Answer to Friday Trivia Challenge for 1/22/16

1/25/2016

TJ's on a roll. The answer is indeed Sir Martin, the American champion 2-year-old of 1908 and the fallen favorite in the 1909 Derby Stakes. John Madden considered Sir Martin and Grey Lag to be the best horses he ever bred.

2 Comments

1/25/2016 05:04:33 pm

Hi Avalyn,
I've been lucky lately:>) But I've always been intrigued by J.E. Madden. Such an amazing all around horseman...breeder, owner, trainer, horse trader and top notch gambler. I wonder if his feats have ever been matched to this day? He really kept his breeding stock going too, as the dam of Sir Martin produced our first TC winner, Sir Barton 10 years after producing 2YO American champ and Euro globetrotter Sir Martin.
Sad turn of events after J.E. Madden passed away....both his sons took their own lives...the first killing himself on Halloween during the great depression, at the Abercrombie and Fitch sporting goods counter, with a gun he was examining. The other killed himself some ten years later by a self inflicted gunshot wound at Hamburg Place farm. TJ

Avalyn

1/25/2016 07:51:39 pm

Madden was indeed "The Wizard of the Turf" -- I just finished reading Kent Hollingsworth's bio of him. He also did quite a bit with Standardbreds in his early days and applied some of what he'd learned with the trotters to Thoroughbreds. At least grandson Preston Madden seems to have been happier than his father and uncle.

Answer to Friday Trivia Challenge for 1/22/16

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