TWO THOUSAND GUINEAS

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24869, 8 May 1946, Page 4

TWO THOUSAND GUINEAS

FIRST OF ENGLISH CLASSICS Rather unusually, Happy Knight, the winner of the Two Thousand Guineas, decided at Newmarket last Thursday, does not appear, to have raced as a two-year-old, and he may possibly have been a surprise winner of the race. It is only occasionally that a horse making his first appearance in his three-year-old season wins the first of the season’s classics, as it is neld comparatively early in the year, the flat racing seasbn in England net commencing until April 1. The last horse to do so before that was Kingsway, in 1943, and Pasch. which won in 1938. Knight wgs bred by his owner. Sir William Cooke, and is a bay colt by Colombo from Happy Morn by D’Orsay (by Son-in-Law) from Cicely by Cicero from Flittervil by Marcovil from Flitters by GalOpin. Sir William Cooke has had members of this family in his stud since 1917, and from Happy Morn had previously bred the winners. Happy Landing and Happy Grace. Happy Landing, by Windsor Lad, was rated the best two-year-old in the Newmarket region in 1943. He wort the Bedford Stakes at Newmarket and . finished second in the Coventry Stakes and the Middlepark Stakes and was thirjl in the Rous Stakes. He was beaten in the Middle Park Stakes by Orestes, and was inferior to only that colt that season. In December of that year Happy Landing was put up for auction at Newmarket, and at 13,500 guineas became the property of Mr Hutchinson. As a three-year-old. Happy Landing did not come up to expectations, although he did finish third in the Derby, beaten by • neck and a head by Ocean Swell and Tehran. Happy Grace, by His Grace, a brother to the Derby winner, Blenheim, wen three races as a two-year-old. and last year won the Stewards’ Handicap at Windsor and a race at Ascot. Although Happy Landing was not regarded by some as being fashionably bred, there are some sound staying lines in his pedigree, and both he and his now more famous half-brother. Happy Knight in tracing back to Flitters, descend from the same mare as Blenheim, as Flitters is the great .grand-dam of Malva, the dam of Blenheim, His Grave (a winner of more than £6000), and King Salmen, the last-named a winner of the. Eclipse Stakes. Colombo, the sire of Happy Knight, won th* Two Thousand Guineas in 1934, and was a much-discussed colt when he could finish only third in the Derby to Windsor Lad and Easton. Many blamed his former Australian rider, W. R. (“Togo”) Johnstone, and maintained that but for an error of judgment on Johnstone’s part Colombo would have won. Steve Donoghue afterwards said that Johnstone’s tactics would have been good tactics on any course but Epsom. Johnstone was just unfortunate that a horse in front of him tired at a critical moment, and Johnstone had to check Colombo and lose what was an excellent position and eventually he had to pull off the rails to get a run. Colombo was a magnificent two-year-old, winning all his seven races and £17,130 in stakes, a sum that is only eclipsed by Orwell, with £18,613. Whether Colombo- was a better colt than Windsor Lad will never be known. He was again beaten in the St. James Palace Stakes at Ascot, and when due to commence a preparation for the St. Leger. injured a knee and soon afterwards was taken out of training. In all probability he was a more brilliant horse than Windsor Lad, but not as good a stayer. At the stud, he had previously sired a classic winner in Dancing Time, winner of the One Thousand Guineas in 1941. Happy Knight beat some fancied candidates in the Two Thousand Guineas, the second hqrse, Khaled, being one of the leading two-year-olds last season, with the Middle Park Stakes (in which he beat the One Thousand Guineas winner, Hypericum) to his credit. Whether Happy Knight will stay the Derby course is a matter for conjecture, for as yet no details of the race or of his qualities have been received in New Zealand, and it is certainly one of the hardest races in the world to win.

A Courageous Buyer The loss of 20 of her racehorses in a stable fire at Arlington Park, Chicago (which incidentally is one of the three grass courses used in the United States) would be a bitter blow to Mrs Elizabeth Graham, who during the last three years has been one of the most courageous buyers of thoroughbred yearlings in the United States. Her phenomenal success with her 1944 yearling purchases was almost without precedent in the history of thoroughbred auctions.

Known professionally as Elizabeth Arden, Mrs Graham is one of the leading women in the business world in the United States. When making her purchases, .Mrs Graham was advised by Leslie Combs, the manager of her Maine Chance stud farm; but (states the American “Blood Horse”) it was Mrs Graham’s marvellous inutition that finally decided in nearly every case whether a yearling in the ring was to become her property. At the 1944 sales she had two determinations—one, that she would not be outbid for any yearling she wanted; and, two, that she would not be persuaded to buy one that did not come up to her standards of a good-looking horse. Only on one occasion did she depart from her set course of action, and that was when she bought Knockdown, which the next season won more than 33,000 dollars and was considered one of her leading candidates for the 1946 classics.

Her feat of spending 287,000 dollars on 20 yearlings in costliest and most inflated market in the history of thoroughbred sales in the United States, and then winning more . than 264,000 dollars with just four of them (Beau Gay, Star Pilot, Knockdown, and They Say), was remarkable. Beau Gay cost 22,000 dollars, and won 105,910 dollars in her first season. Star Pilot cost 26,000 dollars, and won even more, heading the list with 117,395 dollars. They Say cost 4200 dollars, and Knockdown 2000 dollars, and they won 8485 and 33,005 dollars respectively. To her trainer, T. Smith, must go the credit for having prepared the winners; but it must be remarked that he had the material to show his skill on. In 1945 Mrs Oraharn was so impressed with the success of her stable that at the 1945 sales she decided on an even bolder policy than in the previous year, and spent 321,700 dolars on 18 yearlings. That was by far the greatest sum ever spent on yearlings at thoroughbred auctions in the United States, and in two years Mrs Graham had almost equalled the sum of 676,400 dollars Mrs Ethel V. Mars had spent over a period of nine years when buying for her stud farm. Mrs Mars was the leading buyer for seven consecutive years, but she only rarely had the success with her horses that Mrs Graham experienced last year. The tremendous sums of money put into thoroughbreds in the United States give some indication of the state of rac-' ing and the bloodstock market there. Last year Mrs Graham’s stable won just on half a million dollars; but her expenses and the cost of the yearlings purchased would probably account for most of the stake money earned.

The stable had high hopes for the 1946 season. The one consolation Mrs Graham may have in such a tragedy may be that her favourite among such an amazing team of two-year-olds, the filly Beau Gay, was saved.