THE TURF CAREER OF HON. W. C. WHITNEY

By W. H. Rowe

WHEN the cables flashed to America of Mr. Whitney, as well as to the wide-on the afternoon of June 5, 1901, spread interest which the very acquisitionthe news that the colors of Hon. of a gentleman who had for so many years

William C. Whitney had been carried to vic- been prominent in national executive circlestory in the most coveted event of all turfdom, naturally created. The growth of his racingthe English Derby, it seemed for the moment and breeding establishments has in theseabsolutely impossible to realize that Mr. few years been nothing short of phenom-Whitney’s career as a turfman dated back enal, and the successes of his colors haveconsiderably less than four years. As a mat- already embraced many of our own leadingter of fact, his “light blue, brown cap” did turf classics, the winning of which has doubt-not make their public appearance until less been in a measure fully as satisfactorythe Spring of 1898. Mr. Whitney’s to Mr. Whitney as his latest Eng-debut was one of the most im- lish Derby triumph itself.portant turf events of the Probably few lovers ofpast decade, however, the thoroughbred, letand it is exceedingly alone the generaldoubtful if our turf public, realize howhas ever exper-ienced the ac-quistion of agentleman ofmore uniqueprominenceor of morethoroughlydesirableindividual-ity. Whilenever as-suming tot ake anyposition ofp a r t i c u l a rpre-eminencein the legisla-tive bodies ofthe turf , andwhile invariablyindicating a disin-clination to be pub-licly quoted on racingsubjects, the weight ofMr. Whitney’s influencehas nevertheless been unmis-

purely spontan-eous—if not, in-deed, almostcapricious—were the cir-cumstanceswhich led tothe inaug-uration ofthe careerwhich hasin so shorta time car-r i e d M r .Whitney to

the highestaltitude of

turf triumphson both sidesof the Atlantic.

Traveling some-what aimlessly in

the West with aparty of friends late

in the autumn of 1897,the topic of racing be-

came in some way or anothertakably thrown upon the so interesting to Mr. Whitneyvery best side of all matters HON. W. C. WHITNEY. that he and his friends sud-whose healthy life is the very denly found themselves pos-vitality of the turf itself, and the present sessed with a desire to “drop down” atprosperity and popularity of racing in the Lexington, Ky., where the customary au-East are in no small measure due to the tumn sales of thoroughbreds were in pro-strength which it derived upon the accession gress. With scarcely a thought of any-

454 The Turf Career of Hon. W. C. Whitney

thing further than owning a race-horseor two which would be modestly raced inthe name of one of the party, Mr. Whit-ney thus entered the lists as a bidder.“The whole thing was new to me,” Mr.Whitney laughingly declared to me atwelve month later, “and the various horsenames in the pedigrees were about asunintelligible to the whole party as anythingcould be, but we sat there, looking as muchlike veterans as we possibly could and Isoon found myself possessed of the nucleusfor quite a racing stable.”

The initial Westbury stable—so styled

turf world by the purchase of Jean Beraud,the “crack” two-year-old, for $40,000 anda contingency upon the colt’s subsequentwinnings, and the year closed with no lessthan twenty-five races of a total value of$38,461 to the stable’s credit.

Always racing upon the highest plane,Mr. Whitney’s interest in the sport con-tinued to grow so rapidly that his purchasesof race-horses and yearlings in 1898 enabledhim to inaugurate the campaign of 1899with so extensive an establishment that noless than twenty-three horses sported itscolors during the season, the aggregate

Photo by La Berte.JEAN BERAUD.

in some turf circles because Mr. Whitney’s“home stable” is located at his countryseat at Westbury, Long Island—com-prised ten horses, and the entries weremade in the name of Mr. SydneyPaget, a brother of Mr. Whitney’s son-in-law, Mr. Hugh Almeric Paget. The estab-lishment was not long confined to tenanimals, however, for the season of 1898was scarcely under way before the owner ofthe “light blue, brown cap” gave unmis-takable evidence that his interest in racingwas growing in almost geometrical pro-gression with every passing day. Indeed,in a very few weeks he electrified the entire

results of the campaign being thirty-twovictories of a total value of $61,550. Themost notable performer was Jean Beraud,whose only two appearances resulted in thecapture of the Withers and Belmont, twoof America’s most famous classics, buta feature of almost equal importance witheven the former triumph was the victoryof the three-year-old filly Admiration inthe celebrated match race with May Hemp-stead at Sheepshead Bay in June.

If the Westbury stable of 1899 was exten-sive, what shall be said of its proportions in1900, when, in addition to the forces underthe charge of the trainer at the home stable

The Turf Career of Hon. W. C. Whitney 455

Mr. Whitney’s representatives overflowedinto the establishments of two other trainers.

class American-bred importations of thepast winter, in addition to a number of

That year saw Mr. Whitney enter his horsesin his own name, and the campaign was

foreign purchases, was increased early in

made memorable by thirty-one victories ofthe spring by the leasing of horses bred

a total value of $92,545. Easily the mostand owned by Lady Meux and Capt. Eustace

important triumph was that of the two-year-Loder. These horses had previously beenleased by the late Lord William Beresford

old Ballyhoo Bey (purchased as a yearling for who had been a co-employer, with Mr.$12,000) in the valuable Futurity Stakes Whitney, of the services of the Americanat Coney Island. The two-year-old Prince trainer John Huggins for the season of 1901.Charles, selected personally by Mr. Whit- Lady Meux’s lot, as a matter of fact, includedney at a yearling sale the previous the Derby hero, Volodyovski, and thus itspring, captured the rich Great American was that Mr. Whitney assuming the lease

Photo by LaBerte.

BALLYHOO BEY.

Stakes at Brooklyn, while Killashandra, Elk-horn, Rush and Jean Beraud also won im-portant races in addition to Kilmarnock’sclassic Withers. Then, too, Mr. Whitneyhad entered upon his English campaign,where his purchases, trained by Mr. PurcellGilpin, won seven races of a value of £2,253.

The present year has witnessed nodiminution of Mr. Whitney’s racing in-terests, but on the contrary, his opera-tions are practically upon a larger scope.The “home brigade” embraces upwardsof two score animals, while the Englishdivision, originally consisting of eight high-

of Heath House, one of Newmarket’s leadingtraining establishments, which had previouslybeen shared by his deceased associate,thereby marshalled under his banner theservices of the colt which was destined towin for his “Eton blue (as it is known abroad)brown cap” its first English Derby. Whatmany turfmen of the mother country havein vain striven all their lives to achieve,namely, a Derby victory for their colors,has thus been accomplished by the indomit-able energy and sportsmanlike enthusiasm ofan American turfman in only the fourth yearof his participation in the “sport of kings.”

456 The Turf Career of Hon. W. C. Whitney

But, after all, I have only imperfectly out-lined the scope and history of Mr. Whitney’sturf achievements. In addition to all hisvast racing interests he has accumulateda breeding stud of no less than sixty choiceand high-priced mares; presided over by the$66,000 Hamburg and the $49,000 Meddler.An entire farm in the “blue grass region” ofKentucky is required for this branch of histurf activity, but, not content with the pro-duce of this establishment, Mr. Whitney is asteady buyer of choice yearlings at the pub-lic sales, and was the inspirer of last year’spurchases of the $20,000 Yankee, the $10,000Blackstock, the $6,100 Highflyer and the$2,550 Blue Girl, of all of whom he is theowner in association with J. E. Madden, inwhose colors they are this season performing.

Even yet is my consideration of Mr.Whitney’s turf activities incomplete, formention must be made of his incomparable,training stables at Westbury—stables un-approached in this or any other countryfor scope, elegance and completeness ofappointments. Then, too, Mr. Whitneyowns a mansion and superb racing stableadjacent to the Sheepshead Bay race-course.Here his charges are housed during theweeks of racing on the neighboring courses,and here their owner spends many, happydays among them, finding as much enjoy-ment in visiting them during their hours ofcomparative retirement as in contemplationof their performances upon the race-coursewhen the bugle has sounded the call “to thepost.” More than once have I heard Mr.Whitney declare that his race-horses have sointerested him, furnishing him a completetransition from his business cares and bring-ing him so many hours of enjoyment in theopen air under exhilarating conditions,that he verily believes the “sport ofkings” will have added years to his life.Let us, indeed, hope that this is destinedto prove true.

Any consideration of Hon. W. C. Whitneyas a turfman would be totally inadequateand incomplete were mention omitted ofhis sportsmanlike love for his horses as in-dividuals. Veritably like the affection of aboy for his pets has been the esteem of Mr.Whitney for his favorites in the service of hiscolors, and it would be especially difficultto imagine more inspiring instances of suchdevotion on the part of an owner than hisfondness for two of the members of his firstyear’s string, the steeplechaser Shillelah,

and Jean Beraud. Poor Shillelah—I call him“poor” in the sympathetic sense, owing tohis untimely death during the winter of1898-9—was easily the cross country cham-pion of 1898.steeplechasers”

“The grandest of all grandwas my epitome of him in

a journalistic article some weeks after hisdeath, and despite tremendous businessinterests and activities, Mr. Whitney’s eyedid not miss my modest tribute to hisdeceased favorite. Indeed it was but a dayor so ere I received from Mr. Whitney aletter—not a dictated typewriter affair, asmight have been expected from so busy aman, but a personally written note—fromwhich I now take the liberty of quoting:

“I wish to express my appreciation of yourtouching and well-judged tribute to the great-ness of Shillelah. He died as he had lived,unconquered as to his courage. He never laiddown until he fell, dead.”

Need I add that the pen which inditedthose words was moved by a hand whoseguiding impulse was a true love for a greathorse? The very phrases themselves unmis-takably testify to the fact, let alone the gen-uine sentiment which may be read betweenthe lines. Then too, Mr. Whitney’s fondnessfor, Jean Beraud could hardly be overesti-mated, When Kilmarnock last year wonfor Mr. Whitney his second consecutiveWithers, the master of Westbury met mycongratulations directly after the race witha response in which a tone of unmistakabletenderness mingled with his joy as he replied,“Yes, I am very much pleased at Kilmar-nock’s victory, but it will be many years beforeI am as deeply interested in a Withers as I wasin Jean Beraud’s last year.” Not even the tri-umph of the hour could efface Mr. Whitney’sfond recollection of the “gallant little colt”which had won for the “light blue, browncap”its first American classic. What with hisenthusiasm, his indomitable energy, his deeplove of the thoroughbred, and his masterfulcommand of great resources, Hon. W. C.Whitney is, indeed, more and more demon-strating himself to be the most importantand valuable acquisition with which theAmerican turf has been favored in recentdecades, and one cannot congratulate himupon the success of his colors in the “BlueRiband” of the international turf withoutsimultaneously, congratulating turfdom—and our own branch of the “sport of kings”in particular—upon the support of so enthu-siastic and valuable a patron.