Hamburg (USA)
1895 – September 10, 1915
Hanover (USA) x Lady Reel (USA), by Fellowcraft (USA)
Family 23-b
1895 – September 10, 1915
Hanover (USA) x Lady Reel (USA), by Fellowcraft (USA)
Family 23-b
A glutton for both food and work, the massive Hamburg was speedy enough to be a stakes winner over 4 furlongs as a juvenile and stayed well enough to win major races at up to 18 furlongs. He became an excellent sire following his racing career and exerted a lasting influence through his daughters, particularly the notable foundation mare Frizette.
Race record
21 starts, 16 wins, 3 seconds, 2 thirds, US$61,455
1897:
1898:
Honors
As an individual
A bay horse, Hamburg was exceptionally powerful through the hindquarters and hind leg and was an excellent weight carrier. He stood 16 hands and had a good shoulder and excellent legs and feet. His action was low and smooth. He had a fiery, high-spirited disposition that made him difficult to break but was not mean or vicious. He preferred to control his races from the front end and was a very quick starter.
As a stallion
Hamburg led the American general sire list in 1905 and was among the top 10 American general sires on five other occasions. According to Clio Hogan's Index to Stakes Winners 1865-1967, Hamburg sired 27 stakes winners.
Notable progeny
Artful (USA), Borrow (USA), Burgomaster (USA), Buskin (USA), Dandelion (USA), Frizette (USA), Hamburg Belle (USA), Passan (USA), Prince Eugene (USA), Rosie O'Grady (USA)
Connections
Hamburg was bred by Con Enright. He raced as a juvenile for owner-trainer John E. Madden, who had purchased Hamburg as a weanling for US$1,200. Madden sold the colt at the end of the season to Marcus Daly for $40,001, the highest price paid up to that time for an American-bred Thoroughbred. Following his sale to Daly, Hamburg was trained by William Lakeland. Hamburg entered stud in 1899 at Daly's Bitter Root Stud in Montana. Following Daly's death in 1900, Hamburg was sold to William Collins Whitney at the Daly dispersal on January 30, 1901, for US$60,000 for continued stud duty, with Madden acting as agent. Following the sale, Hamburg moved to La Belle Stud in Kentucky. Harry Payne Whitney acquired the stallion for US$70,000 on his father's death on 1904. Hamburg died at Whitney's Brookdale Stud, Red Bank, NJ, on September 10, 1915.
Pedigree notes
Hamburg is inbred 4x4x5x5 to 16-time American champion sire Lexington and 4x4 to the important 19th-century American sire Vandal. He is also inbred 5x5x5 to eight-time American champion sire Glencoe (sire of Vandal). He is a half brother to juvenile stakes winner Amanda V. (by Strathmore) and to Strathreel (by Strathmore), dam of stakes winner Bill Curtis (by Plaudit). Hamburg is also a half brother to Renown (by St. Simon), second dam of 1916 Spinaway Stakes winner Yankee Witch.
Hamburg's dam Lady Reel was a stakes winner during her own racing career. She is by two-time American champion Spendthrift's full brother Fellowcraft, who broke Lexington's American record for four miles. Lady Reel is a half sister to the great racer and sire Domino (by Himyar); to 1894 Toboggan Handicap winner Correction (by Himyar), dam of 1901 Futurity Stakes winner Yankee (by Hanover) and second dam of six stakes winners including the crack sprinter Naturalist and 1926 Withers Stakes winner Haste; to 1884 Tennessee Derby winner Ten Strike (by Ten Broeck); and to 1886 Ladies' Handicap winner Bandala (by King Ban).
The dam of Lady Reel, the Enquirer mare Mannie Gray, is a winning full sister to juvenile stakes winner Goodnight, considered an extremely fast horse; to Faustus, a sire of some note; and to Alice Gray, dam of 1886 Tennessee Derby winner Jim Gray (by Ten Broeck). Mannie Gray's dam Lizzie G. is by Lexington's good sire son War Dance and out of an unnamed daughter of Lecomte.
Books and media
Hamburg is one of 50 stallions profiled in Joe Palmer's Names in Pedigrees (1939, The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association; reprinted in 1974).
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: August 14, 2021
Race record
21 starts, 16 wins, 3 seconds, 2 thirds, US$61,455
1897:
- Won Double Event S. #2 (USA, 6FD, Sheepshead Bay)
- Won Electric Handicap (USA, 6FD, Brighton Beach)
- Won Congress Hall Handicap (USA, 5FD, Saratoga)
- Won Autumn Stakes (USA, 6FD, Sheepshead Bay)
- Won Great Eastern Handicp (USA, @5.75FD, Sheepshead Bay)
- Won Great Trial Stakes (USA, 6FD, Sheepshead Bay)
- Won Flash Stakes (USA, 4FD, Saratoga)
- Won Rising Generation Stakes (USA, 6FD, Brighton Beach)
- Won Prospect Stakes (USA, 6FD, Gravesend)
- Won Excelsior Stakes (USA, 6FD, Gravesend)
- 2nd Grand Union Hotel Stakes (USA, 6FD, Saratoga)
- 2nd Flight Stakes (USA, 7FD, Sheepshead Bay)
- 2nd Flatbush Stakes (USA, 7FD, Sheepshead Bay)
- 3rd Double Event Stakes #1 (USA, 5.5FD, Sheepshead Bay)
1898:
- Won Spring Special Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, Gravesend)
- Won Swift Stakes (USA, 7FD, Sheepshead Bay)
- Won Lawrence Realization (USA, 13FD, Sheepshead Bay)
- Won Brighton Cup (USA, 18FD, Brighton Beach)
- 3rd Belmont Stakes (USA, 11FD, Morris Park)
Honors
- National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1986)
- American Horse of the Year (1898)
- American champion 2-year-old male (1897)
- American champion 3-year-old male (1898)
As an individual
A bay horse, Hamburg was exceptionally powerful through the hindquarters and hind leg and was an excellent weight carrier. He stood 16 hands and had a good shoulder and excellent legs and feet. His action was low and smooth. He had a fiery, high-spirited disposition that made him difficult to break but was not mean or vicious. He preferred to control his races from the front end and was a very quick starter.
As a stallion
Hamburg led the American general sire list in 1905 and was among the top 10 American general sires on five other occasions. According to Clio Hogan's Index to Stakes Winners 1865-1967, Hamburg sired 27 stakes winners.
Notable progeny
Artful (USA), Borrow (USA), Burgomaster (USA), Buskin (USA), Dandelion (USA), Frizette (USA), Hamburg Belle (USA), Passan (USA), Prince Eugene (USA), Rosie O'Grady (USA)
Connections
Hamburg was bred by Con Enright. He raced as a juvenile for owner-trainer John E. Madden, who had purchased Hamburg as a weanling for US$1,200. Madden sold the colt at the end of the season to Marcus Daly for $40,001, the highest price paid up to that time for an American-bred Thoroughbred. Following his sale to Daly, Hamburg was trained by William Lakeland. Hamburg entered stud in 1899 at Daly's Bitter Root Stud in Montana. Following Daly's death in 1900, Hamburg was sold to William Collins Whitney at the Daly dispersal on January 30, 1901, for US$60,000 for continued stud duty, with Madden acting as agent. Following the sale, Hamburg moved to La Belle Stud in Kentucky. Harry Payne Whitney acquired the stallion for US$70,000 on his father's death on 1904. Hamburg died at Whitney's Brookdale Stud, Red Bank, NJ, on September 10, 1915.
Pedigree notes
Hamburg is inbred 4x4x5x5 to 16-time American champion sire Lexington and 4x4 to the important 19th-century American sire Vandal. He is also inbred 5x5x5 to eight-time American champion sire Glencoe (sire of Vandal). He is a half brother to juvenile stakes winner Amanda V. (by Strathmore) and to Strathreel (by Strathmore), dam of stakes winner Bill Curtis (by Plaudit). Hamburg is also a half brother to Renown (by St. Simon), second dam of 1916 Spinaway Stakes winner Yankee Witch.
Hamburg's dam Lady Reel was a stakes winner during her own racing career. She is by two-time American champion Spendthrift's full brother Fellowcraft, who broke Lexington's American record for four miles. Lady Reel is a half sister to the great racer and sire Domino (by Himyar); to 1894 Toboggan Handicap winner Correction (by Himyar), dam of 1901 Futurity Stakes winner Yankee (by Hanover) and second dam of six stakes winners including the crack sprinter Naturalist and 1926 Withers Stakes winner Haste; to 1884 Tennessee Derby winner Ten Strike (by Ten Broeck); and to 1886 Ladies' Handicap winner Bandala (by King Ban).
The dam of Lady Reel, the Enquirer mare Mannie Gray, is a winning full sister to juvenile stakes winner Goodnight, considered an extremely fast horse; to Faustus, a sire of some note; and to Alice Gray, dam of 1886 Tennessee Derby winner Jim Gray (by Ten Broeck). Mannie Gray's dam Lizzie G. is by Lexington's good sire son War Dance and out of an unnamed daughter of Lecomte.
Books and media
Hamburg is one of 50 stallions profiled in Joe Palmer's Names in Pedigrees (1939, The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association; reprinted in 1974).
Fun facts
- Hamburg is a major city in Germany. Its history dates back to a castle built at Charlemagne's orders in 808 as a defense against Slavic raiders.
- Con Enright was Hamburg's official breeder only because he purchased Lady Reel from James E. Kittson prior to the birth of her Hanover colt. Kittson's choice of Hanover as a mate from Lady Reel was based on a clause in his January 1894 purchase of her from Colonel Milton E. Young, which stipulated that if she failed to produce a live foal from her 1893 cover, she could be bred back to one of Young's stallions at his McGrathiana Stud without charge. After Lady Reel's foal from her 1893 mating to Strathmore failed to survive, Kittson chose Hanover as the sire for her complimentary mating.
- Hamburg successfully carried weights of up to 135 pounds as a juvenile.
- John E. Madden's Lexington farm, Hamburg Place, was named for the champion and was built using money generated from Madden's sale of Hamburg to Marcus Daly.
- Hamburg's massive appetite probably cost him the Belmont Stakes, as he went into the race (his first of the season) fat and short of condition and finished third. It was his only loss as a 3-year-old.
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: August 14, 2021