Came across the interesting tid bit from Avalyn Hunter's book:
"...Mad Play and Mad Hatter were among the last top horses trained by Sam Hildreth who also conditioned Grey Lag...although Hidreth was a cagey horseman it was widely rumord that he used a mixture of strychnine and arsenic known as Fowler's solution to "hop" his horses; a concotion said to produce both increased race track pefoprmance and damaged reproductive capacity...of all of the top colts trained by HIldreth, none save Uncle came remotely close to expectations as stallions, several were sterile or subfertile."
Anything else anyone can add to that? Pretty interesting.
Mad Play and Fowler's Solution
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As the author, let me pop a little extra in on that. "Doping" horses was a topic on which a lot of rumors were flying around in the 1920s, and Hildreth was by no means the only top trainer to have come under suspicion of giving his horses a little extra help. H. G. "Hard Guy" Bedwell, who trained for Commander J. K. L. Ross, was rumored to have "coked" Sir Barton to the eyeballs whenever he ran, and even Man o' War was accused in some quarters of being a "hophead." (Trainer Louis Feustel's reply to that was that giving cocaine or any other stimulant to Man o' War would have been about as smart and safe as flinging gasoline on an open fire, given the notorious dispositions of some of his immediate ancestors.)
Moving up a bit in time, Ben Jones of Calumet fame was the target of a rumor that he had doped Whirlaway in order to get the fantastic closing kick the colt displayed in the 1941 Kentucky Derby. Jones normally let rumors run off his back, but he was enraged about this one -- he was a very vocal member of the "hay, oats, and water" school -- and the Churchill Downs management had to loudly and insistently repeat that Whirlaway's post-race test results had come up negative.
Jones figured the source of the rumor was probably the trainer of one of Whirly's losing rivals, and very likely, the rumors surrounding Hildreth's trainees, Sir Barton, and Man o' War came from similar sources; none were ever proven by any reputable source. Still, I found it an interesting coincidence that Hildreth was accused of using a substance believed to cause reproductive problems and had what seemed an unusual number of trainees who had major problems during their stud careers.
Moving up a bit in time, Ben Jones of Calumet fame was the target of a rumor that he had doped Whirlaway in order to get the fantastic closing kick the colt displayed in the 1941 Kentucky Derby. Jones normally let rumors run off his back, but he was enraged about this one -- he was a very vocal member of the "hay, oats, and water" school -- and the Churchill Downs management had to loudly and insistently repeat that Whirlaway's post-race test results had come up negative.
Jones figured the source of the rumor was probably the trainer of one of Whirly's losing rivals, and very likely, the rumors surrounding Hildreth's trainees, Sir Barton, and Man o' War came from similar sources; none were ever proven by any reputable source. Still, I found it an interesting coincidence that Hildreth was accused of using a substance believed to cause reproductive problems and had what seemed an unusual number of trainees who had major problems during their stud careers.
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher...You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse." C. S. Lewis
First off it's a wonderful book, how long did it take to put it all together? One thing that got me to thinking wast that could he have really done permanent damage over a relatively short period of time? One would guess they might have been trying to get Mad Play to stud even years after all this, as late as 1933 or whatever year it was he finally retired. Could the effect have lasted that long?
Easy Goer wrote:I guess so. I was just reading a story today about some guy who chemotherapy and he was rendered sterile years later. THey had saved his sperm though. Okay it was Redbook or one of those mags and I was at the service station....
Could be Lance Armstong, I'm sure this is how his wife had their child.
Nu
American Classic Pedigrees took about two years to put together...then it was another year's work with the editors to actually get it ready to go on the market. Kept me busy for quite a while, let me tell you!
Mad Play had already been tried at stud and found sadly wanting when he went back to the races and went on his slide into the claiming ranks. I wasn't able to trace what happened to him during his second retirement -- one can hope he spent many years grazing in green pastures.
In fairness to Hildreth, *Star Shoot (the sire of Grey Lag) was generally a lousy sire of sires and the Lady Blessington family to which Mad Hatter and Mad Play belonged was a poor source of stallions although it produced quite a few good runners.
Mad Play had already been tried at stud and found sadly wanting when he went back to the races and went on his slide into the claiming ranks. I wasn't able to trace what happened to him during his second retirement -- one can hope he spent many years grazing in green pastures.
In fairness to Hildreth, *Star Shoot (the sire of Grey Lag) was generally a lousy sire of sires and the Lady Blessington family to which Mad Hatter and Mad Play belonged was a poor source of stallions although it produced quite a few good runners.
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher...You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse." C. S. Lewis
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LaTroienne
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