Evening star., 1940-04-25
None Ever Won Three
In Row in Toughest
Race in World
Mon O. War Son Is Amonq
Crack Field Facing
Test on Saturday
BY ROBERT HENRY.

just outside Of Baltimore In the
Worthington Valley, and a field of
8 or 10 of the best cross country
horses in training are expected to
march postward. Among them will
be Mrs. E. Read Boards mighty
Blockade. son of Man o. War and
winner Of the race last year and also
in 1888, when he cracked the course
record by seven full seconds
Many are predicting that Blockade
will be licked this time. No horse
ever has won the race three times
in a row, they point cut, and while
two were good enough to win it
three times over a period Of five
or six years, these critics think it is
asking too much of a horse to score
consecutive triple.
Winning the race once is hard
enough, the records show, but since
it was first run in 1894, when won by
Johnny Miller, with his owner, John
McHenry, up, seven horses have won
1t two or more times. As stated,
two, Princeton and Garry Owen,
scored a triple. while Scandaga,
Oracle I'd, Bon Master, Capt. Kettle
and Blockade won twice.
Early Courses Difficult.
The race, brain child of a promi-
nent group of Maryland sportsmen
who wished to try out the speed, en-
durance and jumping ability Of their
hunters, in many ways was harder
to win years ago than it is today
Before the turn of the century it was
restricted to Maryland-owned hunt
ers and run over any kind of course,
ploWed fields, through woods and
over various obstacles that were
more hazardous than the % Jumps
which make up the present layout.
The first non-Maryland horse to
win was Sacandago, who scored in
1909 and 1910 under the colors of
Mrs. A. j. A. Deveraux of Philadel-
phia, with Mr.. Devereaux up.
In 1901 Garry Owen, a big bay
hunter owned by j. H. ODonovan
and ridden by Jervis Spencer, the
late popular chairman of the
Maryland Jockey Club, started his
triple. After repeating in 1902 it
was not until five years later that he
was able to score again. The ODon-
ovan family, long associated with
Maryland sporting life, will have a
representative in Saturdays race.
the present j. H. ODono;an's Myr-
midon, victor last week over Block
ade In the Little Grand National.
Hugh ODonovan, University of Vir-
glnia student and brother of j. H.,
will ride Myrmidon.
In between Garry Ovens triple
a rugged, aged horse called Prince
ton. owned and ridden by w. ]. H.
waters. jr., scored three times in
tour years, missing only in 1904
when R. c. Stewards Landslide was
the lone horse to finish. In 1905
Princeton was ridden by Sidney
Walters, father of the current lead
ing timber rider of the same name.
Spencer Holds Record.
While Garry Owen finally stopped
winning his rider, Spencer, contin-
ued on, although some years later,
In 1915 Spencer rode Talisman
home first and four years later
guided Chuckatuck, one of the two
mares to win the race, to victory.
This was Spencer's last triumph.
but he still holds the record for
winning rides-five. In addition to
Chuckatuck, Conbe is the only other
mare to win, being ridden by r. B.
Blackiston. a 15-year-old lad, and
youngest rider ever to win the race.
Conbe won in 1912.
One OF the Maryland's greatest
winners, Oracle, I'd, owned by Mrs.
M. M. Maddox and ridden by Arthur
White, both of Middleburg, Va. be-
came the fourth horse to win as
many as two runnings of the race.
The great gray horse won in 1920,
breaking the course record: ran
fourth after falling in 1921 and then
galloped home first again In 1922,
with Raymond Belmont up. The
following year, Oracle and Belmont
apparently had won the race again
but after coming back to the judges
stand they were informed that they
had taken the wrong course in the
last few hundred yards and were
disqualified, as were the next two
horses to finish, Daybreak and Moe
casin II. Daybreak won easily the
next year, as Oracle fell, q fate they
both suffered in 1925, when Benja-
min Leslie Behr's powerful Burgo-
right galloped home.
Troublemaker Comes to Grief.
The next double winner was Bon
Master, owned by c. L. A. Heiser,
on whose estate the race now was
being run. Ridden by the currently
popular trainer, Frank A. BonsaI,
jr., Bon Master scored in 1927, when
he beat two former winners, Burgo-
right and Billy Barton, and again in
1928. William Street, well-known
horseman of Warrenton, and trainer
Of Black Sweep, one of this years
favorites, finished second that year
on Reel Foot and later placed Sec
ond three more times.
Capt. Kettle, owned by G. S. Ches-
ton Of Philadelphia and ridden by
Charles White, was the next horse
to win twice, coming home first in
1888 and 1884. He just missed three
straight the following year when he
was outdueled by Hotspur II. This
was the race in which Trouble
maker, record-breaking winner in
1882, fell at the 18th fence and broke
his neck In what was to be his last
race before being retired to Virginia
hunting.
After losing his rider in the 1887
running, Blockade came back the
next year and made a rout Of the
race, taking the jumps in great
leaps and smashing 7 seconds OF
Troublemaker's record. His time,
8:44, once was considered impossible.
Last year he again took the lead
at the start and stood a long drive
all through the final mile from Cog
Bruyere to win by q neck.