big prices for old horses

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american racing manual, august belmont, bold venture, equine sales, flying fox, king ranch, nearco, ormonde, rock sand, stallion values, tracery

In his response to a comment in yesterday’s post about the price that August Belmont II paid for English Triple Crown winner Rock Sand, Observer asked about record prices for horses a century ago and thereabouts.

Although it’s a bit sticky to evaluate prices from that far back because of the changes we’ve seen from inflation and changes in currency valuation, prices from around 1900 through the 1930s were fairly comparable.

At the time that Belmont bought Rock Sand, the sum he paid was equal to the second-highest price for a stallion that I could find. Both Triple Crown winners Ormonde and Rock Sand are recorded as trading for that sum. They sat in second place behind the great European racer Flying Fox, who was bought for $189,000. (None of these transactions was in dollars, but for many years, the static valuation of the British pound sterling at $5 to the single pound formed a standard conversion factor.)

The top prices began to inflate somewhat through the 1920s and 1930s. According to the American Racing Manual of 1940, the top half-dozen prices stood at $300,000 for Nearco and Call Boy (Derby winner), $265,000 for Rock Sand’s son Tracery, $250,000 for Mieuxce, Blenheim, and Windsor Lad.

Prices for American stock had plummeted by this time, however, and the sale price in 1939 for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Bold Venture was $40,000. Robert Kleberg of King Ranch purchased him, and for that far-sighted sportsman, Bold Venture subsequently sired Triple Crown winner Assault, Kentucky Derby and Belmont winner Middleground, and Gazelle Stakes winner On Your Own.

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more on tracery

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august belmont, derby stakes, international stallions, papyrus, tracery

The Kentucky-bred Tracery (1909 h by Rock Sand x Topiary, by Orme) was bred and raced by August Belmont II. Few horses or men were as well traveled as this classic winner and sire of classic winners.

Belmont sent the elegant colt to race in England, where he made his racecourse debut in the Derby at Epsom. Apparently, his trainer and owner fancied him a bit, and Tracery ran third behind Tagalie and Jaeger. Tracery naturally improved off that form, winning the St Leger, Sussex, and St James’s Palace at 3, then the Eclipse and Champion Stakes at 4, and surely being best in the Ascot Gold Cup, according to Audax.

A victory in the Gold Cup would have made him a winner at the premier level in races from eight to 20 furlongs, a feat of significance even in the early part of the 20th century and nearly unimaginable now.

Tracery went to stud at Southcourt Stud in England in 1914 as a 5-year-old, and his first crop raced in 1917. These were war years, and it is unclear what effect that had on his early stud career, but Tracery sired 2,000 Guineas winner The Panther before his sale in February 1920 to Senor Unzue.

It is not clear why the Argentine breeders took such a liking to Tracery and his sons, but The Panther and Copyright (the sire of Congreve) also were exported to stand there.

In Tracery’s absence from England, Papyrus won the 1923 Derby, and his sire made a return shipment back across the Atlantic. In 1923, a syndicate of 30 breeders agreed to pay 39,000 pounds sterling for the stallion, although the cost was spread over three years at stud.

As fate intervened, Tracery stood only the 1924 season at Cobham Stud before dying of complications from colic in August of that year.

Among his other important foals were Abbots Trace, Obliterate, Grand Prix de Paris winner Transvaal, and Teresina, the dam of the important Hyperion stallion Alibhai.

In a comment about yesterday’s post on Tracery, Garrett Redmond added the following story that I thought was fascinating:

Tracery also left his mark on Irish breeding. His son, Cottage, was a notable of sire of steeplechasers. Among hundreds of winners by Cottage were three Grand National winners: Workman, Lovely Cottage and Sheila’s Cottage.
He also sired the immortal Cottage Rake who won three Cheltenham Gold Cups and was trained by Vincent O’Brien.

That brings in a kind of loop back to Tracery. O’Brien’s daughter married John Magnier, of Coolmore. His father stood Cottage at his place in County Cork.

Tracery left quite a trace.

audax on sale of tracery

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argentine thoroughbred breeding, audax, st leger, tracery

Ninety years ago in the London Horse and Hound, the revered turf scribe writing under the name of Audax noted that August Belmont had sold his St Leger winner Tracery (by Belmont’s stallion Rock Sand and better known to posterity as the broodmare sire of Man o’ War).

The writer reported that the stallion had sold to Senor Unzue from the Argentine for the price of 50,000 pounds sterling. Audax further noted that “I never saw the Doncaster race won so easily as by Rock Sand’s son.”

Then the writer went on to describe the colt’s race for the Ascot Gold Cup, which Audax thought Tracery should have won “but for an unforeseen accident.”

In his account of the race, Audax said that “Jackdaw led the field a good gallop until approaching the bend for home, when Whalley, who had been handling Tracery with admirable judgment, sent the son of Rock Sand to the head of affairs. Suddenly a half-daft man appeared on the course with two flags and a pistol, pointing the latter at Tracery, who charged into him and turned a complete somersault.”

Sheer idiocy is not a modern invention.

After his purchase and transfer to Argentina, Tracery founded a lasting male line in South America that enriched their breeding for generations.