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Beldame
Although Beldame raced long before the days of official championships, she has a legitimate claim to being considered the first American filly or mare of the twentieth century to earn Horse of the Year honors. All but unbeatable as a three-year-old, she could sprint, stay, and take on all comers. Beldame was bred by August Belmont II, who also bred her sire, Octagon. Although he won the Brooklyn Derby (now the Dwyer Stakes) and ran third in the Belmont Stakes as a three-year-old, Octagon was best known for speed, winning the one-mile Withers Stakes at three and the six-furlong Toboggan Handicap at three and four. Belmont’s father, August Belmont I, had regularly imported good mares from England for his Nursery Stud. Among them was *Bella Donna, who was by the great broodmare sire Hermit. She was described by David Withers (the acknowledged authority of his time on matters of racing law and usage) as “the finest brood-mare I ever saw; she has the power of a cart-mare with all the quality of a thoroughbred.” She was purchased by August Belmont II for $8,800 at the dispersal of his father’s estate in 1891. For the younger Belmont, *Bella Donna produced the good stakes winner Don de Oro in 1894. Her later produce would include Don Diego, a juvenile stakes winner in 1905, and Don Enrique, who won the 1906 Preakness while the race was being run at New York’s Gravesend Park. But by far the best of her produce was her chestnut filly by Octagon, who was foaled in 1901. Beldame raced seven times at two. Her first six starts were under Belmont’s colors. She debuted in the Clover Stakes on June 10, 1903 at Gravesend Park and finished a strongly closing second under a questionable ride. The chart of the race described her as “much the best” although she lost to Contentious by one and one-half lengths. Three weeks later she started in the Vernal Stakes and led wire to wire, but on shipping to Saratoga developed a skin condition which was variously described as insect bites, hives, or shingles. Whatever the problem, it apparently affected Beldame in her next race as she ran a bad sixth behind eventual champion two-year-old filly Hamburg Belle in an overnight race. Relations between Belmont and his trainer, John J. Hyland, began to deteriorate rapidly, and Beldame was subsequently declared from the Futurity, which was won by Hamburg Belle. Hyland resigned as Belmont’s trainer effective October 31 but won the Great Filly Stakes at Sheepshead Bay with Beldame on September 2, four days after the Futurity. In a game performance, Beldame was headed in the stretch by Ocean Tide but came back to win. She then ran third, two lengths behind Armenia (later the dam of 1914 Epsom Derby winner *Durbar II), in the Matron Stakes and fourth, two and one-half lengths behind Race King, in the Nursery Handicap. Beginning November 1, 1903, and through the end of her three-year-old season, Beldame raced under lease to Newton Bennington, a friend of Belmont’s. Fred Burlew took over her training at that point, and under his care she closed out her juvenile season by easily defeating colts in a muddy six-furlong overnight race. She finished her juvenile season having won three of seven starts for $21,185 and wintered over at the now-defunct Gravesend track in New York. No matter how close his friendship with Bennington was, Belmont must have had moments in which he bitterly regretted leasing Beldame to him, for he missed the pleasure of seeing the best filly he would ever breed perform in his colors during her championship season. All Beldame did at three was to win twelve of fourteen starts. She began on April 15, 1904, by taking on sixteen rivals, mostly older males, in the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. Under 103 pounds, she broke on top and made all the running, winning nicely. Her next start was the Metropolitan Handicap; she got in with only 98 pounds but broke poorly and under a questionable ride could do no better than third behind the very good Irish Lad (123 pounds), beaten four lengths. After her two ventures against the best of the older male speedsters, Beldame made her next five starts in races restricted to her own sex. In the Ladies Stakes, Beldame was an odds-on favorite but provided some drama before the start by bolting during the warmup. After running a complete circuit of the track, she spotted a hole in the fence, ducked through it, and went back to her barn. The extra exercise did not help her three rivals in the least; brought back to the post, Beldame broke on top and led all the way under a hard pull. An old photo of the finish shows her jockey literally standing in the stirrups, pulling so hard on Beldame’s mouth that her nose is flung up in the air. Ten days later, Beldame defeated the speedy Mamie Worth in a six-furlong overnight race despite getting off to a slow start. The Gazelle Stakes followed, with Beldame leading all the way to win by ten lengths, again under stout restraint. Two weeks later, Beldame gave Kentucky Oaks winner Audience five pounds and a seven-length beating in the Mermaid Stakes, winning “pulling up.” She finished her demolition of the feminine ranks in a mile overnight race against older females, winning easily despite being all but left at the post. On July 6, Beldame returned to competition against males in the Test Handicap. Five-year-old Hermis, the Suburban Handicap winner, gave her eighteen pounds actual weight (133 to 115) and beat her a length in time equaling the Brighton Beach track record for a mile; it was the only race she lost completely on merit all season. One month later, Beldame met eight other three-year-old fillies in the Alabama Stakes; although she had incurred an eight-pound penalty from her earlier victories, she won by six lengths in a performance described as “only an exercise gallop.” One week after the Alabama, Beldame produced her finest race of the season in the one and three-quarters mile Saratoga Cup. At weight for age, Beldame went to the front immediately and toyed with the likes of 1903 Belmont Stakes and Saratoga Cup winner Africander, 1904 American Derby winner The Picket, and 1902 Lawrence Realization winner Major Daingerfield. Over a muddy track, she won “pulling up” without ever having been extended. Beldame was back ten days later at Sheepshead Bay for the Dolphin Stakes. Conceding twelve to twenty-one pounds to a field of colts, Beldame won by four lengths under a pull. The next week she won the thirteen-furlong September Stakes by two and one-half lengths with the good colt Ort Wells (winner of that year’s Lawrence Realization, a race then comparable to the Belmont Stakes in importance) and her old rival Ocean Tide in the beaten field. She followed up this race by winning the First Special Stakes over ten furlongs at Gravesend. As had become her habit, she took the lead at the start and held it easily to the end, defeating the good stakes horses Caughnawaga, Stalwart, and Ort Wells. Five days later she completed a double by taking the Second Special Stakes at the same track, defeating eventual Hall of Famer Broomstick (then a four-year-old) by five lengths while conceding him two actual pounds and much more than that by the scale. Africander and the good five-year-old McChesney were also in the beaten field, and Beldame was retired for the season having clearly demonstrated that she was the best horse of any age or sex running in 1904. Beldame returned to Belmont’s colors as a four-year-old but remained in the care of Burlew thanks to Belmont’s new trainer A. J. Joyner, who conceded that he could not have done a better job with the filly than Burlew Unfortunately, Beldame was past her best at four and won but two of ten starts for Belmont. Her victories were the Standard Stakes (beating Cairngorm and Major Daingerfield) and the Suburban Handicap under 123 pounds. The latter was a remarkable feat as she carried top weight by the scale and defeated the previous year’s Belmont Stakes winner Delhi; no filly or mare since has managed to win the Suburban under more weight. However disappointing Beldame’s four-year-old season may have been compared to the previous one, much credit must go to Fred Burlew for keeping Beldame in top form for so much of her career. A fussy eater (she relished corn on the cob but did not care much for oats), she was a rather highly strung sort and not the easiest of horses to keep in good flesh. She also had a reputation for having a mind of her own and was said to be rather headstrong. Physically, she was a well-balanced racing machine although her pasterns were somewhat upright. Beldame retired with seventeen wins, six seconds, and four thirds from 31 starts for $102,570 according to the American Racing Manual. She was, thus, the third American filly to earn over $100,000 after Miss Woodford and Firenze. She was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1956. Along with her constant companion, a roan mare who had served Fred Burlew as a stable pony, Beldame retired to Hamburg Place, the noted breeding farm founded by John E. Madden. The great mare produced seven foals, but none were in any way comparable to their dam. Beldame left a legacy of another sort, however, in the Beldame Stakes (gr. I), run annually at Belmont Park. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
