Enquirer (USA)
1867 – September 13, 1895
Leamington (GB) x Lida (USA), by Lexington (USA)
American Family 18
1867 – September 13, 1895
Leamington (GB) x Lida (USA), by Lexington (USA)
American Family 18
Racing during the transitional period between old-time heat racing and modern dash racing, Enquirer proved sufficiently adept at both that he was acknowledged to be the best 3-year-old colt of his year. Injury kept him from continuing his racing career as an older runner, but he became a fine stallion.
Race record
9 starts, 7 wins, 0 seconds, 1 third
1870:
Honors
American champion 3-year-old male (1870)
As an individual
A blood bay horse of angular make with very good shoulders, Enquirer stood 16 hands. He struck himself during a training gallop following his victory in the Kenner Stakes and did not reappear on the track.
As a stallion
Clio Hogan's Index to Stakes Winners 1865-1967 credits Enquirer with 10 stakes winners.
Notable progeny
Bella B. (USA), Falsetto (USA), Felicia (USA), Inspector B. (USA), Mannie Gray (USA)
Notable progeny of daughters
Bandala (USA), Correction (USA), Domino (USA), Ten Strike (USA)
Connections
Bred by H. F. Vissman, Enquirer was owned by General Abraham “Abe” Buford II, who reportedly refused US$15,000 for the colt after his successes at Long Branch and Saratoga in 1870. Buford offered Enquirer, then a young stallion, at the Lexington sales in October 1873, but the horse failed to meet his US$8000 reserve. In 1879, Buford sold Enquirer for US$10,000 to General W. H. Harding, who transferred Enquirer from Buford's Bosque Bonita Farm to Belle Meade Stud. Enquirer died September 13, 1895.
Pedigree notes
Enquirer's pedigree is outcrossed through five generations. He is a full brother to The Squaw, dam of 1883 Champagne Stakes winner Leo (by Duke of Magenta) and 1885 Preakness Stakes winner Tecumseh (by Attila).
Lida, the dam of Enquirer, was produced from Lize, a daughter of the undefeated champion American Eclipse out of Gabriella, by Sir Archy. The female family traces to an unnamed daughter of Cary's Tryal out of the Randolph of Chatsworth Mare, a daughter of the Godolphin Arabian from an unknown dam who was imported to Virginia during the 1750s. This Tryal Mare may be the same one from whom American Family 13 descends but may also be a full sister to the A13 matriarch.
Fun facts
Photo credit
From a print by Franklin Voss in the private collection of Dale Wyatt. Used by permission.
Last updated: April 17, 2023
Race record
9 starts, 7 wins, 0 seconds, 1 third
1870:
- Won Phoenix Hotel Stakes (USA, mile heats, Lexington)
- Won Citizens' Stakes (USA, 2-mile heats, Lexington)
- Won a 3-year-old sweepstakes (USA, 2-mile heats, Buckeye Races)
- Won Continental Hotel Stakes (USA, mile heats, Long Branch Park)
- Won Robbins Stakes (USA, 2-mile heats, Long Branch Park)
- Won Kenner Stakes (USA, 16FD, Saratoga)
Honors
American champion 3-year-old male (1870)
As an individual
A blood bay horse of angular make with very good shoulders, Enquirer stood 16 hands. He struck himself during a training gallop following his victory in the Kenner Stakes and did not reappear on the track.
As a stallion
Clio Hogan's Index to Stakes Winners 1865-1967 credits Enquirer with 10 stakes winners.
Notable progeny
Bella B. (USA), Falsetto (USA), Felicia (USA), Inspector B. (USA), Mannie Gray (USA)
Notable progeny of daughters
Bandala (USA), Correction (USA), Domino (USA), Ten Strike (USA)
Connections
Bred by H. F. Vissman, Enquirer was owned by General Abraham “Abe” Buford II, who reportedly refused US$15,000 for the colt after his successes at Long Branch and Saratoga in 1870. Buford offered Enquirer, then a young stallion, at the Lexington sales in October 1873, but the horse failed to meet his US$8000 reserve. In 1879, Buford sold Enquirer for US$10,000 to General W. H. Harding, who transferred Enquirer from Buford's Bosque Bonita Farm to Belle Meade Stud. Enquirer died September 13, 1895.
Pedigree notes
Enquirer's pedigree is outcrossed through five generations. He is a full brother to The Squaw, dam of 1883 Champagne Stakes winner Leo (by Duke of Magenta) and 1885 Preakness Stakes winner Tecumseh (by Attila).
Lida, the dam of Enquirer, was produced from Lize, a daughter of the undefeated champion American Eclipse out of Gabriella, by Sir Archy. The female family traces to an unnamed daughter of Cary's Tryal out of the Randolph of Chatsworth Mare, a daughter of the Godolphin Arabian from an unknown dam who was imported to Virginia during the 1750s. This Tryal Mare may be the same one from whom American Family 13 descends but may also be a full sister to the A13 matriarch.
Fun facts
- Enquirer was named for the Cincinnati Enquirer, the daily newspaper of that city.
- There was much talk during the summer of 1871 regarding the possibility that Enquirer might meet Leamington's other top son of the 1867 crop, Longfellow, in a 4-mile dash at the end of the Saratoga meeting. General Buford, Enquirer's owner, was reportedly willing to put up US$20,000 on Enquirer to beat Longfellow, but Enquirer never made it to the race due to injury. Buford made repeated attempts to get Enquirer back to racing fitness even after the horse had been standing at stud (his first foals were born in 1872), but after Enquirer failed to gain a place in a 2-mile purse race at Lexington in September 1874, the horse was permanently retired.
- Buford's sale of Enquirer to General Harding in 1879 was forced by a series of personal misfortunes which included the deaths of his wife and his 23-year-old son, bankruptcy, and the murder of a popular judge by Buford's brother, Colonel Thomas Buford, who was declared not guilty by reason of insanity after the General had impoverished himself further with spending on his brother's legal fees. General Buford was able to make a living for several years by working for racing papers, but after his brother's scandal re-opened in 1884 when Thomas Buford escaped from the insane asylum where he was being held, Abe Buford committed suicide.
- Although Belle Meade Stud fell to developers long ago, Enquirer's grave marker was moved from the paddock where the stallion had been buried and is still in existence behind the historic plantation house. It reads, “'Man's Noblest Friend.' Erected to the memory of Enquirer, greatest of race horse sires, by John R. McLean Pub'r, Cincinnati Enquirer, August 26, 1897.” The monument was erected during the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897.
Photo credit
From a print by Franklin Voss in the private collection of Dale Wyatt. Used by permission.
Last updated: April 17, 2023