Page 53 - Speedhorse February

Lexington.
SPEEDLINES
Joe Reed II.
SPEEDHORSE February 2025 51
to his influence as a sire. Among them is Vandal, who raced at distances of up to and including three-mile heats. His most important win was the Jockey Club Purse in which he won two three-mile heats. He became an important sire for the famous Belle Meade Stud in Nashville. Vandal was the sire of Virgil, who sired three Kentucky Derby winners in Vagrant, Hindoo and Ben Ali. Hindoo became a leading sire and winner of 24 stakes, including the Kentucky Derby. Hindoo is the sire of Hanover, who won 26 stakes races, including the Belmont Stakes. Hanover was out of Bourbon Belle by Bonnie Scotland, and she was out of Ella D by Vandal giving him a breeding pattern of 3x3 to Vandal. Hanover sired Blackstock, who sired Mentor, who sired Wise Counsellor, who sired Very Wise, the broodmare sire of Go Man Go.
The blood of Glencoe was prominent
in the stallions that stood at Belle Meade.
He sired the stallions Highlander and Bill Cheatham. He was the broodmare sire of Brown Dick and Jack Morgan. The stallion Luke Blackburn was out of Nevada whose broodmare sire was Glencoe. Iroquois was out of Maggie B B, who was out of Madeline who was out of Magnolia by Glencoe. Tremont was sired by Virgil, by Vandal by Glencoe. Great Tom was another one at Belle Meade and he was sired by King Tom, who was out of Pocahontas.
The Belle Meade Stud was the home of such stallions as Bonnie Scotland, who was the broodmare sire of Bonnie Joe, the sire of Joe Blair, the sire of Joe Reed P-3, the sire of Joe Reed II, the sire of Leo. Bonnie Joe is also the reported broodmare sire of Oklahoma Star P-6.
Star Davis was another son of Glencoe that was bred in Kentucky. He was out of
Margarette Wood, a daughter of Priam, another stallion from Belle Meade Stud. Star Davis sired Kentucky Derby winner Day Star. Star Davis was out of Margaret Wood by Priam.
We have already noted a couple daughters of Glencoe such as Maggie B B and Magnolia. But Reel was a daughter that plays a big role in the influence of Glencoe as a sire. She was bred by James Jackson. He later sold half interest in her to General Thomas Jefferson Wells, who owned Wellswood Plantation near Alexandria, Louisiana. He later got full ownership before she was raced. Reel went on to make 8 starts with 7 wins and 1 second. She was injured in her last race but still came in second. Believe it or not, she was considered one of the great 4-mile heat race mares with wins that include the Jockey Club Purse. One of her famous wins was in a match race with Miss Foote, whom she beat in straight heats. She raced at the Metairie Race Course in New Orleans and the Louisiana Race Course in Opelousas and was known to have beaten the colts.
The tbheritage.com website biography of Reel tells us that she produced 13 foals with 10 of them being “first class runners.” The Reel foals include Lecomte, the winner of 16 races. He was sired by Boston making him a paternal half-brother to the immortal Lexington and they raced against each other. They called Lecomte the best of her runners. He raced for his breeder General Wells. He broke his maiden winning mile heats with the second heat the “fastest time up to that time.” He went undefeated in his next four races until he was beaten by Lexington in the Great Post Stakes. They
met again in the Jockey Club Purse where he defeated Lexington, giving him his only defeat in his racing career.
The biography of Lecomte shows that he was sidelined due to lameness and was bred to some mares. General Wells then dispersed his horses except for Reel and Lecomte, who were sold to Richard Ten Broeck, who sent Lecomte to England where he finished third in the only start. He developed colic and died leaving only one foal crop.
War Dance was the last foal out of Reel, and he was sired by Lexington - a horse that they said Wells never did like because of the racing that took place between his Lecompe and Lexington. But he relented and got War Dance. They also say that he could have
been her best foal, but the Civil War and lameness kept him off the track. He became a very successful sire including such runners as Modesty, a filly that beat colts in the American Derby as well as races like the Kentucky Oaks, Sequel Stakes and the Montgomery Handicap. Modesty was the third dam of Regret, the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby. Some of his other runners include Wyoming, winner of the Nursery Stakes, and Bullion, winner of the Lexington Stakes.
War Dance became a noted broodmare sire. His daughters include Brademante, dam of The Bard, who won 14 stakes races including the Preakness Stakes. His daughter Buff-N-Bue is the dam of Rainbow, winner of the Brooklyn Handicap, Bright Phoebus, winner of the Lawrence Realization Stakes. His daughter Sister of Mercy was the dam of Pardee, winner of the Tidal Stakes.
Some of the other runners out of Reel include Prioress, winner of the Equus Stakes at Metairie Race Course in 1856 and then went to England winning the Ceasarewitch Stakes in 1857 (she was reportedly ill from the
© Edward Troye, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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