Sir Walter - Background

Background

Sir Walter was bred by James Ben Ali Haggin at his Rancho Del Paso near Sacramento, California who had imported his sire, Midlothian, from Great Britain. His dam was La Scala, a daughter of the important Nevada/California sire, Joe Hooker.

Sir Walter was purchased as a yearling by the Oneck Stable of Harry K. Knapp and his brother, Dr. Gideon Lee Knapp, who raced him throughout his career. He was trained by Walter Rollins, about whom the New York Times would write that he "was for thirty years one of the most successful trainers of thoroughbred racers in America."

The decade of the 1890s was a time in American Thoroughbred racing when the Kentucky Derby had lost much of its earlier importance and was often drawing a field of just three or four horses. Although there were important races in the state of New Maryland, it was the New York/New Jersey circuit which attracted the best horses from across the United States and the Metropolitan, Brooklyn and Suburban Handicaps were among the top events of the racing season. There were also a number of significant stakes and handicaps on the New York racing calendar at what are today long defunct racing venues such as Morris Park Racecourse, Sheepshead Bay Race Track and Gravesend Race Track. In addition to his Brooklyn Handicap victory, Sir Walter won numerous important races which are now all but forgotten as a result of those track's closure in the early 1900s. His racing career was such that on his retirement in 1898, the New York Times called Sir Walter a "great race horse."