Remembering L. E. Brown in this yearling sales season

by John Berry

My previous columns on modernizing harness racing have brought on several — make that many — ideas from folk all over the U.S. even a couple from up North of the Border.

Sifting through it all takes a bit more time than realized, so, while the yearling sales have gained most of the headlines these days, here’s a remembrance of L. E. Brown from the Maple Lawn Farm and his yearling sales from a century ago with more on modernizing in upcoming HRU columns.

Most of you haven’t heard of Brown as he was the proprietor of his yearling sale well over 100 years ago.

That era, of course, was still considered, kind of, the infancy of our standardbred sport, when the horse had to gain registration status by having to prove that he or she could negotiate a mile in a certain time — that standard time being 2:30 or faster.

Of course, our grand pacers and trotters can travel a mile some 65 to 75 lengths faster than that these days and our Mane Attraction columns are attempting to modernize the breed in our own, insignificant, manner.

That’s the argument that the standardbred is anything but “standard” and deserves to be renamed and recognized with a headline that is equal to — or even greater than — the thoroughbred.

But, back to Brown and his standardbred yearling sales.

Brown was “foaled” on March 30, 1862 and he made a name for himself with two important stallions that were featured at his farm, The Exponent and Trampfast, the latter a world record holder for 2-year-old trotters.

When sale time arrived, there were no sales rings or pedigree readers or auctioneers or huge crowds jamming a fancy pavilion.

Oh, Brown held auctions, all right, mail order auctions.

When the gavel went down on any horse and the funds cleared, many were sent to the new owner via railroad.

And, seemingly more often than not, the new buyer had not even seen the yearling on which he had bid.

From around 1910 or ’11 until the early 1930’s, Brown sold close to 1,000 horses by his mail-order auction.

All the major periodicals ran his advertisements with all the stipulations regarding the sale.

A buyer could bid on one, or an entire lot — this particular sale an example of his sale from 1925 had 20 offered.

Brown’s trainer, Alex Wishart, frequently kept records on the yearlings offered and those marks were included in the description of a particular yearling.

Besides color, estimated height at maturity, and bloodlines, Brown also included flaws, along with trainer comments.

Brown invited interested parties to his farm for inspection, but as mentioned, he also sold many sight unseen.

It wasn’t just the yearlings that caught this HRU columnist’s eye, Brown had shipped over 2,000 horses — some over 1,000 miles — “without a single loss,” he claimed.

Early bids were accepted by mail but, once the bidding had been established, only wired bids were accepted.

All horses were examined and passed by a veterinarian and, if needed, boarding was available at $15 per month at his Maple Lawn Farm or $50 at Springfield.

One particular yearling offered was the trotting filly, Shinefast, who was advertised as a “registered standard” with a yearling mark of 2:29 1/2 in a time trial featuring a quarter in :34.

Her estimated height at maturity was 15.1½ to 15.2 hands and she was described as a “trim, sleek, smooth, stylish, muscular, correctly proportioned, superbly made, grand limbed filly.”

She was also described as a “quality lady” all over with “quality manners, quality gait, and can also step as becomes a lady of quality.”

Shinefast learned her lesson quickly as she had a bit in her mouth on Aug. 3.

Brown explained that it had rained in Springfield all during the fall season and the track wasn’t fit to work over until late November, training up-and-down his cinder path.

Brown further explained that her first mile was in 2:29 1/2 which prompted him to brag, “Match that, if you can!” Or, “Can you produce another yearling  trotter her equal in class?”

Trainer/driver Wishart chimed in saying, that Shinefast “Is a nice, kind, cheerful, good mannered, splendidly gaited, four cornered trotter.”

He also said, “She’ll leave a blanket on all night, likes company, is very tough, and can go distances awful good.

“Recommend her in every way,”

Her ad also enticed potential buyers with her stakes engagements to the Horseman, Horse Review, American Horse Breeders, Kentucky Futurity, Western Breeders, and Hambletonian.

Other ads followed showing current bids with more auctioneer’s jargon to solicit more bidding by the mails.

One of his ads blustered, “It’s not my fault that I’m again advertising the 14 horses I have for sale under the You-Set-The-Price plan.

“It’s your fault. You have not bid.”

And he concluded with the somewhat famous proverb, “None are so blind as he who will not see.”

And Brown then put salt on the proverb saying, “You’re proven it.”

His challenges matched any pedigree readers jargon of today, ”Will you hang back now and let these horses I’m offering sell for a pitiful fraction of their value?

“A few weeks hence grass will be here, feed cost will be cheapened, farmers will be too busy putting in crops to ship grain, the sun of prosperity will be shining and all those timid chaps, who wouldn’t by a trotter now when it’s selling for ‘nothing’ will be treading all over each other’s toes in their eagerness to pay three or four times these prices of mine are hanging at now.”

Of course, these mail order specials produced some questions as to once a horse was knocked down, would it be knocked around in transit because I.C.C. rules forbade attendants on the railways.

That didn’t stop Brown.

He frequently published letters from satisfied clients with one Joseph Huber of Pottsville, PA, stating in a communique that “Trampgalore  arrived at 7 a.m. in first class condition.

“He looks even better than you represented to me and not a finer colt has come to this part of the country.”

The sales methods over the past hundred years for our pacing-bred and trotting-bred horses have also made huge advances over the past century, as well, at least as the aforementioned 65-75 lengths suggests.

OnGait is celebrating 25 years using modern technology in the selling of racehorses, yearlings, broodmares, stallions, and breeding stock.

Preferred Equine Marketing has online auctions, along with their standardbred agencies handling a complete roster of standardbred horses.

Blooded Horse Sales, the long-established company based in the Midwest, also hosts public auctions and online bidding.

Selected Sales has auctions reaching across the ocean featuring European horses.

With the use of videos, race records, extensive breeding information and up-to-date modernization techniques, the challenge is to make the “pacing-bred and trotting-bred” sport as modern as tomorrow attracting new spectators and investors into harness racing.

May The Horse Be With You!