THE CULT OF THE THOROUGHBRED

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21330, 24 November 1934, Page 17

THE CULT OF THE THOROUGHBRED

Sceptre a Great Sale-Ring Bargain THE BRUCE LOWE NUMBER 17 FAMILY (Sr.aAI.LT KriUTTM tVH THIS PRESS.) [By KEN. AUSTIN.] Number XXVIII.

When the Australian-bred gelding, The Grafter, trained by J. E. Brewer, won the City and Suburban, the notorious gambler Robert Sievicr, who introduced sach betting into Australia, won a fortune. Shortly after the race was run the Duke of Westminster's yearlings were coming up for sale, and Sievier, in his lately acquired affluence, had decided to buy one or two of them. Accordingly he deposited with Messi-s Tattersall a sum of £20,000 in cold cash the night before the sale, much to that firm's embarrassment. Sievier used more than half of it to buy Sceptre, a descendant of Agnes, and one of the greatest sale ring bargains of modern times.. She won four out of the five classic races she competed for. and eventually when Sievicr had to "raise the wind" he sold her for £25.000 to Sir William Bass. Sceptre has played a big part in the production of good horses, a I thou"h none of her immediate progeny was within stones of her own form We find her name cropping up from time to time in good horses, and in New Zealand there are two successful brood mares by her onlv son Grosvenor, who was sent out to'me to lease some years ago. He has not been a stud success .but his mares seem to be good. Jewel of Asia, owned bv Mr George Currie, is bv Grosvenor and is the dam of the brilliant two-year-old of last season. Sir John while another daughter in Very Hot is in Mr John Donald's successful stud at Wcstmcrc, Wanganui. Descendants of Idalia Just as the descendants of 4gnes * and out in bold relief with regard to the Number 16 family so doe" the stout branch established in New Z~a land by the importation of Idalia brought out to Canterbury in 1875 by Mr E. Griffith. Idalia's first five foals were by imported Traducer, a splendid stallion who gave the Dominion all sorts of great performers. Mention of iiaduccrs name reminds me of the first time I went into Mr Lou Hazle + t's ruce house at Salisbury, on' the Taieri As I went in the hall the first picture to catch my eye was a Herring print of the stallion Pantaloon and the mare Languish, one of a set of the British Stud, published by Messrs Fores, of Piccadilly, and undated. As a print collector I was very interested in seeing this typical Herring, as except for the one I own I had not come across the picture before. Lou Hazlett then told me an interesting story, which shows, as I have always held, that these old-fashioned pictures of Ihe thoroughbred are not such caricatures as they are sometimes said to be. * The well-known and likeable old trainer. Stewart Waddell, had come into the house just as I had done and seeing the print turned to Mr Hazlett and asked him where he had got the sDlendid likeness of Traducer. Lou Hazlett told old Stewart that he was not so far out. for although it was not Traducer, it was Pantaloon, his great grandsirc.

Among Idalia's progeny was Betrayer, her first foal, born in 1876, who won the C.J.C. Champagne stakes and Canterbury Cup. Sir Modred, her -second, won the C.J.C. Champagne, stakes, Dunedin Champagne stakes. c.j.c. Derby, Canterbury Cup, and JJuncdin Cup. and was a very handsome horse. Bruce Lowe sent him to America, to J. B. Haggin, who owned [the big Rancho del Paso, and he was a very successful sire there. His exportation was a great loss to us. Sir Modred, in addition to winning races in I New Zealand simply cantered away from a good field in'the A.J.C. Metropolitan. The only one of his stock that I can remember seeing was an exquisite .little stallion called Antaeus, owned by Mr H. C. White at Havilah. j He left behind him some lovely types |of horses. Cheviot, another of Idalia's sons by Traducer, won the C.J.C. Derby, and sired a good horse in Little Fiornie, whose stock won races all over Queensland; and Idalium, July, and Liverpool were all useful either as sires or racehorses. Three Useful Mares After producing live colts, Idalia then took it into her head to have three fillies in succession, all of whom founded successful families. Fair Nell threw three good colts in Saracen, Loyalty, and Bonnie Scotland, the last a winner of the A.J.C. Derby. Enid, another daughte • of Idalia's, produced a C.J.C. Oaks winner like herself in Bol'licent; and she in turn threw another Oaks winner in Isolt, a really good mare, who won. among other races, the New Zealand St. Lcger. The other daughter, Ravenswing, was dam of Ic'n Dion, who carried on the family tradition by winning the C.J.C. Oaks, and of St. Michael, winner of the Auckland Cup. Ich Dien also produced to Medallion a mare called Crest, who, when owned by Mr Jack Raid, bred Bonny Glen to Stepniak. Bonny Glen is the sire of the dam of Mr Murray Aynsley's good brood mare Reproachful, the dam of Chide and Contempt, the dam of that really good mare Silver Scorn, whose loss of form in Australia is in my opinion due to the little consideration she was shown by being shipped immediately after a hard meeting at Auckland to Australia. She has probably never got over the tremendous strain she was subjected to. The No. 17 Family is represented in the current volume of the New Zealand Stud Book by 37 representatives, most of whom descended from Idalia. Gulnare, one of the very earliest importations to Australia, has 10 descendants. The mnres comprise:— Alleyway, by Archiestown i Idalia); Auriculus, by Lucullus (Idalia); Black Scotia, by All Black (Idalia); Bright Mark, by Mark Hope; Brown Neil, by Waiuka: Calm Eve. by Battle Eve fail from Idalia); Denise, by Cistertian (Gulnare); Diamond Jewel, by Polydamon; Elevant, by Elevation; Eostra. bv Autumn; Fair Autumn, by Autumn; First Hope, by Markhope; Flying Nell, by Quin Abbey; Gorgeous, by Martian (all from Idalia); High Degree, by Elevation (Gulnare); Kai Arahi. by I Tractor; Kiki, by Kilbroney; Killala,

by Kilbroncv (Idalia); Kildccr, by Kilbroncy (Gulnare); Kylcbon, by Balboa; Lad y Ideal, by Treadmill; Lugano, by Sunny Lake; Miocene, bv Merry Moment (Idalia); Mollak, by'Bisogne (Gulnare); Murihiku, bv Sunny Lake (Tdalia): Prin- j ccss Nate, by Polydamon ( Gulnare t; ■ Quinsy, by Quin Abbey (Idalia);, Ewanaga by Marble Arch (Gulnare): Sarah Grand, by All Black (Gulnare): i Sensible, by King Mark (Idalia); Sublime, by Wonderland (Gulnare); Sunny Brook, by Runny Lake (Idalia'); Sunnive, by San Fran (Gulnare); lauwheoro. by Cvnie (Idalia): Vivalof. by Danilof; Vivarini, by Antiimnus (Gulnare); and Wairarapa, by Sunny Lake (Idalia >. Ground Lost in New Zealand Reviewing the above list it seems to me that 'the family has lost ground here, and there is faint hope of its producing horses of the class of Sir Modred. Betrayer, etc., in the near future. Gulnare. who was bred in 1022, and whose earlv foaling records, like so many of the first importations, were very imperfectly kept, gave the Australian Turf a very great stallion in Yattendon, who came through the Alice Grev branch of the family. Yattendon won the first Sydney Cup and the Svdney Gold Cup in 1850, and as a stallion was one of the best ever bred in the colonies. He sired such horses as Chester, Grand Flaneur, Dagworth, Javelin, and many other good ones; but his line in tail male has failed to survive, although it was given a good chance through Grand Flaneur, whose son Merman went to England, and Chester and his sons. Abercorn, the best horse sired by Chester, also was sent to England; but he was an arrant failure, and the Yattendon line is now almost extinct. A French-bred mare called Eergere, imported to New Zealand in the late 'eighties, produced a colt to Musket called Musketeer; but this was her onlv contribution to the Stud Book. Ladv Dalhousie, bred in 1861. was the ancestress of n sweet Trenton mare I remember, called Symmetry, who won the Victorian Racing Club's Oaks and other races, and I thought would make a great brood marc; but l'or some reason she failed to produce anything of much account. The only representative Lady Dalhousie has in our books is Denise. a voung mare owned by Mr Donald Grant, and she is a granddaughter of Symmetry. This young marc may establish a line with the chancc.s she will get with Pink Coat. About the only other mare of the 17 Family which found her way out to Australia was a daughter of Lord Lyon's, called Carleau. The best horse produced from the small family she founded was Cadmus, who won the Queensland Cup. The family has not very great claims to fame in England. Regalia, winner of the Oaks, and her descendant, the French horse Vernnuil, winner of the Ascot Cup, Pantaloon, the grandsire of Traducer, Interpreter, Macdonald 11., Negofol, and Reuil, are the best horses which have been produced by it, with the exception of the one or two earlier Leger and Oaks winners, Sancho, Cowslip, and Meteora,