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Wanda
Bred by Pierre Lorillard at his Rancocas Stud, Wanda was one of the first American-bred crop for the 1869 Ascot Gold Cup winner, Mortemer, whom Lorillard had imported at a cost of $26,000. Her dam, Minnie Minor, was 21 when Wanda was foaled but had shown some talent as a racer, having run second to once-beaten Kentucky in her only start. Foaled on April 24, 1882, Wanda developed into an attractive chestnut youngster with a crooked blaze and right hind white to the hock. She had a dip in front of her shoulders and, like many good race mares then and since, tended to tuck up when in hard training, giving her a wasp-waisted appearance. A good-sized mare for the times, she grew to sixteen hands but had a light, airy way of going that was enhanced by her being shod with aluminum shoes. These were made for Pierre Lorillard on special order by Tiffany & Co., and so far as is known, Wanda was the first major racehorse to wear aluminum rather than the heavier steel shoes that remained in common use up until World War II. Under the training of Matt Byrne, the Lorillard filly made her first start in the five-furlong Foam Stakes on June 10, 1884 at Sheepshead Bay. After taking the lead in the stretch, she ended up second by a neck to the more experienced filly Florio, who had won stakes races earlier in the season at Washington, D.C. A week later, Wanda defeated essentially the same field in the five-furlong Surf Stakes, winning by half a length over the colt Richmond; Florio, who had picked up a seven pound penalty from her earlier victories, finished far back. The following week, Wanda and Florio met again at level weights in the six-furlong Great Post Stakes with Florio passing Wanda in the stretch to win by two lengths. At this point, Florio had won four of five and and had defeated Wanda two of the three times they had met, but she won only once more in her remaining seven starts as a juvenile. Wanda was next shipped to Monmouth, where she ran sixth against colts in the Hopeful Stakes (won by Richmond) and four days later ran fifth in the July Stakes. The latter race must have been a disappointment for the filly’s connections as it was won by Brookwood, who had finished behind Wanda on three previous occasions. She rebounded to win the Tyro Stakes by one and one-half lengths over her male stablemate Chulula with both Richmond and Brookwood in the beaten field, and next won the Seabright Stakes by two lengths, again over Chulula. Her next conquest was the Champion Stallion Stakes, run on August 9 with the richest winner’s purse of the year ($20,500) for juveniles on the line. Wanda won “in a canter” by three lengths over Goano with the next year’s American Derby winner, Volante, finishing third. Only a single challenger came out to face Wanda for the Home-bred Produce Stakes, an unnamed Ventilator–Cadence colt who later received the name Jack MacDonald, and Wanda won easily by a length. For the Select Stakes, however, the track came up muddy and Wanda tired after setting the pace, losing by two lengths to Goano but remaining three lengths ahead of the only other entry, Grenadier. She rebounded to win the Flatbush Stakes over Lizzie Dwyer, with Goano, Brookwood, and Volante in the beaten field. Wanda then got a month’s rest before reappearing at Pimlico, where she won the Central Stakes “under a pull” with her old rival Florio last. Three days later she started in the Eclectic Stakes at a mile and won to finish out her juvenile campaign with eight wins and three seconds from thirteen starts for earnings of $27,670. She was not only acclaimed the champion juvenile filly of the year but was generally acknowledged to be the best juvenile of either sex. Wanda did not open her three-year-old season until June 13, 1885, when she ran fourth behind Brookwood in the Swift Stakes. Five days later, she started against older rivals in the nine-furlong Coney Island Stakes. It was the longest race of Wanda’s career to that point and the field was formidable, with the great Miss Woodford – then a five-year-old and in the midst of a sixteen-race unbeaten streak – installed as favorite. The other entries included four-year-old Louisette, the champion three-year-old filly of 1884, and four-year-old Gen. Harding, the champion juvenile colt of 1883. Wanda received substantial weight concessions from all her rivals and caught both Gen. Harding and Louisette on the final turn but had nothing left with which to stave off Miss Woodford’s closing challenge; Wanda ran second to the great mare by a length. Sent against her own division in her next start, the nine-furlong Mermaid Stakes, Wanda had no difficulty in winning but could not repeat her performance the following week in the ten-furlong Spindrift Stakes when she failed by one and one-half lengths to concede seven pound of actual weight to the colt St. Augustine. Wanda’s stablemate Exile, later a noted sire, finished third. But on July 7, Wanda defeated the best field of three-year-olds yet assembled during 1885 in the twelve-furlong Lorillard Stakes at Monmouth. The colts she worsted included the Belmont Stakes winner Tyrant, the Travers Stakes winner Bersan (known as the “Horned Horse” for the two odd hornlike protuberances over his eyes), and her old rivals Goano and Brookwood. She won “in a canter” by three lengths and followed up three days later by winning the ten-furlong Monmouth Oaks against her own division. Wanda was given a month’s rest after her Monmouth conquests, but she was to win only one more race after returning to the track – her first start back, the twelve-furlong West End Hotel Stakes on August 11. The race was at Monmouth, a track she obviously liked, and was against only two other three-year-old fillies: her own stablemate Unrest, and the good filly East Lynne, a stakes winner against males that season. Unrest failed to carry East Lynne at the pace wanted to set up Wanda’s closing run, and East Lynne and Wanda battled through the last quarter-mile to a dead heat. Wanda won the runoff by a head but was exhausted at the finish. Nonetheless, two days later the Lorillard filly was at the post again, this time facing colts in the 1-1/2 mile Omnibus Stakes. She was clearly not herself and finished fifth behind Richmond. Five days later, in the Choice Stakes at the same distance, Richmond defeated her again, though this time the margin was only a length and Wanda did get second money over the Jerome Handicap winner Longview. Wanda raced twice more, winning honor but no races. In the first, the ten-furlong September Stakes at Sheepshead Bay, she just failed by a head to concede nine pounds to Hidalgo, leaving Longview (in receipt of nineteen pounds) far back in third. Her last race was the two-mile Breckenridge Stakes at Pimlico on October 17, in which she lost by two lengths to Longview with Richmond third. Despite losing half her twenty-four starts, Wanda was nonetheless rated by Walter Vosburgh as one of the best fillies he had seen in his lifetime. She had won twelve races, finished second in another eight efforts, and earned $57,310. Of those horses that faced her more than once during their careers – Florio, East Lynne, Richmond, Brookwood, Goano, and Longview – all finished behind her more often than in front, and often while receiving weight. Following the death of his brother George Lorillard in 1886, Pierre Lorillard decided to disperse his racing stable the following year. Wanda was purchased by Colonel Milton Young and thereafter changed hands several times before her death in 1905, her owners including Commander N. W. Kittson, Belle Meade Stud, W. O. Parmer, and E. C. Cowdin. Despite the vagaries of her human masters and her own hard racing career, Wanda produced two stakes winners, Urania and Glacier. She also founded a notable family, for Urania – a first-class mare in her own right – produced Armenia, also a stakes winner and the dam of 1914 Epsom Derby winner *Durbar II. Another daughter, Countess Wanda, produced two stakes winners in Fairy Wand (herself the dam of the Dwyer Stakes winner Genie and the Hopeful Stakes winner Epithet) and Planutess, the latter the ancestress of a family that includes Kentucky Derby winners Clyde van Dusen, Swaps, and Iron Liege. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
