The Kentucky Thoroughbred

Bold Ruler

BOLD RULER AT THE TOP, one is subject to chary criticism. Apparently , people do not want to recognize superlative performance without qualifying it, by noting some shortcoming . Yes, Jim Brown and O. J. Simpson could carry the ball, but they could not block. Yes, Bill Russell could block shots and rebound, but he could not score. Yes, Ted Williams could hit, but he could not field. Actually, Williams could play Fenway Park's tricky outfield like nobody's business; Russell could score anytime he thought his team needed him to shoot; and both Brown and Simpson probably could have been devastating blockers had their coaches been foolish enough to exhaust them at that task-but what does it matter, really? These were among the greatest athletes ever seen, and to deprecate their extraordinary performance is idle. Bold Ruler suffers such slings and arrows. He was voted the best racehorse in North America in 1957, and there are those who say it was a paper title won off one race, that Bold Ruler was plain looking, unsound, and was not a real distance horse. At stud, Bold Ruler led the general sire list eight times, yet there were those who contended his success was attributable to the highquality broodmares to which he was mated. We shall take as a premise here that Bold Ruler was a top colt as a runner, whose innate superiority was ratified 131 as a stallion, and that he was one ofthe greatest Thoroughbreds ever foaled in Kentucky. With that, we can get on with some of the people who had the good fortune to be associated with him. When seeing a turtle on a fence post, it should be remembered that he did not get there by himself . Bold Ruler was foaled April 6, 1954, at Claiborne Farm. Nothing nicer could happen to a horse. Claiborne is something of an institution as Thoroughbred nurseries go. Four generations of Hancocks have been building it for more than a century and now have 6,000 acres outside Paris, Kentucky, and a reputation for raising good horses that extends considerably beyond Bourbon County, to South America, Europe, Japan-wherever man is concerned with the running horse. The Civil War divided, ended, and began many things in this country. Historians, sociologists, economists have fairly well documented how this single political eruption changed the very lives of the born and unborn, changed the style and manner ofliving, changed sources ofwealth and endeavour. The Civil War also was a benchmark in the history of racing. In antebellum days, horse racing was a sporting diversion of large landowners and stock raisers, particularly in the South, with Kentucky being known as a hotbed for enthusiasts of the sport. After the Civil War, while Kentucky strengthened its reputation for raising blood horses, major interest in racing centered in New York. Purse money became significant, elaborate racing plants were built there to accommodate an increasing number of spectators. In short, racing was changed from a rural southern sport to an urban northern sport-business. At the time of the Civil War, racing experienced a dramatic change from a country-club sport played by few, to a professional game played by the best for important money and enjoyed by vast numbers of the general public. It was just after the Civil War that the Hancocks started raising racehorses. 132 Captain Richard J. Hancock, as might be suspected ofa member of General Stonewall Jackson's command, was wounded three times. Toward the end ofthe war, Captain Hancock was wounded during a skirmish near Charlottesville , Virginia, and successfully eluded his blueclad pursuers in the woods of Ellerslie, owned by the Harris family. From the mansion house of Ellerslie came food and medical care that kept the wounded soldier alive; and from Ellerslie, before the war ended, the captain took himself a bride, Thomasia Overton Harris, through whose inheritance, Hancock eventually became master of one of Virginia's finest estates. Racing man T. W. Doswell drew Hancock into the Thoroughbred business. In 1871 Doswell invited Hancock to see one of his horses, Eolus, race at Pimlico in Baltimore. Hancock was enthralled. He had counted himself a good judge of horses since his childhood, when he was an enthusiastic spectator at the court-day races in North Carolina, and he saw in Eolus the marvelous conformation and spirit that he believed could be the foundation on which to build...