SPORT: Old Glory

For three days last week the cagiest David Harums of the U. S. milled around a rectangular tanbark enclosure on Manhattan’s Squadron A Armory, squinting knowingly as 226 harness horses were trotted or paced, one by one, up & down the narrow track. Walking sticks flashed in the air as bids were raised again & again and the raucous-voiced auctioneer pounded his gavel, announced the buyers. Thus was sold $206,000 worth of U. S. horseflesh at the 43rd annual Old Glory Sale, capping the most successful year in the history of U. S. harness racing.

The best harness horses in the world are bred in the U. S. Greatest standard-bred nursery in the world is Walnut Hall Farm, near Lexington, Ky., owned by Dr. & Mrs. Ogden M. Edwards Jr. (nee Lela Harkness, Standard Oil heiress). For the past 23 years, Walnut Hall has averaged 100 foals a year, has bred more trotting champions than any other U. S. stud. This year Walnut Hall sold 95 yearlings at the Old I Glory Sale, more than any other nursery, grossing $113,985, an average of approximately $1,200 per horse. Walnut Hall also received the highest bid price—$6,800 from Brooklyn Sportsman William Strang Jr. for the yearling Princess Margaret.

Day before, however, in a private sale, William Strang himself received the highest price actually paid this year—$20,000 for Twilight Song (2:01¼), champion 2-year-old of 1936. Alleged buyer: Italy’s Benito Mussolini. For to this year’s Old Glory Sale came European agents who effected the biggest exodus of U. S. harness horses since the turn of the Century. To Austria, Germany, France and Italy went 58 horses of the finest blood lines in the U. S. Italy was the biggest buyer, obviously intent on getting the finest stock at any price. The reason was not merely the immense popularity of harness racing in Italy. Ringside gossip had it that Italian experiences in Ethiopia and Spain, plus the European oil crisis have made it highly necessary that Mussolini modify his motorization plans and pay more attention to improving the breed of his cavalry stock. Nobody has yet invented a truck that can use grass for fuel.