COM
mon practice OF conceallng his identity
by writing over a pen name. Possibly
protest from some OF his august asso-
cistes, though certainly not from the
Chief Justice. for Benjamin Ogle Tayloe.
rno lifelong friend OF both eminent
1urists. said in the Spirit Of the Times
on the death OF Judge Duval:
Like his illustricus contemporary,
Marshall, he was psssionately fond OF
the amusements OF the turf. / had the
honor OF belonging to the same jockey
club with him. and / recollect at DIFF
ferent times 10 have seen the two noble
octogcnarians on horseback attending
the races with all the ardor OF youth"
Whatever may have been the cause
Judge Duvars contributions TO the Turf
Reoister after the second issue were
signed only with his initials, or not
signed at all. as ip the case OF his serial
'Racing Memoranda OF the Olden Time"
Somo of these contri buttons are the
sources OF our meagr turf history re-
lating TO the performances and pedigrqes
OF many of the feetest runners OF the
period preceding and following the Revo-
lutionary war.
Obedience 20 Laws I'm 17SI.
1t Is not known that Judge Duval
owned any race horses indeed, IL seems
unlikely that his colors ever were seen
on the tracks he frequented during a
rcriod OF almost seventy years Born IN
1752. he was only 20 when he Witnessed
the race between Selim and Silver Legs
at Annapolis. The preparations for war