The New York herald., 1922-02-26
SCORES FINDINGS
OF JOCKEY CLUB
Peter the Greats New Pedigree
Questioned as to Alleged
Lexington Cross.
by GURNEY c. CUE.

by GURNEY c. CUE.
The action of the American Trotting
Register Association and the stewards
of the Jockey Club in accepting for
registration the latest version of Peter
the Greats remote material ancestry as
presented by W. H. Gocher. secretary Of
the National Trotting Association. is the
most extraordinary and unaccountable
proceedings of it's kind that / have
known in forty years of rather intimate
association with such matters
In another column the press repre-
sentative of the Jockey Club sets forth
the evidence on which the stewards ad-
mitted to registration sixty-seven years
after she is alleged to have been foaled
the mare alleged to be by Lexington out
of Edith by imported Sovereign. The
stewards who took this action were Au-
gust Belmont, II. X. Knapp. F. X
Sturgis, Joseph Il. Widener. r. T. Will
son and William Woodward
Their decision was based on the
afildavits of I. NJ. Wells of Colfax,
A-e''' anu hAs NousIl, JtiLcISOil w CHS
of Alexandria, La, who are nephews of
Gen. 7. J. Wells, the owner of Edith and
1 the alleged breeder of her alleged foal
by Lexington. The statements of these
men are the only ones directly bearing
on this phase of the case.
Ex Parte Proceedings.
The two deponents were not examined
personally by the stewards, hence no
opportunity was presented for cross
questioning them or otherwise testing
their credibility as witnesses. Nor was
there any public hearing of the matter
or any opportunity for any person in
terested in the truth of horse history to
present TO the stewards any facts or
circumstances which might lead them
TO doubt the story told by the Wells
cousins. It was essentially an ex parte
proceeding, and cannot believe the de-
cision will ever have the Endorsement of
horsemen experienced in tracing pedi-
grees. MY reasons for saying this are
as follows:
T. NJ. Wells who says he is 81
years old. stated to May Overton OF
Nashville in 1914 that the mare he calls
Lady Bess was by imported Yorkshire
out of Grisette. by imported Glencoe ac-
cording to the Chicago Horsemd1t
which. on May II, 1915. published an
exhaustive inquiry into the pedigree Of
! Peter the Greats dam. as made by Mr.
Overton. Mr.. Wells now swears that
Lady Bess was nor by Yorkshire but
Lexington, and that her dam was not
Grisette but Edith. What explana-
ton of this contradiction was sufficien.
TO convince the stewards that the later
version was the true one. or that the
memory of the aged deponent could be
trusted in n matter which happened
nearly seventy years ago and in which
he was not directly concerned?
jefferson Wells. who stated In a
letter to his cousin in 1914 that he was
so years old, and last year wrote TO Mr.
Gochcr that he was 50. has further i'm
( peached his own crediblity as a wit
ness by saying over his own signature
in 1914 that the horse Milton Relf. bred
by his uncle was by Gimcrack. out OF
JUDITH. by Glencoe. whereas he now
says he was by Crackele. out OF Edith.
by Sovereign.
'Tcmory Utterly INTERNATIONALLY
That his memory Of events of 1854
is utterly untrustworthy has been
shown by his assertion In a letter TO
Mr.. Gocher last year that Lexington
was trained by one Graves. and not by
| J. r. Pryor, and that Lexington re-
NAMED at Kenner's place until he was
| sold for $4,000 to go in the stud"
after his defeat by Lecomte at the
Metaire course in April, 1854. It is
a matter of record that Lexington did
not go to tho stud until May. 1855. and
that In the meantime he was trained
and raced by Pryor, defeating Lecomte
and breaking the record at New Orleans
In April, 1855. Lexington was not sold
until the summer Of 1856 after he had
|W.nv u
per's form. near Midway. Ky.
At the time Mr. Wells says Edith was
bred to Lexington Gin April 1850 the
owner of the mare was not on friendly
terms with tho owner of the horse: In
fact. Mr.. Gocher has stated. presumably
on the authority of Jefferson Wells. that
! Lexington's owner was suspected by
Cen Wells Of having tried 60 have
Lecomte "got at" Again, Lexington
was in training for the races Of his life
and IL is highly improbable that his
owner would consider breeding a mare
20 him at such a time. IL is. moreover
a matter Of record that y. G. Bruce, who
wrote n history of Lexington, said while
tho facts were fresh in everybody's mind
that ~ G. Breckenridge the first OF
his get appeared on the turf as two
year-old in 1853"
"Faking the pedigree OF Peter the
Great" Is the harsh title OF leading
editorial in The Horse Reviec dealing
with Mr. Gocher's activities in the mat
ter and with the ninlsy character Of the
latest afTidavits OF the Wells cousins
which are dismissed as unworthy oi
serious consideration. Yet on the evil
dence thus characterized by an expert
enced expert IN equine genealogy the
American Trottng Register Associa ton
and the stewards Of the Jockey Club
have assumed the responsibility of
changing tho records without taking the
precauton to investigate the matters In
question for themselves.