WT Waggoner to Cary T. Grayson
Title
WT Waggoner to Cary T. Grayson
Creator
Waggoner, William Thomas (1852–1934)
Identifier
WWP16684
Date
1930 September 19
Source
Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia
Language
English
Text
Dear Admiral Grayson
In this morning’s mail I was honored by receiving a letter from you which I have read with great interest and was very proud to receive it. I will start out by thanking you very greatly for the assistance and information that you gave my son, EP Waggoner and Mr. Dick Vestal, in picking out and helping them buy the colts, I never saw them until this week, they have been shipped down to the farm and are now being broken and they seem to be a very good lot. I don’t think they will be much trouble to break as they seem to be very gentle and to take their rides about as well as I ever saw youngsters.
There is one thing I want to ask you about particularly as I know you will know how to answer my letter. Mr. RM Dale of England, keeps writing me and wants to sell me PAPYRUS which I know is well known to you; his price is enormous, I think something like $300,000.00 I would like to have your advice on this horse and if you think his “gets” will be the right kind for American turf. I saw this horse onetime myself run against ZEV in New York and thought he ought to win and believe that he would have won if he had a fair chance; it was a muddy sloppy track they ran over and he had the same old slick shoes on that he wore across the water, then he didn’t get beat but about a half length. He’s a splendid looking horse but looks don’t always get you money; the prettiest horse I ever saw was Broadway Limited, he had everything that all turf men and race horse men could ask for but when he went out on the track he wasn’t worth a dollar and I don’t think he ever would have made a race horse, although I was very sorry indeed to lose him and to say that he had to be taken that way.
I am awfully glad to hear you say that your trip to Martha’s Vinyard, Massachusetts, put you back on your “pins” and you are now feeling fine. You want to take good care of yourself and not take any chances for good men are “damn” scarce now. On receipt of this letter you can give me an idea about PAPYRUS and what you think would be a fair price for him; the price they have on him now, I think is outrageous and I don’t want him unless you consider him one of the best that money can buy and a horse that would be a great credit to my stables. I don’t want to do anything to discredit my stables, I’de rather go on and breed the two horses I have then to do anything that would look bad or disgraceful to my stables and breeding. Thanking you very kindly for your nice letter, and with best regards to you and yours, I am as ever
Your friend
WT Waggoner
In this morning’s mail I was honored by receiving a letter from you which I have read with great interest and was very proud to receive it. I will start out by thanking you very greatly for the assistance and information that you gave my son, EP Waggoner and Mr. Dick Vestal, in picking out and helping them buy the colts, I never saw them until this week, they have been shipped down to the farm and are now being broken and they seem to be a very good lot. I don’t think they will be much trouble to break as they seem to be very gentle and to take their rides about as well as I ever saw youngsters.
There is one thing I want to ask you about particularly as I know you will know how to answer my letter. Mr. RM Dale of England, keeps writing me and wants to sell me PAPYRUS which I know is well known to you; his price is enormous, I think something like $300,000.00 I would like to have your advice on this horse and if you think his “gets” will be the right kind for American turf. I saw this horse onetime myself run against ZEV in New York and thought he ought to win and believe that he would have won if he had a fair chance; it was a muddy sloppy track they ran over and he had the same old slick shoes on that he wore across the water, then he didn’t get beat but about a half length. He’s a splendid looking horse but looks don’t always get you money; the prettiest horse I ever saw was Broadway Limited, he had everything that all turf men and race horse men could ask for but when he went out on the track he wasn’t worth a dollar and I don’t think he ever would have made a race horse, although I was very sorry indeed to lose him and to say that he had to be taken that way.
I am awfully glad to hear you say that your trip to Martha’s Vinyard, Massachusetts, put you back on your “pins” and you are now feeling fine. You want to take good care of yourself and not take any chances for good men are “damn” scarce now. On receipt of this letter you can give me an idea about PAPYRUS and what you think would be a fair price for him; the price they have on him now, I think is outrageous and I don’t want him unless you consider him one of the best that money can buy and a horse that would be a great credit to my stables. I don’t want to do anything to discredit my stables, I’de rather go on and breed the two horses I have then to do anything that would look bad or disgraceful to my stables and breeding. Thanking you very kindly for your nice letter, and with best regards to you and yours, I am as ever
Your friend
WT Waggoner
Original Format
Letter
To
Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938
Files
Collection
Citation
Waggoner, William Thomas (1852–1934), “WT Waggoner to Cary T. Grayson,” 1930 September 19, WWP16684, Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.