CHAPTER VII.
By John Trotwood Moore
The other day I inquired of Uncle Berry how he thought Maria would compare with the best horses of the present day. In reply he said: “If I were forty and Maria four years of age, I would not want a greater fortune than I could win with her at Fordham and Saratago.”
He thinks the improvement in training and the condition of race tracks accounts for the difference in time of this and former days. He thinks if the horses of the present day were galloped, in sweats, sixteen or twenty miles under eight or ten Mackinaw blankets, and every morning and evening galloped four miles and repeat under two or three blankets and ran their races on deep, heavy tracks, as formerly, they would make slow time, and very few of them would be seen on the turf at the age of nine years, and I agree with him.
In old times, in cases of severe fevers, doctors excluded the fresh air and wrapped their patients in blankets, and gave them warm water to drink. The first cargo of Yankee ice brought to New Orleans was thrown into the Mississippi by an order of the Mayor, under advice from the medical board.
I believe that it is conceded that Flying Childers and O’Kelly’s Eclipse were the fastest horses the world has ever produced, or, in the expressive language of John Randolph, “they were the swiftest quadrupeds that ever appeared upon the earth.” Childers was the son of Darley’s Arabian, and Eclipse was his great-great-grandson, and the dam of Eclipse was by Regulus, the best son of Godolphin’s Arabian. These two Arabians were the “diamonds of the desert”—the pure fountains with which we are delighted to connect our thoroughbreds by the unbroken links of an extended chain. The third dam of her sire, imported Diomed, was by Flying Childers and he by Darley’s Arabian (1). The seventh dam of Diomed was by Spanker, he by Young Marsque, he by Marsque (sire of O’Kelly’s Eclipse), he by Squint, he by Bartlett’s Childers (own brother to Flying Childers) and he by Darley’s Arabian. (2) Diomed was by Florizel, whose third dam was by Flying Childers. (3) Florizel was by King Herod, whose fourth dam was by Darley’s Arabian. (4) The dam of Herod was by Blaze, and he by Flying Childers. (5) The dam of Diomed was by Spectator, whose third dam was by Darley’s Arabian. (6) The second dam of Diomed was by Blank, whose dam was by Bartlett’s Childers, own brother to Flying Childers (7), making seven courses of Darley’s Arabian through Diomed, three of which are through Flying Childers and two through his own brother, Bartlett’s Childers.
The dam of Maria was by Taylor’s Bel-Air (the best son of Imported Medley). Medley’s fourth dam was by Bartlett’s Childers (1). Medley was by Gimcrack and he by Cripple, whose second dam was by Flying Childers (2). Medley’s second dam was by Snap, he by Snip, and he by Flying Childers (3), making three courses of Darley’s Arabian through her dam, two of which are by Flying Childers and one through Bartlett’s Childers, making in all ten crosses of Darley’s Arabian in Maria’s pedigree, five of which are through Flying Childers and three through Bartlett’s Childers. Maria has the following crosses of the Godolphin Arabian: The second dam of Diomed was by Blank and he by the Godolphin (1). Bel-Air was by imported Medley, he by Gim Crack, he by Cripple and he by the Godolphin (2). The second dam of Bel-Air was by Black Selima, by imported Fearnought and he by Regulus, the best son of Godolphin (3). The third dam of Bel-Air was imported Selima by the Godolphin (4). If the imported mare to which Maria traces could be identified she would probably add several additional crosses of these famous Arabs.
For the performances of Maria I have relied mainly upon her memoir published in the sixth volume of the American Turf Register, which was written by Judge Thos. Barry, of Gallatin, who obtained the facts from Captain Haney in his lifetime, which are corroborated substantially by Uncle Berry.
In my last communication, in referring to the race of Blucher and Walk-in-the-Water at Natchez, I made a mistake as the time when the Jockey Club changed the rule taking twenty-one pounds off of Blucher. It was not done the night before the race, as stated, but it occurred some time before. It was the evening before the race that Col. A. L. Bingaman, a member of the Club, moved to have the rule rescinded so as to make their weight equal, but his motion was voted down, and Blucher carried one hundred pounds and Walk-in-the-Water one hundred and twenty-one pounds.
B. C. Oscar, foaled in spring of 1814, bred by the Rev. Hubbard Saunders, of Sumner County, Tennessee, stood without a rival on the Tennessee turf in his day. He never paid a forfeit or lost a heat, nor did he ever meet a competitor able to put him to his top speed. His pedigree is not only pure, but rich and choice. He was got by Wilkes’ Wonder (he by Imported Diomed out of Mary Gray by Tippoo Saib, the dam of Pacolet).