THE CULT OF THE THOROUGHBRED

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21198, 23 June 1934, Page 17

THE CULT OF THE THOROUGHBRED

- ♦ The Bruce Lowe Number 7 Family SUCCESSES IN NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA

.SmcXALLT WIUTTZN *OR THE PRESS.) [By KEN. AUSTIN.] (XVII.)

The Black Legged Royal, mare on ivhom Bruce Lowe founded the Number 7 Family, was certainly happily termed "Royal" for her descendant, Perdita 11., gave his Majesty the late King Edward his first two Derby winners. Lowe described the family as being inclined to produce better males than females, and the preponderance of Derby over Oaks and Leger winners would seem to point to its fillies being as a general rule wanting in feminine character and not over good producers. However, Perdita 11. certainly made everlasting fame as a stud matron in producing for King Edward such horses as Persimmon, Djamond Jubilee and FJorizell 11. The famous mare was a rather plain and angular animal, and was anything but a success as a racing proposition. She showed a good deal of temper in her work —a trait she passed on to one of her sons in Diamond Jubilee. She was bought by John Porter for 900 guineas for the stud King Edward was forming at Sandringham and had her first foal in 1888, a bay colt called Derelict, by Barcaldine, who won one small race of £IOO. Her next foal by the same horse, a filly called Barracouta, won in stakes £1064, and the following year she was barren. In 1891 she produced a brown colt to St. Simon called Florizell 11.. winner of £57,858. She missed again in 1892, and then produced Persimmon, winner of £34,706. He was followed by an arrant failure in Farrant, by Donovan, who did not win* a race. In 1895 came the filly Azeeza, by Surfoot, who 'ran only once, unsuccessfully, and in 1896, Sandringham, by St. Simon, also a failure. In 1897 she produced Diamond Jubilee, by St. Simon, winner of £29,185. In 1898 she slipped a foal, and the following season she had her last foal, a filly called Nadejda, by St. Simon. Nadejda never started, but has some interest to New Zealanders as her son, Markhope. was imported by the late J. B. Reid in 1915 and sired one or two winners here before being sold to go to Australia. In all, the nine foals from Perdita 11. won 26 races worth £72,913 — a good return f&r the original outlay of 900 guineas paid for her. If we fake into consideration the earnings of Persimmon and his brothers for the Sandringham stud in stallion fees, the return is very much greater. None of Perdita ll.'s daughters did any good at the stud, and her name is now remembered only through her great sons Persimmon and Diamond

I Jubilee. The latter did well as a stalj lion in the Argentine. j Start of the Family in New Zealand | The start of the family as far as New Zealand is concerned was the importation of the Blair Athol mare, Clytemnestra—a chestnut bred in England in 1867. She had a filly by Musket or Ingomar in 1886 called Iphigenia, and a colt by Nordenfeldt called Orestes in 1888. She died the following year. As far as I can see there were no other early importations of the family until a good deal later, when Sir George Clifford brought over the Trenton mare, Elusive, and established a really good branch of the family. Elusive was a beautifully-bred daughter of the peerless Trenton, from Eleusis, a chestnut mare bred in England in 1885 and imported to Victoria by the late W. R. Wilson for his St. Albans stud. Eleusis won six small races in Engalnd before going to Australia. She was by the unbeaten Barcaldinc from Mystery, the dam of a fair horse in Jack O' Lantern, and descended fvom Extempore, the winner of the 1000 Guineas, in the same branch of the Number 7 family as that really good stallion. Wisdom. Elusive herself won the Victoria Racing Club Oaks, and her first two foals by the St. Simon horse. Bill of Portland, were To-morrow, winner of the Canterbury Jockey Club Welcome, and Lady Wayward. The first-named mare became a good producer. Such horses as MiS's Mischief, Counterfeit. Winning Hit. Straightcourse. Cricket. Bat, Full Feather, and other good ones who have carried the jacket with success are among her descendants. Another daughter of Eleusis. Demeter. by Wallace, was imported from Australia. and from her J. F. Reid bred Pedometer, the dam of that sterling horse. Surveyor—certainly one of the gamest and best constitutioned horses in my experience. His William the Third. Musket, and Carbine blood saw to those good qualities being on top. Some Likely Fillic:> In the last volume of the New Zealand Stud Book there are some 'M mares of the Number 7 family represented. but the number should be considerably increased in the volume which is just about to be; published, for there arc a number of good fillies who will be now breeding, and were not'included in Volume XT. The Eleusis taproot is most strongly represented, having 13 mares—Bonista by Boniform. Blackmail by BezonianBorder Maid by Sanguhar. Equipment by Martian, Fairhaven (.dead.) by Pil-

grim's Progress (this mare's name reminds me that I had forgotten Sir Charles Clifford's last Cup winner, Fast Passage, who is out of a daughter of hers in Sailor's Hope), Queen Ruth by Rokeby, Rivalry by Antagonist, Subterfuge by Masterpiece, Sweet Beauty by Greyspear, Sweet [ Smile by San Francisco (and through her we have that good mare Polydora). Winning Way (the dam of Winning Hit and Straightcourse) by Cannie Chiel, and Indecisive by Colugo. j The next mare in order of descendants is Lady Wayward 11., a brown daughter of the Derby winner, Ladas, and Vane, an own sister to the triplecrowned winner, Flying Fox. Lady Wayward 11. was imported by the late Mr G. D. Greenwood, and her first foal Emperador, was a useful horse. She hprself was a half-sister to imported Wcathervane, Vervaine, the dam of London Cry. and a useful horse in Limelight, who won some good races for the Royal stable last season in England. Another relation is the Foxlaw stallion, Fox-earth, who has been bought recently for Queensland. The mares representing Lady Wayward ir. in volume XI. are Bonaria by Boniform, Egotism by Sutala, Lady Blissful by Elysian, Lady Sentinel by Kilbroney, and JVliss Wayward by Boniform.

j Mr Greenwood bred a few useful | horses from the family, but on the whole it can be written off as a failure. Lady Wayward's dam, Vane, was an own sister to Flying Fox, who was an outstanding horse despite the iact that he was bred to be a mad one and he.rathef surprisingly rose superior to the concentrated essence of Galopin and Speculum that was in his pedigree. Some of the lesser lights left on the New Zealand turf by Lady Wayward show the result of this incestuous inbreeding by their inability or dislike to fight out a finish. A good case in point is a gelding who ran fourth in several good races last season, but did not get any better. Trebelli ll.'s Descendants A valuable mare in Trebelli 11., imported by the late Mr John Grigg, has j left at least two good descendants in the crack sprinter, Autopay, and that good but unsound horse, Rebel Song. Trebelli 11.. being by Thrush from Dramatica by St. Simon from Tragedy has a superlative pedigree, and it is to be hoped that one or two of her fillies curry on. A year or two ago some judges would not have the blood or Thrush in a pedigree, but that wonderful stayer, Brown Jack, has given these doubters a subject for thought, as well as the National winner, Kellesbro Jack. Sopra, the first foal of Trebelli IT., should surely produce a Grand National horse. One of her sens, Reonui, by Snxby, was jumped successfully in Australia, but he was put to this branch of racing when he was too old and past, his best. Legality, bred in England in 1925 and imported by the Auckland Stud Co.. is a well-bred young mare who should do the family some good, and the same remark applies to the daughters of the imported mare, Tame Duck. That good horse. Admiral Drake, who I was unlucky not to win a Sydney Cup, i comes from this lot. I There is a lovely young mare here ! at Elderslie owned by Mr James SamI son, a daughter of Spearwort, a son of Carbine, and by name Anne Shakespeare. She is a half-sister to the dam of that good horse, Closing Time, with whom J. T. Jamieson has been so successful in Australia, and her dam, Encouragement, is by Chaucer, going back to the same branch of the family as Persimmon, and his good brothers. This mare i.s in foal to Iliad, and the inbreeding to Pilgrimage through Swynford and Chaucer should have successful results. I look to her to establish a good line here. The number 7 family has met with very great success in Australia. One of the last brilliant horses produced by it was the flying Valicare, owned by Pat Osborne, who sent her to New Zealand to try to breed a Derby winner to Night Paid. He may have succeeded as the result of the mating is a coll called The Raider, who is in the running for the coming Derbies. Heroic Prince, the winner of the last Australian Cup, is also a member of the number 7 family, which would not have been much heard of in New Zealand had not. Sir George CI ifford brought over Elusive from Vic- ' toria.