Ruthless had other tough-named sisters bred from Barbarity - the "Barbarous Battalion" - Relentless, Remorseless, Regardless and Merciless. She won six other races and was so well known her death was reported: "Ruthless, by imp. [imported, from England] Eclipse, dam imp. Barbarity, by Simoom, died at the farm of her owner, Francis Morris, near Ellicott Mills, Maryland, from a gunshot wound."
Wallace's Monthly, April1877
Oakland Manor
According
to the Baltimore Sun obituary, Morris died on March 25, 1886 at Oakland (“his
large farming interests”) then was buried in NY (“was engaged in the banking
business”). The Sun later detailed his
will, which was probated in Howard County.
His daughter “Mrs. Kate V. Tabb” received Oakland Manor.
Jerome Park
Ruthless
"Ruthless was far and away the best filly of the sixties, says Mr. Vosburgh. This filly was bred by Francis Morris and was by imported Eclipse and out of imported Barbarity by Simoon. She won the inaugural of both the Nursery and Belmont Stakes, now classics and she also won the Travers, another classic at Saratoga. In the spring, when she was four years old, she struck herself and could not be trained any longer. The first foal of Ruthless was Battle Axe, winner of the Kentucky Stakes at Saratoga in 1873, Mr. Morris tried an experiment and bred Ruthless to her sire Eclipse and the result was a monstrosity with front legs bent almost double. This great mare was shot accidentally by a hunter and died in 1876.
There were two good sisters of Ruthless in Relentless and Remorseless,
and this trio came to be known as the “Barbarous Battalion." Relentless
won the Saratoga Stakes of 1867, beating General Duke, which won the Belmont of
the following year. Remorseless was the champion juvenile of 1869, winning five
stakes. Mr. Vosburgh remarks that all the colts foaled by Barbarity were
failures, while the fillies were all stars. Regardless and Merciless were her
last two winning fillies."
Thoroughbred Record. Lexington,
KY: Jan. 6, 1923
Morris had two horses in the Belmont Stakes – Ruthless ridden by Gilpatrick (Gil Patrick) and Monday ridden by Stewart who came in 4th. The weather was “gloriously beautiful, the attendance numerous and select, the fields of horses large and of the highest class, and the racing close and exciting. Notwithstanding the heavy rain of the preceding day, the track, thanks to its admirable drainage, was in far better order than could have been anticipated…”
New York Times. June 20, 1867
Morris had two horses in the Belmont Stakes – Ruthless ridden by Gilpatrick (Gil Patrick) and Monday ridden by Stewart who came in 4th. The weather was “gloriously beautiful, the attendance numerous and select, the fields of horses large and of the highest class, and the racing close and exciting. Notwithstanding the heavy rain of the preceding day, the track, thanks to its admirable drainage, was in far better order than could have been anticipated…”
New York Times. June 20, 1867
1901 Outing article
"Mr. Francis Morris [1811-1886] of Throgg's Neck, and his son, the late Mr.
John A. Morris [1836-1895], had raced horses for years before Jerome Park
opened. But the "all scarlet" now became famous for its homebreds,
raised at Westchester, the get of Eclipse and the imported mare Barbarity,
among which were Ruthless, Relentless, Remorseless and Merciless. Ruthless was
far the best, a great raking bay rather light viewed in profile, but, viewed
from the front, her ribs spread in their arch from the spine, and the tape
confirmed it. She won the Nursery, and, at three, the inaugural Belmont, the
Travers, and broke Vigil's heart in the Sequel. Mr. Morris raced nothing but
homebreds.
His son, Mr. John A. Morris, [1836-1895] accompanied Mr. [Richard] Ten
Broeck to England, and saw several years of racing there. He was a familiar
figure in the early days of Jerome, but withdrew to "make his
fortune," [Louisiana lottery] and kept his promise, returning to the turf
in the eighties, building Morris Park and reviving the glories of the "all
scarlet," which his sons now sustain in the third generation of this old
Westchester racing family.
Jerome Park racetrack
Leonard Jerome (1817-1891) “had acquired great and sudden wealth, and,
purchasing the Bathgate estate at Fordham [1866], in the northern suburbs of
New York, built Jerome Park, which led the revival of racing. There had been
racing on the Long Island courses, and later at Paterson, N. J.; but it had not
flourished in the North for years. The South had been its theater, but with the
close of the war it shifted to New York. Mr. Jerome's idea was to inaugurate
racing as a fashionable sport as he had seen it at Ascot and Goodwood in
England, and Chantilly in France. Accordingly the American Jockey Club was
formed, composed of gentlemen of position and influence, with the late Hon.
August Belmont as president.
When Jerome Park was threatened, he was quick to provide it a
successor, and interesting the late Mr. John A. Morris he set about to build
another. Van Courtlandt Park was selected, but the city wanted it for a public
park, and finally Morris Park was built—the most magnificently appointed
race-course in the world."
Outing, August 19011932 print after Edward Troye, died 1874, in Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, Mass.
©2018 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten history of Ellicott City & Howard County MD
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