IN RETROSPECT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 87, 9 October 1937, Page 22

IN RETROSPECT

MID-DAY SUN UNLUCKY - (From "The Post's" Representative.) , LONDON. September 11. Chulmleigh, winner for Lord Glanely of the St. Leger, attracted attention in the paddock on account of his massive proportions. He was, the biggest of the 15 competitors. -His height is about 16 hands 3 inches, and ne is built in proportion to his height. A remarkable coincidence is that the only, classic races previously won by Gordon Richards were cn the sire and dam of Chulmleigh, namely, Singapore land Rose of England! Lord Glanely's colt ran three times without success last year. This season he did hot reappear until the Newmarket First July Meeting. A fortnight later 1 he won the Summer Stakes at Chepstow At a more recent meeting on the Knavesmire, Chulmleigh appeared' unlucky to be beaten a neck by Mange Tout in the Great Yorkshire Stakes. He has four more engagements this year, and will probably compete for the Jockey Club Stakes, the most valuable of them. When Michael Beairy managed "to extricate" Mid-day Sun, the Derby winner showed that he must have been unlucky by finishing faster than anything else. However, he had not the time to do more than get third place, but it is agreed that he had much less good fortune than he deserved. Beary says his mount was the unlucky horse of the race. But for being pocketed and bumped' just after entering the straight he would have won in a canter. Here is his own version of the bumping: "Dick Perryman started the trouble on Fair Copy. Dick came on to Elliott on Goya II; Elliott came on to Smirke on Sultan Mahomed, and Smirke came on to me." The trainer could not say much betause his horse was beaten, but he pointed out in confirmation of Beary's story that Mid-day Sun had all the bad luck that was going, and that when he started his final run he was I beating everything. "He would have won in another 100 yards," said thei trainer. Mid-day Sun retires for a spell and may not race until next season. TWO SUPER-HORSES MAN O' WAR AND PHAR LAP 1 (From "The Post's" Representative.) NEW YORK, August 4. Descended from a noted ; imported stallion, Australian (son of West Australian), 3\tan o' War, the super-horse of the American Turf, was purchased, as a yearling, in 1918, from Mr. August Belmont by Mr. Samuel Riddle, of Kentucky, for £1000. Two years later, Mr. w. T. Waggoner, multi-millionaire Texas cattle-breeder and oil magnate, offered £60,000 for him. ! "Man o' War is not for sale," said his owner. Waggoner tore, out a blank cheque form, signed it, and tendered it, adding: "Fill in your own amount." , "Man o' War is not for sale," repeated his owner, who observed, after the crestfallen Texan had departed, that, if he had filled in the cheque for a million dollars, he believed it would have been honoured. •. ■ . i SERVICE FEE £1000. In cold figures, Man o' War's earnings, on the course, and at the stud,| have aggregated £326,000. He has sired 256 foals, at a service fee of £1000, the price at which he was acquired! Man o' War won .twenty times in twenty-one starts, as a two- and three-year-old, winning £50,000,' when purses were less than half their present'figure. His one defeat, appropriately at the hands of a horse named Upset, in his first season, was toe result of atrocious-, ly bad handling. Thereafter, he uttterly humbled Upset. As a three-year-old beJbroke five world records. He was never allowed to extend himself fully. Rarely did another horse get ahead of him at any point in a race. He never paid as much as even moneyeven in his first race. On three occasions, "he started at 100 to 1 on. Man o' War's line of descent is: West Australian. Australian. Spendthrift, Hastings, Fair Play. All were great racehorses. Fair Play's career at the stud was the most enviable ever achieved by a sire. In fact, the family is known as the Fair Play line. Man o' War's dam, Mahubah, was a daughter of Rock Sand, one of toe few winners of the Triple Crown—the. Derby, St. Leger, and Two Thousand Guineas. Rock Sand mares produced so effectively to the cover of Fair Play that the mating became known as an "affinity," one line for the other. ; NOTABLE OFFSPRING. One of the first mares mated to Man o' War was Lady Comfey. imported from England. Her colt, American Flag, was the best three-year-old of his year. The following year, an even greater son of Man o' War came along —Crusader, regarded as the perfect, horse to look-upon He earned £40.000, and was permanently injured at the post, after winning the Suburban Handicap the only horse ever to win it twice. War Admiral, latest winner of the Kentucky Derby is another of his progeny _ Mention of Man o War's Australian ancestry recalls toe fact that the memory of a recent famous Australian. Phar Lap, is as green today as when he met his tragic death in California, on toe eve of matching his speed with toe cream of his American contemporaries. Mention of hi? name among racing men is sufficient to inspire a spontaneous toast, or to hear someone repeat lines from his epitaph:— Where the thoroughbred immortals Graze on pastures evergreen, And the steeds of song and story Feel the touch of hands unseen, There's a whinny in the distance, A pawing at the gate, . As the big, stout-hearted Phar Lap ■ Joins the Legion of the Great.