Here is the grave of a very important stud to thoroughbreds and to my sweet
Violet.
Nasrullah was born in 1940 and passed at Claiborne Farms in 1959. His race record was 10 : 5-1-1 and he sired 105 stakeswinners out of 425 foals for a total percentage of 25%! He was a leading sire in England in 1951 and then a led the sire list in the United States 5 times (1955, 1956, 1959, 1960, and 1962).
But he was a nasty old goofball as a race horse, and people still speculate about whether that was because of his wicked temper or his strange British training . Phil Bull, a famed handicapper who wrote about
Nasrullah in the
Best Horses of 1943 said, "Last year, I regarded
Nasrullah as head and shoulders above the other colts of his age. I gave him a long and rather enthusiastic write up, and I fear that, in spite of his having failed in each of his classic ventures, in spite of his bad temper, his mulish antics, in spite of his exasperating unwillingness to do the job, etc., etc., I fear that I am going to give him another write up. I know he doesn't deserve it, but I can't help it." And then he praised him some more, though he said that if
Nasrullah's daddy
, Nearco, found out how bad his kid was, it would really impact his fertility!
His habit was to fight with his jockey in the saddling area, fight afterwards, run swiftly, but then pull up and fling his head when he would pull into the lead. Some thought that it was because he had been trained by the British method of letting him follow a lead horse for his workouts, so he would be relaxed and feel like he was in a herd -- So, he didn't like to be out front! Anyway, he was a total nasty pistol about fighting his jockeys and quitting a race once he took the lead, as you can see in his final record.
There's a funny story about an exchange between a gentleman and
Nasrullah's trainer, Frank Butters, at the Newmarket Heath. It was during World War II, and
Nasrullah's jockey had joined the Army. The gentleman said to Butters, "Have you heard that Charley Smirke has been decorated with the Victoria Cross." "Really?" said the dignified Butters. "What was he decorated for?" "Charley stopped a German tank." "I am not surprised," observed Butters. "When he was riding for me, he could stop anything!"
Nasrullah was a big old tank of a horse, 16 1 1/2 hands and strong and sound. He came from the "best sire line in England and the fastest female line." And he produced some amazing babies over his lifetime, including
Bold Ruler, Noor, Nashua, Jaipur, Red God, and
On-and-On. I am sure you recognize some of those names from
Violet's family tree!
Anyway, A. B. Hancock purchased him for his syndicate and brought him to Claiborne in 1951. Some of the best horses ever were by crossings of
Nasrullah's sons and
Princequillo's daughters! But that crossing ended up with a sort of nasty limerick about
Nasrullah: "Match
Nasrullah through a son, and
Nasrullah though a daughter, To make it really blister, match
Nasrullah through his sister."
Ummm, now that I think on it,
Violet has both
Nasrullah and
Nasrullah's half-sister,
Sun Princess who produced
Royal Charger, a very successful sire by
Nearco and also a member of
Violet's family tree! So...I guess
Violet is part of the history of this dirty little limerick!! Yay!
So, you can bet that on that August morning, I was proud to be standing before this gravestone!
I used the following sources for this blog entry: Abram S. Hewitt's (2006)
Sire Lines and
Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments (2006), both by Eclipse Press in Lexington.
Here is a photo of our passed champion taken in 2002. In August, Kentucky had a tsunami of heat and poor John Henry began to show real illness. He had a real hard time staying hydrated, though they gave him world class care.
Here it is, that slice of history, the stallion barn at Claiborne Farms. Claiborne Farms is probably the best thoroughbred farm in the history of American horses. It started in Virginia when a Hancock was recovering in the home of the Harris family in Ellerslie from his three Civil War injuries as a Confederate soldier. He married one of their daughters, and his son, A.B. Hancock, Sr. loved the breeding, racing and selling of horses.
His final record was 83: 39-15-9. He earned 7 Eclipse Awards and voted Champion Older Horse. He was the oldest horse to win Horse of the Year at age 9, and oldest horse to win a Grade 1 race at the age of 9. He was the Champion Turf Horse in 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1984. He won 30 stakes races. And is the only horse to win the Arlington Million (G1) twice and the only horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap twice!! He has won more graded stakes than any other thoroughbred in history. Not surprisingly, he was voted Race Horse of the Decade for the 1980s. And is still the richest gelding of any breed in history! He was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1990, and was voted #23 of the Top 100 race horses of the 20th century! When he retired in 1985, he was the highest money-earning American thoroughbred in history! 
Here is the grave of the fabulous Reviewer by Bold Ruler. His final race record was 13: 9-3-1, a very strong career! He suffered three fractures in his right rear cannon bone, and came back twice to race, but was retired after the third fracture.
Here is a photograph of Buckpasser's grave, the 1966 Horse of the Year and #14 of the Top 100 Race horses of the 20th century. His amazing record ended with a 31: 25-4-1, and he was voted a 2 year-old and 3 year-old Champion and Champion Handicap Male twice. He was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1970.
Barbie sent me this photo today of my girl. She was inseminated Mother's Day weekend in May, so she is not due until April. Look how big she is already! She looks sweet and happy, like she knows she's going to be a mom!
Here is Bold Ruler's grave. He was bred and owned by Mrs. Henry Carnegie Phipps' Wheatley Stable, and Mrs. Phipps loved him dearly and even had a St. Christopher's medal braided into his forelock before his races. He was foaled at Claiborne Farms, the same night as the fabulous Round Table. In fact, Bold Ruler's career took place in the company of the most amazing mega-crop of racers and sires.
Here is the grave of Nijinsky, the Canadian born racer who is the last English Triple Crown winner! He was born in 1967 and passed in April 1992 from laminitis. He is noted as an "imposing, musuclar horse with anything but a gentle nature." He was purchased by an American who sent him to Ireland where he was the 2 year-old Champion in both England and Ireland. Thirty-six years passed between Bahram, another famous English Triple Crown winner and then Nijinsky's wins! And we have not had another since!
Okay, here it is, the grave of Mr. Prospector, a stallion who Forbes Magazine in 2005 called "the most successful stallion in history." His race record was okay at 14: 7-4-2, but he became a legend and part of history through his work in the breeding shed. He syndicated for the phenomenal sum of $20 million when his stable sold 40 shares at $500,000 each -- a deal as it turned out!
Here is a photograph of the beautiful Sir Gallahad's grave. His record in France was 23: 10-3-3 and in England 1: 1-0-0. He was a "big, robust colt of regal mien" and when A.B. Hancock, Sr. saw him in a photograph, he knew he had to bring him to America. Here's what a British reporter said of him, "When he gets into action he bids us look at him a second and yet a third time for he strides along in effortless style."
Here is the grave of Princequillo, also an important sire in Violet's family tree and a grandpa of Secretariat! You'll recall from my earlier blog that Princequillo had quite an interesting career. He really had poor breeding with a pedigree "crammed with plodders" and his first three dams "sired by proven failures." So, there is really no explanation at all for why he was such an important stud who sired 479 foals and produced a 13.4% stakeswinner rate. He led the sire list in 1957 and 1958 and has been a leading broodmare sire 8 times since 1966. One of his most important fillies was the lovely Somethingroyal. And one of his most famous colts was Round Table, the Horse of the Year in 1958 and 3X Turf Champion.
Here is the grave of a very important stud to thoroughbreds and to my sweet Violet. Nasrullah was born in 1940 and passed at Claiborne Farms in 1959. His race record was 10 : 5-1-1 and he sired 105 stakeswinners out of 425 foals for a total percentage of 25%! He was a leading sire in England in 1951 and then a led the sire list in the United States 5 times (1955, 1956, 1959, 1960, and 1962).