A Time Machine in Form of Rockland Farm Storage Drawer

Excerpted from Josh Pons' "Letters From Rockland Farm," BloodHorse of Dec. 8, 2018:

When I reach the garret of the old Rockland farmhouse, I discover a box I've never opened: The Oxford Sliding Drawer Storage File. Label is blank. Handles are affixed with fat washers. It's formidable. How have I missed this?

On Armistice Day, in a cardboard coffin in a graveyard of letters, buried treasure: Correspondence from the war years.

A letter from Elizabeth Kane, manager of August Belmont's Nursery Stud in Lexington, Kentucky, dated July 7, 1917. Envelope contains four faded photos and 11 negatives. I hold up a photo of a lanky foal with unusual markings—wide white star connected to a thin stripe that fades out then reappears. There is no halter on the foal. Nothing to obstruct a view of his face as he grazes, or as he stands—third foal from the left in another photo—at a wooden creep feeder.

Mrs. Kane took the trouble to send these photos to Grandfather, Belmont's secretary. Grandfather stored them in a state-of-the-art, steel-handled box. I recognize the foal the moment I see the photos. I am looking at Man o' War as a baby, before he became the Babe Ruth of horse racing.

DAMN THE TORPEDOES

America enters World War I April 6, 1917, three years after the war begins. On April 10 Grandfather writes to family members in France:

"We will act so quick the Germans will be finished in three months. If the Americans open an unlimited credit to the Allies, we will see the end of this war before America sends troops over."

He's wrong. Armistice Day is a year and a half away. A hundred thousand American soldiers die; another 300,000 are sick or wounded before bugles and bells signal the end.

In 1917 August Belmont at age 65 accepts a commission as a major, sails for Spain to serve in the Quartermaster Corps. He instructs Grandfather to mind the affairs of the Belmont banking house while he's overseas and to sell Nursery Stud horses to aid the war effort.

Grandfather knows another reason for Belmont's urgency to sell horses: The Major owes a fortune in construction loans for the Cape Cod Canal, opened in 1914. Comes the war. German U-boats off the Atlantic Coast torpedo merchant vessels, shell tugboats that escort canal traffic. Toll receipts plunge. Under pressure of promissory notes, Major Belmont orders Grandfather to offer Nursery Stud stallions for private purchase.

No one is buying.

Woodburn Farm,

Spring Station, Ky. June 12, 1917

To: Mr. Adolphe Pons

Dear Sir:

Mr. Kenneth Alexander has left for France to join the Ambulance Corps, and he is not in the market for any horses now.

    Very truly yours,

    A.J.A. Alexander

Claiborne Farm, Paris, Ky.

July 10, 1917.

To: Adolphe Pons Esq.

Racing Sec'y to Mr. August Belmont

Dear Sir,

I appreciate Mr. Belmont's offer to sell Trap Rock, but I cannot now buy him.

    Sincerely yours,

    A.B. Hancock

Ever the gentleman, Belmont expresses his appreciation.

Paris, December 1, 1917

Adolphe Pons,

I am very much pleased with your attention to my affairs.

    August Belmont

What's Going on Here: Jackpot

THEY CAME IN CATTLE CARS

The naming of a yearling signals intent to race, not to sell. Regrettably for Major Belmont, war thwarts his intentions. In August of 1918, 24 Nursery Stud yearlings—many named for military terms—arrive at the Saratoga sales grounds after an arduous train ride from Kentucky. Grandfather reports their condition to Major Belmont:

August 13th, 1918

MEMO. SARATOGA

YEARLINGS - The yearlings arrived on Sunday morning about eight o'clock. They were loaded at Greendale (at Spurr Road, near Nursery Stud) about 1 o'clock Friday afternoon, left at 3 o'clock, remained in station at Cincinnati 2 hours, and held in yards at Cleveland for

nearly 5 hours.

The cars they shipped in were miserable ones, some of the oldest horse cars, now used for shipping cattle  unstalled.

Willie (the groom) complained to the Agent in Lexington about these cars and told the Agent that he understood the three-door steel car and a two-door palace horse car, very comfortable, which (the Agent) gave to Mr. Headley, were intended for our use.

The Agent told him very freshly that he better take the two wooden cars or he would get none.

Luckily the horses stood the trip fairly well.

    Adolphe Pons

BELMONT TRADES BABE RUTH

First name to appear on Grandfather's arrival list of 24 yearlings, by sheer historic whim:

MAN O' WAR. Fair Play—Mahubah. Very nice colt. Running slightly at nose. Lump where he was injured, gone.

The gangly chestnut colt hardly stands out from the others, as Grandfather continues:

GUN MUZZLE. Tracery—Gallows Hill. In good shape but slightly running at nose. Cut on left hind leg.

TRENCH MORTAR. Flint Rock--Topiary. Very straight in front. Curb on hock. Cut he received before leaving Kentucky still shows.

SENTRY. Fair Play—Surcingle. In good shape but very small and short.

TOURNIQUET. Fair Play—Togger. A big, nice filly. Should sell well.

WAR MAP. Trap Rock—Woodvine. Coughing before he left Kentucky.

Grandfather then identifies prospective buyers:

"Mr. Walter S. Salmon specially liked the Mahubah, Fairy Gold, and Ferment colts. I overheard him say later to Mr. Hancock he would try and buy the Mahubah colt at any price.

"Mr. Wayland, Phil Chinn, and Mrs. Walsh also looked at them. I also spoke to Mr. Butler, Mr. Riddle, and Mr. Jeffords."

Consider this: Belmont's broodmare band is exquisite. Still, Grandfather identifies four yearlings out of those grand mares who seem unlikely to elicit a single bid.

"I am afraid that some will not sell very well and may get no bid: for instance, the Surcingle, Queen of Trent, Delusion, and Toucan."

I think of the unforgiving criteria of buyers today, over-reliance on science, on X-rays and endoscopes. Today's increase in the failed sale—the No Bid.

Grandfather discloses to Major Belmont that a buyer approached him with a scheme.

"George Smith offered me $20,000 for the whole lot and let the sale go on just the same. I refused the offer."

Today's sales catalogs recite a Public Auction Sales Code of Conduct, a duty of good faith by an agent to his Principal, with a capital P. These were unwritten principles 100 years ago between Grandfather and Belmont.

Samuel D. Riddle Jr. buys Man o' War for $5,000. Mahubah's colt becomes the Horse of the Century, but not for the gentleman who bred him.  

BloodHorse.com is sharing an excerpt from this beautiful story today. And for magazine subscribers, there’s more to come as Pons plans to continue the series through 2019.

More on Man o' War

A Photographic Tribute

Man o' War's Restored Barn

A non-BloodHorse video with some excellent footage