FAMOUS KILDARE HORSE DIES IN THE U.S.

One of the best known Kildare horses of the early fifties, Indian Hemp, bread at Ardenode Stud, Ballymore Eustace, by Captain Spencer Freeman, died of a heart ailment early this year at California, USA.Bread in 1949, Indian Hemp, sired earners of more than £1.7 million, including £36,00 earner, T. V. Lark which is 14th in the list of leading earners. Capt. Freeman sold him as a yearling at Newmarket for over £7,000 to Sir Humohery de Trafford.Raced by Sir. Humphrey and trained by Marcus Marsh, Indian Hemp, at two won the Windsor Castle and Tattersalls Sales Stakes, was second in the Exeter Stakes and third in the royal Lodge Stakes. He was ranked at 121 pounds on the free handicap, 12 pounds below the high weighted Windy City II.Max Bell, the Canadian industrialist, bought Indian Hemp privately after he came third in the Newmarket Stakes, at three. After being beaten by a neck in the King Edward VII Stakes at Ascot, he travelled to the US in ’52 for the Washington DC International but was unplaced. In 1952 he won the Yerba Buena Handicap, came second in the lakes and Flowers and San Pasqual Handicaps, and was third in the Hawthorne Gold Cup, Washington Park, Charles E. Bidell, Tanforan, Chicago and Bay Meadows handicaps.After winning seven races and earning £42,500 he was retired in 1955. Syncicated in 1960, he was eventually moved to Mrs. Connie M, Ring’s Three Rings Ranch near Beaumont, California, where he died. Other big earners sired by Indian Hemp, include Linitt, Mr. Wag, Old Moses, Hempen, Judge Savage and Prince Hemp.Indian Hemp was among seven foals from stakes – placed Sabzy, a daughter of Stardust which Capt. Spencer Freeman sold to C.H. Jones and Son in 1954 for almost £1,000. Sazby produced four winners in the US from five reported foals, including the dams of All I Can and Starry Prince, stakes winners.