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Roseben
Like a great freight train, Roseben was slow getting started, not winning his first stakes race until he was four. But once he got rolling, the “Big Train” was a hard one to stop. Seven furlongs was about as far as he went in top company, but within that limitation, no matter what his payload, Roseben usually delivered on time. A huge (nearly eighteen-hand) son of *Ben Strome and the Duke of Montrose mare Rose Leaf, Roseben was foaled in 1901. He was bred by Mrs. Thomas J. Carson and was sold to John Clark as a yearling. As might be expected for so large a horse, he was not a precocious youngster, running unplaced in his only start at two, and at three he improved only slowly. Although he picked up two seconds and a third in his first six starts of the year, he did not break his maiden until his seventh race of the season, a six and one-half furlong maiden event at Morris Park. That was in October, and at that point, Clark decided he had had enough and put the horse up for auction. Perhaps he was satisfied with the $3,800 he made from Roseben’s sale, but it was new owner Davy Johnson who had gotten the better end of the bargain. Roseben began paying back his purchase price right away, winning two overnight races within ten days after his change of ownership. The following season, he continued to show improvement, winning four of his first seven starts. At that point, trainer Frank Weir decided the huge gelding was good enough for stakes company, and he entered Roseben in the Toboggan Handicap. For some reason, Roseben had to carry two pounds more than Race King, who was fresh from a dead heat with the great Sysonby in the Metropolitan Handicap two days earlier, but the weights made no difference; Roseben rumbled home for his first stakes victory. The pair met again in Roseben’s next start, the Clarendon Handicap, and this time the son of *Ben Strome had to concede Race King nine pounds. But it would take more than a meager nine pounds to derail the “Big Train,” and Roseben collected his second stakes win. After the Clarendon, the racing secretaries started loading on the freight. In the remaining ninety-two starts of his career, Roseben started as the highweight eighty-six times. He carried 130 pounds or more fifty-nine times and 140 pounds or more twenty-nine times, winning fourteen of the latter starts. Four times he rolled home first under 147 pounds, and though he never won under more weight than that, he had three seconds and a third in his four starts at 148 pounds and ran second in his one start under 150 pounds -- one of the most remarkable weight-carrying records of all time. Roseben typically carried more than just weight, too -- when owner Johnson was asked how much he customarily bet on Roseben, he replied simply, “Everything I have.” A notorious plunger even in an age of well-known gamblers, Johnson won $475,000 on Roseben in 1906 alone but still came out $280,000 in the hole for the year thanks to other gambling losses. Unfortunately, Johnson’s gambling sometimes meant that Roseben faced the starter when common sense and humanity would have dictated his staying in the barn. Johnson must have wondered what he had to do to land a bet at decent odds on Roseben, for the huge gelding started as favorite in eighty of his races and was odds-on (held at less than even money) as often as not despite his massive burdens. On one occasion, Roseben was held at 1-to-80 despite having to concede his sole rival forty-one pounds. (He won.) Roseben went on to start another twenty times in 1905 after the Clarendon, winning thirteen, and was widely considered the best sprinter racing that year. His most notable win of the year came in October, almost one year to the day after his maiden victory. This was in the Manhattan Handicap at seven furlongs. Carrying 147 pounds, Roseben blazed home five lengths in front of three outclassed rivals who were receiving forty-two to forty-nine pounds each. Four days later, Roseben got into a seven-furlong allowance race at Belmont Park with only 126 pounds and showed his gratitude for the light impost by setting a new American record of 1:22 (also believed to be a world record per Walter Vosburgh) for the distance, shattering the previous American record of 1:23-1/2 and the previous track record of 1:25. Not until 1935 would another runner -- the excellent sprinter Clang -- equal Roseben’s time, and Roseben’s American record was not broken until the great mare Honeymoon turned the trick at Hollywood Park in 1947. Even after that, Roseben’s track record at Belmont stood until 1957, when Bold Ruler broke it on his way to Horse of the Year honors. Roseben had his most lucrative year as a five-year-old in 1906, winning half his twenty-two starts for $27,870. He repeated his victory in the Manhattan Handicap, and he also won the Bay View Handicap and the historic Carter Handicap. He also won half his starts at age six, but made “only” fourteen starts, with only one stakes victory; in an unusual twist for him, this was in the one-mile Sterling Stakes. Nonetheless, he was still formidable; in what was probably his best performance of the season, he conceded a whopping sixty pounds to the runner-up in a six-furlong handicap at Brighton Beach and won by two lengths. Hard campaigning and heavy weights were beginning to tell even on Roseben’s huge frame, and by 1908, the “Big Train” was clearly losing some steam. That year, at the age of seven, Roseben carried topweight in every start and started favorite in each race. Roseben won nine of twenty-six starts but was unable to capture any stakes events, and his earnings amounted to only $6,340. He continued racing at age eight, but although he won the Follansbee Highweight Handicap at California’s Oakland race track, it was painfully clear that his days as America’s champion sprinter were past. He had won only three minor races from nine starts when he was entered in a $1,000 claiming event. In an inglorious ending to a legendary career, Roseben bowed a tendon and was at last forced into retirement. Roseben's memory lingered long in New York, where for many years the Roseben Handicap was staged in his honor. He was worthy of the memorial. Despite crushing weights, the “Big Train” rolled into the station on time in fifty-two of 111 starts and was unplaced but twenty-two times. He earned $75,110 and set or equaled six track records at distances ranging from six to seven and one-half furlongs, retiring as the American record holder at six and seven furlongs. Given to former U. S. Representative James Wadsworth at the end of his racing career, Roseben was given time to recover from his injury and was then broken to light harness and used to draw a sleigh on Wadsworth’s farm near Geneseo, New York. At the end of his rehabilitation, Wadsworth turned the horse over to his daughter, Mrs. Fletcher Harper, as a pleasure mount. Although Mrs. Harper was reputed to be an excellent horsewoman, that so large and powerful a horse could be safely ridden by a woman –under sidesaddle, yet – says much for the gentle giant’s disposition. Roseben became a regular sight at the fashionable riding areas near Washington, D. C., where his deportment was generally flawless. He still liked to stretch his legs and run, though, and Mrs. Fletcher apparently obliged him with some regularity, enjoying the discomfiture of men who thought themselves either better riders or better mounted. At sixteen, Roseben was retired from even this light work and died a year later at Wadsworth’s farm. Thirty-eight years later, the “Big Train” received his final honors with entry to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
