The Kentucky Thoroughbred by Kent Hollingsworth

Author:Kent Hollingsworth [Hollingsworth, Kent]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: history, United States, State & Local, South (AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV)
ISBN: 9780813133379
Google: -qVRdSoTEBwC
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2011-01-23T00:11:16.782523+00:00

John E. Madden, the compleat horsman

Meanwhile, Hamburg made his first start of the season in the Belmont Stakes and finished third. Billy Lakeland, who had trained Domino, probably did not know how to handle Hamburg’s appetite; Hamburg came out at three as abutterball and was far too slow for the Belmont, which Bowling Brook won by six lengths. Lakeland dropped Hamburg back to 1 1/16 miles in the Spring Special and he won galloping. In the seven-furlong Swift Stakes, Hamburg again won easily, by six lengths, pulled up. Questions persisted whether Hamburg could go a distance, leading to a runoff between the two Madden-sold stars, Hamburg and Plaudit, in the 1 5/8-mile Realization. Doubt as to Hamburg’s staying ability was quickly dispelled: He took the lead in the Realization at the start and led all the way, Plaudit never threatening him. Three weeks later, Hamburg made his final start, winning the 2 1/4-mile Brighton Cup by a margin arbitrarily estimated at one-sixteenth of a mile.

Hamburg then was retired to Daly’s Bitter Root Stud in Montana. He stood only two seasons there because Daly died in 1900; at the Bitter Root dispersal, Madden bought Hamburg for $60,000 acting as agent for W. C. Whitney. Hamburg then stood at Whitney’s La Belle Stud in Kentucky until Whitney’s death in 1904. The owner’s son, H. P. Whitney, bought Hamburg for $70,000 and stood him at Brookdale Stud in New Jersey. America’s leading sire in 1905, Hamburg sent out such champions as Artful, Hamburg Belle, Dandelion, Burgomaster, and Borrow.

In 1898 W. C. Whitney decided to retire from politics (former secretary of the navy) and active participation in business (New York City transit companies, utilities, tobacco trusts, and sundry other endeavors which netted him several million dollars a year) and devote his time to the sport of racing. His was a simple approach. He asked John Madden to serve as his consultant, and he proceeded to buy up every good horse in sight. Madden bought Jean Bereaud, best two-year-old of the year, for $30,000 on Whitney’s account. He sold Whitney champion Admiration for $15,000, DeLacy for $12,000, Suburban winner Tillo for $10,000, champion Kilmarnack for $20,000. In 1901 Madden sold Whitney four champions, Yankee, Endurance by Right, Blue Girl, Gunfire, and acted as agent in the purchase of champion Nasturtium, for a total of $ 150,000. “There’s no trick to selling horses,” Madden said later, “so long as you’re selling good horses.” As might be expected, Whitney quickly became America’s leading owner.

Madden secured for Whitney one of the great horse trainers of all time, Sam Hildreth, who had scored some success in the Midwest at the time and much later was to reign for nine years as America’s leading trainer. In New York for the first time, Hildreth, who was part Indian, did well with the Whitney champions, but in 1900, a Kingston colt named Ballyhoo Bey (which Madden had sold Whitney as a yearling for $12,000) lost his first start. This should not have happened, Whitney was advised.

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