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Roamer
Roamer got off to a most unauspicious start in life, conceived by an accidental mating of Knight Errant to the mare *Rose Tree II. Ordinarily employed as the farm teaser, Knight Errant had jumped a fence to get to the mare, perhaps imparting to the mating some of the vital energy believed so essential by the great Italian breeder Federico Tesio. Tesio may have had a point, for Roamer -- said to have been named in a jocular reference to his sire’s pursuit of his dam -- proved one of the best racehorses of the pre-World War II era. Nothing in Roamer’s immediate pedigree would have suggested a promise of greatness, for Knight Errant had been far from a top runner before descending to the lowly post of teaser for the Clay Brothers‘ breeding operation. *Rose Tree II had been a minor stakes winner in England, and her sire Bona Vista won the classic Two Thousand Guineas and sired the important stallion Cyllene before being exported to Hungary, where he led the general sire list five times. But *Rose Tree II had long since descended to the claiming ranks by the time she was acquired in England by Ed Corrigan, and after passing into the Clay Brothers’ possession, she had done nothing to distinguish herself as a broodmare prior to her mating with Knight Errant. On top of that, she had gone blind. (It was for this reason that both racing historian William H. P. Robertson and the great handicapper Walter Vosburgh believed that *Rose Tree II had been deliberately bred to Knight Errant rather than mating with him by chance; according to Robertson’s version, it had originally been intended that the mare visit the top sire *Star Shoot, but *Star Shoot had also gone blind, and the Clays were reluctant to pair two blind parents; hence their use of Knight Errant instead.) The chance-bred colt was gelded young, probably because neither his pedigree nor his appearance promised much value as a stallion prospect. He made his first start a winning one, taking a maiden race at the old Lexington track by five lengths, but then lost several races (including one second and one third behind the year’s champion two-year-old male, Old Rosebud) before being taken to New York. En route to New York, Roamer stopped off at the old Latonia racecourse long enough to win an overnight race, giving him two victories from seven starts by the time he reached the Big Apple. At Belmont Park, Woodford Clay entered the horse in a $1,000 selling race (that is, a race in which the winner would be put up for auction afterwards with an opening price of $1,000). Roamer won, but Albert Simons took a liking to him and ran the subsequent bidding up to $2,000 before Clay retained ownership of the horse with a bid of $2,005. Since the winning purse was only three hundred and eighty dollars and Clay had to shell out $1,005 over the horse’s original valuation to keep him, it was clearly a losing deal for Clay, who could have let the horse go on the $2,000 bid and had a clear profit of $1,380. A few days later, Clay sold Roamer to trainer Jack Goldsborough for $2,500 in an apparent change of heart. The price would prove a rare bargain for owner Andrew Miller, on whose behalf Goldsborough was acting. Roamer won the Saratoga Special in his second start for his new owner (his last victory of the year) and also placed in the Lafayette Handicap. He finished his juvenile season having won four of seventeen starts for earnings of $8,480. The following year, he began showing his true ability, winning the Carter Handicap, the Brooklyn Derby (now the Dwyer Stakes), the Midsummer Stakes, the Travers Stakes, the Huron Handicap, the State Fair Stakes, the Municipal Handicap, the Autumn Weight-For-Age (in a walkover), and the Washington Handicap. Although official championship polls were not instituted until 1936, Roamer by common acclaim was held to be the best three-year-old male and Horse of the Year for 1914, having won twelve of sixteen starts including one streak of six straight victories. He set five track records during his campaign, including an American record for nine furlongs in the Washington Handicap, and he was also the year’s leading money winner with $29,105 in his bankroll. The following year, the little gelding (he measured only 15.2 hands and was a fussy eater to boot, making it difficult to keep weight on him) was wholly at the mercy of the handicappers. All he did was win eight of thirteen starts, including a track record-equaling performance in the Brookdale Handicap and a ten-length victory in the Saratoga Handicap, both under 128 pounds. Roamer also won the National Handicap under 132 pounds, conceding nine pounds each to the top handicappers *Short Grass and Stromboli, and won the Merchants’ and Citizens’ Handicap under 129 pounds, defeating the fine old campaigner Borrow. Roamer was acclaimed the champion of the handicap division at the end of the year, and was considered second only to the champion filly Regret (who effortlessly won both her starts, including the Kentucky Derby) among horses of all ages. Roamer won only one of thirteen starts as a five-year-old, this being the Yonkers Handicap under 127 pounds. However, his best performance of the season was probably a second to the acknowledged champion three-year-old male and Horse of the Year Friar Rock in the Saratoga Cup, a race in which Roamer was asked to concede fourteen pounds to his younger rival under the weight for age scale then in place. Roamer ran second as the topweight in five other important races as well, conceding weight to the likes of *Short Grass, The Finn, and Ed Crump, and for the second year in a row was acclaimed champion of the handicap division despite a record which on the surface did not seem to amount to much Roamer had a better overall record in 1917, winning seven of seventeen starts, but the 1914 Kentucky Derby winner Old Rosebud, who was returning to the track after an absence of nearly three full years, proved his nemesis. The two met seven times with Old Rosebud winning three, Roamer winning twice, and other horses winning the remaining two encounters. Roamer carried the heavier weight in four of the races, but could not defeat Old Rosebud while conceding weight. Old Rosebud, on the other hand, was at level weights in one of Roamer’s victories and was conceding him ten pounds in the other, and he also conceded six pounds to Roamer while beating him in the Delaware Handicap. As Old Rosebud won fifteen of twenty-one starts all told, he is generally acclaimed as champion of that year’s handicap division, with Roamer a clear second best among the older males of 1917. Roamer’s best race of the season was probably the Aqueduct Handicap, which he won easily by three lengths despite carrying 127 pounds, and he also won the Excelsior, Saratoga, and Arlington handicaps. Ranked second to the four-year-old Cudgel (who defeated him in the Brooklyn Handicap while conceding him nine pounds) among the handicap males of 1918, Roamer won his third consecutive Saratoga Handicap that year at Cudgel‘s expense with only a four-pound weight concession. Other additions to his trophy case in 1918 were the Queen’s County, Empire City, Mount Vernon, and Pierrepont handicaps, and he also ran a good second to that year’s champion three-year-old male, *Johren, in the Saratoga Cup. His most notable feat of the season, however, was an exhibition at Saratoga in which Roamer ran against Salvator’s world record for the mile. Although Roamer’s pacemaker was left up the track in the first quarter-mile, Roamer continued on his own courage and finished in 1:34-4/5, clipping two-fifths of a second from Salvator’s record despite not being urged. Roamer was always a horse who required very hard training to maintain his edge – a situation complicated by his notable distaste for morning workouts -- and hard racing and training finally caught up with him as an eight-year-old. He suffered from soundness problems throughout the year and started just six times, winning once in a six-furlong overnight event at the expense of the good four-year-old *Sun Briar. Roamer was turned out for a rest and was fully expected to return to the track as a nine-year-old, but on New Year’s Eve, 1919, owner Andrew Miller suffered a fatal heart attack. Just a few hours later, Roamer slipped on ice in his paddock and broke his leg, necessitating his humane destruction. Roamer’s career ended with a record of thirty-nine wins, twenty-six seconds, and nine thirds from ninety-eight starts. Maintaining top-class form for five consecutive seasons (1914-1918), he had won at distances ranging from four and one-half furlongs to one and three-quarters miles and had captured twenty-four stakes events while placing in twenty-seven more. He also set or equaled eleven track records during his career, including his world record mile against time. He was elected to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1981. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
