Page 34 - August 2022

SPEEDLINES
Hamburg Place in Lexington, Kentucky. Through Madden’s Hamburg Place, he bred such noted runners as Kentucky Derby winners Old Rosebud, Paul Jones, Zev, Flying Ebony, and the first Triple Crown winner Sir Barton.
The race record of King James, foaled in 1905, shows that he had 57 starts with 24 wins, 14 seconds and 10 thirds earning $103,405.
He won 15 stakes races including the Tremont Stakes (6 furlongs) at two and then he won the Annual Champion Stakes at three. He went
on in 1909 to win nine handicaps including
the Metropolitan Handicap and Suburban Handicap to become the Champion Handicap Male in 1909. He followed up that year up with four more handicap wins, including the Toronto Cup Handicap.
The Equineline sire record for King James shows that he sired 65 foals with 44 starters, 30 winners and four stakes winners. These runners earned $324,868. His stakes winners include 1921 Champion Handicap Female My Dear, and My Own, a multiple stakes winner including the Saratoga Cup.
We must note here that King James was a grandson of Himyar and when we look at his pedigree, we see that his dam is Unsightly, who was out of Hira Villa by Himyar. This gives King James a breeding pattern of 2x3 to Himyar.
Plaudit, by Himyar, was the sire of King James. He was bred by Dr. John Neet
and was later owned by John Madden. This horse had 20 starts with eight wins, five seconds and earnings of $32,065.
He showed speed at two with wins in the Champagne Stakes at 7 furlongs, Nursery Stakes at 6 furlongs and the Emerald Stakes at 5 furlongs. He would stretch out to win four stakes at longer distances at three, including the Kentucky Derby.
This brings us to the Plaudit influence on Quarter Horse racing. Plaudit sired King Plaudit, winner of the Hyde Park Handicap, a 6 furlong race at Belmont Park. He later became an Army Remount stallion where he sired a Quarter Horse that they named Plaudit. Plaudit the Quarter Horse sired horses like 1948 AQHA Racing Champion Stallion Scooter W. This horse was bred by the legendary breeder Hank Wiescamp.
Plaudit the Quarter Horse also sired Question Mark and this horse takes us to another famous match race that has come down in Quarter Horse racing lore as one of the great performances to ever occur. It was a match race in which Question Mark was pitted against the great World Champion Shue Fly and an outstanding runner name Joe Lewis. Shue Fly was considered virtually unbeatable. The race took place with Question Mark winning the half mile race. The significant part of this win is that Question Mark finished
sire Holy Bull, 1994 Horse of Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt. Holy Bull represents the Himyar sire line through Plaudit that has endured into the current Thoroughbred breeding industry.
The sire of Questionnaire is Sting, a home bred runner for James Butler. He was foaled in New York and stood at stud in
New York. He had 18 starts from 1923 to 1925, winning nine with one second and three thirds earning $44,713. His stakes
wins include the Wakefield Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs, and the Empire City Handicap at 10 furlongs. He set New Track Records at the Empire City Racetrack at 10 furlongs in a time of 2:03 and two New Track Record at Jamaica at 8 furlongs in a time of 1:42 3/5 and a New World Record for a mile and 70 yards in a time of 1:41 1/5. His biggest wins would have to be the Metropolitan Handicap and the Suburban Handicap, both important races at Belmont.
Sting stood his entire breeding career in New York at Butler’s East View Stud and despite a good race record was not accorded top mares that he might have gotten if standing in Kentucky. He sired only 122 foals with 104 starters and only two stakes winners including Questionnaire. His foals earned $653,839.
Spur, the sire of Sting was foaled in Virginia and was bred by Henry Oxnard and owned by James Butler. Spur, like Sting, ran and stood for Butler at his East View Stud. His total race record is unavailable, but records show that he ran and won or placed in 28 stakes races winning 11 of them with nine seconds and the rest show him as running third. The records show that he made 21 starts at the age of three and was out of the money only one time. His total earnings are not available. His stakes wins include Travers Stakes, Jerome Stakes, Withers Stakes, Yonker Stakes (2-times) and the Empire City Handicap. He raced from 1915 to 1919.
Spur as a sire has a limited record with only 58 named foals, 52 starters, 33 winners and four stakes winners. They earned $294,740. Sting being one of them. The other three stakes winners were: Vacation, winner of the Ardsley Handicap and the Sprightful Claiming Stakes; Pique, winner of the Spring Handicap, the Rainbow Handicap (twice), as well as the Laurelton Highweight Handicap; and Bright Steel, winner of
the Frivolity Claiming Stakes and South Hampton Handicap.
King James was the sire of Spur and was bred by John E. Madden, who owned
Champion sire Plaudit.
32 SPEEDHORSE August 2022
Courtesy American Quarter Horse Association