Who was Fonso?

So, just who was Fonso? Honestly, that name reminds me of the character, Fonzie, from the old TV show, Happy Days!

I've found two photos that are most likely of him and then the photo just below that obviously has been done by AI and isn't real - every researcher's bane.

That level of detail from an 1880 photograph where the animals are in motion? I don't think so. 

I found this photo of a painting attributed to Fonso on many of the sites I went to as I researched the horse. (For the record, I visited more than 40 web sites as I worked on tracing Fonso's people and history, so many that I lost count.)(Picture from Twinspires.com.) 

This earless photo is also Fonso and recently appeared in a recap of all Kentucky Derby winners published in The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky.

His pedigree is well documented. And one of his great grandsires was Birdcatcher.

The horse that birdcatcher spots were named after. (I did a recent blog post on a horse with birdcatcher spots.) 

Fonso was sold several times and used as a stud for many years. And he was famous enough that his obituary appeared in The New York Times.

I'm actually surprised that I was able to find out as much as I did about Fonso and his people - 1880 was a long time ago. And how I wish that Neil and I had had time to finish our conversation. 

But we didn't, so unless Craig comes up with better genealogical information than I did (which is actually quite possible), then that concludes my quest to learn about Fonso.

Finally! The Fonso pin for the June Give Away made it out of the Indianapolis USPS Regional Distribution Center!

There are two because I wanted one. I'll spin to win tomorrow so stay 'tooned!