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Tourist
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Tourist was one of those rare horses that did well on the flat, winning a good race in England, and also over fences, when, after his import into the U.S., he twice won the American Grand National. Mostly sound and very sturdy, he ran for eight seasons, six of them over fences, and as a stallion got a number of good steeplechasers, including some top timber horses, his best probably the U.S. steeplechase champion Trough Hill. His daughters bred a number of long-running handicappers, good steeplechasers, and even a gold-medal winning Olympic event horse.
His sire, Son-in-Law, was one of the best stayers of the twentieth century, and as a stallion became one of the best sources of stamina in the modern thoroughbred. His wins included the Goodwood Cup, the Jockey Club Cup (twice), the Cesarewitch Stakes, all at distances more than two miles, as well as other, shorter races. Son-in-Law was bred and raced by Sir Abe Bailey, whose fortune derived from the diamond mines of South Africa. When he was retired to stud, Son-in-Law became a leading sire of stayers, and was twice leading sire in the U.K., in 1924 and 1930. His offspring included Beau Pere, a leading sire in three of the four countries where he stood at stud; Rustom Pasha, an influential sire in Argentina; Foxlaw, sire of two Ascot Gold Cup winners and of Foxbridge, a leading sire in New Zealand; Bosworth, sire of three classic winners in England and Ireland and of Plassy, who was the son whose sire line branch became most successful. Son-in-Law's daughter, Lady Juror, became the dam of Fair Trial, and another daughter, Sansonnet, was the dam of Tudor Minstrel.
Son-in-Law also had a significant influence on jumpers. His son, Knight of the Garter, was a good juvenile winner and was second and third on the leading sires of jumpers lists in the U.K. for several years. Son-in-Law's grandson, Cottage Son, had a major impact on international show jumpers through his prominance in the Holstein studbook, and Son-in-Law's daughter, Maureen, became the dam of Furioso, seen in the pedigrees of many show jumpers through his importance in the Selle FranÁais, Oldenburg and Hanoverian studbooks.
Tourist's dam was Touraine, a non-winner, by St. Leger winner and leading sire Swynford. Her dam, Bellavista, by Cyllene, had won the Rous Memorial Stakes, the Windsor Castle Stakes and the Michaelmas Stakes for her breeder, James Russel, and produced several good foals before being sold to Lord Woolavington in December of 1915, carrying Touraine; for Woolavington she produced, in addition to Touraine, Touraine's half-brother, Derby winner Captain Cuttle (by Hurry On). Bellavista was the dam seven winners, including Captain Cuttle, St. James Palace Stakes winner Tom Pinch, stakes winner Sunny Land (a short-lived sire in Ireland), and through daughter Glass Bell, a winner, second dam of the Great Metropolitan Handicap winner Glass Idol. Touraine was purchased by Sir Abe Bailey, and in 1925 dropped Tourist. In 1928 Bailey suddenly decided to sell almost all his horses, due to his increasing ill health; his racing stock and yearlings were sold in October at Newmarket, and his broodmares, including Touraine, were sold at Newmarket in December. Lord St. Davids secured her for 800 guineas, carrying a Foxlaw colt, later named Traveller, and her only other winner.
Tourist was a handsome bay colt that resembled his sire, although he had a flatter croup and an excellent hind leg. Like his sire, he had a good shoulder, excellent bone, and was somewhat on the leg.
Tourist on the Turf
Tourist was placed in training with Reginald Day at Terrace House, Newmarket; Day had trained Son-in-Law and Foxlaw for Bailey, and would later train Solario, the dual-classic winning filly Sweet Solera, Brown Prince, and other good horses. It was said that Day was hard on his horses, but if he had one that could stand up to the work, it would be perfectly fit the day it needed to be.
Tourist, like many Son-in-Laws, was an immature colt, and ran unplaced as a juvenile. In 1928, at age three, he was second, twice -- in a ten furlong race at Birmingham, giving 8 pounds to the winner, and in the 1-1/2 mile North Derby at Newcastle, receiving 4 pounds from the winner, Consul. Day thought he was, like his sire, a bit backward, and did not expect him to win his next race, the 1-1/2 mile weight-for-age Princess of Wales's Stakes at Newmarket. But he did, by half a length, beating a field of three and four year olds. He followed this by a disappointing race in the Gratwicke Stakes at Goodwood, where he ran unplaced, conceding 13 pounds to the winner, Parwiz. In the fall he was fifth of thirteen horses in the Doncaster St. Leger, won by Fairway. His last race was the 2-1/4 mile Cesarewitch at Newmarket, won by Arctic Star, in which he ran in fifth, virtually even with Cap-a-Pie, in a field of fifteen horses. The second place horse in the Cesarewitch was the eight-year-old gelding Blancona, a steeplechaser owned by Stephen "Laddie" Sanford.
Tourist had run with the best in most of his races, and had won an important race, although he was not a patch on his sire at that age, and he might have been expected to do better the following year, but Bailey decided to divest himself of all his racing stock that fall.
When Bailey's racehorses came up for auction at Newmarket in October of 1928, American John Sanford commissioned the British Bloodstock Agency to purchase Tourist; he paid 4,600 guineas for him. Sanford was the son of General Stephen Sanford, a rug manufacturer in the U.S., who had established Hurricana Stud Farm outside of Amsterdam, New York, just a short way from Saratoga, where he bred and raced a number of successful animals in the 1880s and '90s. John Sanford inherited the stud and his father's enthusiasm for racing, extending it to a deep passion for steeplechasers, as well as flat racers. When racing was in blackout in New York, Sanford bred and raced horses from Haras de Cheffreville in France, including Snob, who was later imported into the U.S. for stud duty at Hurricana. Horses bred at Hurricana included Chuctanunda, Molly Brant, Rockton, Granite, and many others, and stallions that stood there included Post Guard (first called General Phillips), Potomac, Sanford's 1916 Kentucky Derby winner George Smith, Supremus, imp. Royal Emblem, imp. Nassovian, imp. Gonsalvo, and Archaic (sire of the champion steeplechaser Arc Light), among others. Sanford was an early member of the American Jockey Club, and served as its chairman between 1913 and 1921. His son, Stephen "Laddie" Sanford, a noted polo player, was owner of the 1923 Grand National Steeplechase (at Aintree) winner Sergeant Murphy, of 1925 Champion Chase winner Bright's Boy (third in the 1927 Grand National), and of Blancona, who placed second in the Cesarewitch where Tourist ran fifth. Upon Sanford's death in 1939, Laddie assumed management of Hurricana.
For whatever reason -- his ability, conformation, pedigree, or all three -- Sanford set Tourist (since his importation, according to the time's convention, Tourist II) to steeplechasing. He was placed in training with Hollie Hughes, and debuted in Saratoga's McGregor Steeplechase over two miles in August of 1929, an easy winner by fifteen lengths, beating Green Cheese, Azucar, and other good chasers. A month later he ran in the Herculoid Steeplechase over two miles, and won by six lengths, with five others in the field.
The next season, 1930, Tourist II ran in Belmont's Green Brush Steeplechase, in the mud, carrying 140 lbs., winning by four lengths and beating five other horses. Next was the three mile (American) Grand National, in September, famous for its bizarre ruling regarding the track record. Tourist II, carrying 148 lbs., ran second by a length to Joseph Widener's great steeplechaser Arc Light, who set a track record of 5:40, but a foul was lodged against the winner, and the stewards disqualified Arc Light, moving Tourist II up to first, but allowing Arc Light's record to stand. Arc Light (154 lbs.) and Tourist II (152 lbs.) met again at the end of October, in the Governor Ogle Steeplechase at Laurel Park (Maryland); this time Arc Light won by a length, with the lightly-weighted Actor beating Tourist II into third by a neck. Tourist II's last race of the Year was the Manly Memorial Handicap Steeplechase at Pimlico: carrying 116 pounds Tourist II easily beat seven other horses.
In 1931 Tourist II was laid up for a year with a suspicious leg. He reappeared on the racecourse in the fall of 1932, when he ran in the Brook Cup Steeplechase over 2-1/2 miles at Belmont against a very good field that included Green Cheese (163 pounds), Chenango (166 pounds), Azucar (145 pouns), and three others; he carried 158 pounds. He won this race by half a length, beating Green Cheese into second place. In the middle of September he ran again in the American Grand National, and that year it was worth $7,500 in added money. All but one of the seven horses in the race were imported, with Chenango top weight at 166 lbs., and Tourist II carrying 158 lbs. At the last fence, the young chaser Jack o' Day (138 lbs.) was four lengths in front, and after clearing that fence Tourist II slipped and fell on his chest. "...but there isn't a quitting hair in Tourist II's whole body, and he scrambled to his feet and bore down on Jack o' Day." Jack o' Day, who was likely distracted by jumping even with the riderless horse Redbridge over that last fence, veered off into the "Widener chute," a diagonal connection within the oval track that horses on the inside had to pass to continue straight to the finish line. While his jockey was turning him around, Tourist II recovered from his fall and went on to beat Jack o' Day by half a length.
Tourist II did not run in 1933, again with the leg problem, and in 1934, his last season, he started in four races, winning once, second once, third once, and unplaced once. In the U.S. he had run 20 times, winning nine, second in three, third in two and unplaced in six. And, however he won them, he was a rare two-time winner of the American Grand National.
Tourist in the Stud
Sanford retired Tourist II to Hurricana for stud duty, but he only stood there for five years. Sanford retired from both racing and breeding in 1939, when he was age 88, and sold most of his bloodstock, retaining only his favorite horse, the chaser Golden Meadow. Tourist II was sold to Marion DuPont Scott, and joined her famous steeplechaser Battleship -- the first American-bred and American-owned horse to win the Aintree Grand National -- at Montpelier Stud in Virginia.
Tourist II sired some good steeplechasers, including the champion TROUGH HILL, and his daughters produced both good steeplechasers and really long-running handicappers. With 107 foals in 17 years at stud, he average a little over six foals per year; of his 107 foals, 62 started, and of these, 36, or over half, were winners. His starters averaged over 36 races each, and since most were steeplechasers, this is a real testament to his abilty to get sturdy, sound youngsters.
Of his foals bred while he was at Hurricana, one of the best was the gelded GADABOUT (1939, from Polonaise by Pompey), a winner of seven races in 73 starts, including the Woodbine Steeplechase Handicap, and placed in the Fraser Mason chase twice. Another, the gelded MANTOURIST (1938, out of Marine Girl by Blue Pete), won 22 races and $48,245 in his 156 starts.
FLOATING POWER (1937, out of Margaret Burr by Gainsborough) was unraced, but in the stud she bred the long-running Floating Clown (1945), a winner of 22 races on the flat in 171 starts. LADY TOURIST (1939, from Lady Baltimore by Dick Finnell) won $16,890 and later produced six winners, including Clarendon Stakes and Fairbank Handicap winner Woodsrunner (by Chop Chop). Another Tourist daughter bred during these years was TOURING LADY (1937, out of Margo, by Fair Play), who, as the best offspring of her dam, won thirteen races and $16,249 in her 51 starts, and later bred three long-running winners, including Touring Day who won 13 of his 143 starts. TOUR (1939, from Lacinia by John P. Grier) won just one race in her 37 starts, but in the stud bred three good winners, including Tournure (1953), a winner of nine of her 55 starts, including the James H. Connors Memorial Special as a juvenile and the Alabama Stakes at age three; she later bred the long-running Shoot Luke (1960), who won 17 races, including the Lousville Handicap and the Louisiana Handicap, in 131 starts. Tournure's brother, the gelded Spicy Tour won 20 races in his 221 starts and $45,000, and a half-sibling, Night Tour, won five races in 74 starts; the show jumper Fair Warning, who won championships in 1978-80, was a daughter of Night Tour. Obviously, the stoutness Tourist inherited from Son-in-Law was passed on through daughters such as these.
NIGHT HERON, in Tourist II's first crop (1936, from Blackduck by Wildair) won six races worth $5,155. In the Montpelier stud she was bred to produce chasers, and did very well. Her son Lone Fisherman, by Annapolis, won six of his thirty-seven races, and placed second or third fifteen times. His wins included the Saratoga Steeplechase Handicap at age four, and the Jervis Spencer and Mary Mellon chases at age five, and he placed in the important Meadow Brook Steeplechase, Sarataga Steeplechase, and Charles Appleton Memorial Steeplechase, as well as in other good races. Night Heron's sons by Battleship included Night Patrol, who won five races in 45 starts, and Brakers Ahead, who won the Lovely Night Hurdle Handicap and placed in several other good chases.
At Montpelier Tourist II was used almost exclusively as a steeplechase sire. Scott's mare Index, by Horron, bred two foals to the cover of Tourist II. The first was the gelded TOURIST LIST (1941), who ran 91 times over fences, winning twelve races and placing 35 times.
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Tourist List
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TOURIST LIST (1941) was owned by Lowry Watkins of Louisville, Kentucky, and was his only racehorse. He started at age five, winning the 2-1/2 mile Noel Laing steeplechase at Montpelier hunt meeting by six lengths, carrying 150 pounds, beating TROUGH HILL (155 lbs.) and Adaptable. That season he also placed third in the Manly Steeplechase Handicap and in the Battleship Steeplechase. At age six, 1947, he won 3 races from 11 starts and was unplaced twice, winning $29,405. In the Shillelah Steeplchase in August at Saratoga, carrying 146 pounds, he beat a field of nine, including Adaptable, who would win the American Grand National that year, and ran down the opposition to win by a length.
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His most important win that season was the rich Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase (2-5/8 miles at Belmont), which was dubbed "the worst jumping event of the year," with only four starters, two of which blundered; Tourist List stayed on his feet and won by six lengths. He also won the Iroquois 3 mile steeplechase at Nashville that year, and ran second in the Georgetown, Beverwyck and Battleship steeplechases, and was third in the Tom Roby (2 miles at Lexington) and Manly steeplechases.
In 1948 he won the Saratoga Steeplechase Handicap, beating the great Elkridge and The Heir, among others, and the Harbor Hill Steeplechase Handicap, and placed second in the Americal Grand National and was second or third in several other chases. The next year the best he could do was run second in the Foxcatcher National Cup Steeplechase, and third in the American Grand National and three other good chases. At age nine he won the Temple Gwathmey again, by ten lengths, beating Oedipus (three-time champion steeplechaser), who was giving him 19 pounds. Tourist List ran for three more years, and placed in a number of other chases, but the best placing he could get was second in the Foxhunter National Cup Steeplechase, when he was age thirteen.
Index also produced the bay filly TOURIST INDEX to the cover of Tourist II, in 1943. For her owner Allison Stern she won six races and $13,107 in 39 starts (placing second 13 times, and third 5 times), including the International Gold Cup at Ligonier, Pennsyvlania over 2-1/2 miles, and running second in the rich 3-1/2 mile International Gold Cup over timber at The Plains, Virginia. She later produced some excellent winners over fences, including Glencannon (1951, by Easton), winner of the Tom Roby Steeplechase and seven other races and $35,615; Greek Brother (1953, by Orestes), winner of the Saratoga Maiden Hurdle Stakes and $50,000; and Naval Treaty (1957, by Armageddon), a very good chaser, winner of the Brook Steeplechase, the Charles L. Appleton Memorial Steeplechase, and the Saratoga Steeplechase.
Another Montpelier mare, Dream On, by Rochester, bred BANNOCK LADDIE (1942) by Tourist II. He won two of his 36 starts over fences, placing thirteen times, including second in the Iroquois steeplechase over 3 miles at Nashville. He was a half-brother to Admiralty, by Man o' War, won won the Henley and Woodburn Autumn steeplechases, and to Floating Isle, by Battleship, who was a very good steeplechase winner over over $100,000.
Brigade Rose, by imp. Light Brigade was another steeplechase matron: she bred the filly ROUND TRIP to the cover of Tourist II, a winner of two races in 17 starts and $5,450. ROUND TRIP later produced two winners, including the gelded Excursion, who ran 159 times, winning 19, and at age eight set a track record at Scarborough Downs over ten furlongs.
Another steeplechase matron was imported My Princess, by My Prince. At Montpelier she bred several foals to Annapolis and other stallions, and then was bred exclusively to Tourist II, dropping his very last foal, appropriately named TOURIST'S LAST in 1952. Of her foals, the gelded HIKE (1941), winner of 13 races and $17,645 in 101 starts, and TIMBER TOURIST (1942), both by Tourist, were the best. Timber Tourist won the Good Companion Steeplechase, and placed in several others, for a total of three wins, and five second or third placings in twenty starts. Also to the cover of Tourist II, My Princess produced PILGRIM'S WAY (1944), a winner of three of his eleven starts over fences, and TOURIST TOWN (1945), who won sixteen of his ninety-nine starts over fences. A daughter from My Princess - Tourist II, TOURIST LASS (1946), was unplaced in five starts, but in the stud bred Touring Chip (195), a winner of 14 races and $21,940 in 110 starts.
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Blakely Grove (on right)
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Tourist II's son BLAKELY GROVE (1941, out of imp. Makista by Viviani), owned by Paul Mellon, was taken to England, where in 1948 he won division I of the Broadway Chase (now the Royal & Sun Alliance Steeplechase) at Cheltenham, a grueling test over three miles for novice chasers; that year the field was so large it was broken into two divisions, and Blakely Grove triumphed over 16 other runners. Blakely Grove also won the Stanley Steeplchase at Liverpool that year, and in 25 starts over 5 years won 3, and placed second and third three times each.
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Another 1941 Tourist II son, the gelded LOOK AROUND (Link's Girl by John P. Grier) won eight of his 22 starts and $28,515 in the U.S. A daughter, DRINTOWN (1941, out of imp. Mordrin by Drinmore) won seven races in her 32 starts over five seasons, winning seven, and placing second five times, and was third in the Cherry Malotte Steeplechase and three other races.
Tourist II's son SNOB TOURIST (1942, from Madame Snob by Snob II), was another sturdy runner, winner of sixteen races and $44,000 over nine years in 132 starts over fences. Another Tourist II steeplechasing son, TOURIST PRIDE (1943, from Andrewsia Rose by Hydromel), won two of his 22 races and $11,137; his best being seconds in the Tom Roby and Foxcatcher National Cup steeplechases at ages four and five. Another sturdy son was SIGHTSEER (1943, out of Transcending by Stimulus), a winner of seven races in 114 starts (placed 19 times) and $18,087.
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Trough Hill
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The bay gelding TROUGH HILL (1942, out of Rollicking Princess by imported Royal Canopy) was Tourist II's best racing son, and in 1949 was the champion steeplechaser in the U.S. He was bred by H.W. Frost, Jr., and raced by Mrs. Stephen Clark of Middleburg, Virginia. He won his first steeplechase in 1947, when he took the Pimlico Maiden Spring steeplechase and the Butler steeplechase, was second in the Noel Laing at Montpelier, and was third in the American Grand National. The next year, 1948, he won the Glendale and Brook steeplechases, and was again second (to Adaptable) in the Noel Laing, and third behind American Way and Sun Bath in the American Grand National.
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The next year, 1949, he won three of his ten starts, but was giving away gobs of weight in his other races. He started out, inauspiciously, by falling in his first race, the International Steeplechase, but in the next race, the Corinthian chase, he won by six lengths, beating Elkridge. His next race was the Meadow Brook, where he was the high weight with 151 pounds, and ran second to Elkridge who was carrying 147 pounds after being five lengths ahead of him after the last fence. After that, he lost his rider in the Indian River chase, and was third in the Broad Hollow steeplechase, giving away weight to the first two horses. A week later, carrying 153 pounds, he won the Brook steeplechase by ten lengths, beating American Way (1948 US steeplechase champion) and His Boots. He ran second in the American Grand National, conceding sixteen pounds to the winner, His Boots, who won by 2-1/2 lengths; TOURIST LIST (carrying 146 pounds) was third in this race. He won the Battleship steeplechase at Pimlico by ten lengths, giving 8 pounds to the horse that placed second, and was fourth in the Chevy Chase chase, and was beaten by eight lengths in the Manly Steeplechase, giving 11 pounds to His Boots, who won.
In 1950 he finally won the American Grand National, and placed second in the Brook, and third in the Broad Hollow and Chevy Chase steeplechases. He was then retired, with total winnings of $106,955.
Tourist II had several other daughters that bred on. ANGELICA (1949, from Margery Wales, by North Wales), a winner of one race and placed ten times in 32 starts, bred six foals. BALLYLICKEY (1951, from Miss Ajax, by Blue Ice) ran once, unplaced, and in the stud produced five unraced foals for the U.S. Equestrian Team in Maryland. One of these was the mare Ballycor (1965, by Cormac), who was trained as a three-day horse, winning at Middletown and Blue Ride in Virginia, and as a member of the U.S. Olympic team in Montreal, a gold medal.
Tourist was a sturdy, long-lived son of the great stallion Son-in-Law, who, from limited opportunities, got some good jumpers that made a mark in American steeplechasing and daughters that bred many long-running handicappers and not a few good steeplechasers. Some of his descendants did well in the show world as well, in eventing, show jumping and as show hunters.
--Patricia Erigero
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