BEAU PERE’S DEATH

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25270, 23 August 1947, Page 4

BEAU PERE’S DEATH

RACING

SIRE OF INTERNATIONAL FAME The death of Beau Pere in Kentucky last Wednesday ends the career of a horse that as a sire rose from comparative obscurity to international repute. He is perhaps one of the classic examples in thoroughbred history of a sire able to beget progeny which far outdid him. As a racehorse, Beau Pere’s record was moderate. In all he started 11 times and won three races and a total of £974 in stakes. He was raced on lease by the late King George V, and made his first appearance as a three-year-old, when m seven starts he won the Norfolk and Suffolk Plate, of one mile, at Yarmouth; the winner’s stake being £261. As a four-year-old, he won two races in his four starts, the Swaffam Plate, of one mile and - three-quarters, at Newmarket, and the Chesterfield Plate, of £517, run over the St. Leger course, of one mile and three-quarters and 132 yards. A brown horse bred in 1927 by Sir John Buchanan-Jardine, Beau Pere was by the great sire of stayers, Son-in-Law, from the One Thousand Giiineas winner Cinna. Cinna was as well bred as any mare at the stud in England, being by Polymelus from Baroness La Fleche, by Ladas from the great marela Fleche, by St. Simon from Quiver, a three-quarter sister to the famous New Zealand sire Musket. Many students of breeding consider that Cinna was more or less wasted at the stud, because of her owner’s policy of putting her to sires that in the main were not in the top flight. However, that policy was New Zealand’s gain, for five of Cinna’s sons, Beau Pere, Gay Shield, Mr Standfast, Dink, and Balloch, not wanted by English breeders, came to this country. The first three were outstanding successes at the stud, but, unfortunately. Gay Shield died early. Beau Pere and Mr Standfast were sold to Australia, where several years earlier Spearhead, a son of Spearmint and Baroness La Fleche, had been a very successful sire.

La Fleche, the great granddam of Beau Pere, was one of the outstanding mares of English racing history. She won 16 races and £34,703 in stakes, and her victories included the One Thousand Guineas, Oaks, St. Leger, and Ascot Gold Cup. She was sold as a yearling for 5000 guineas and was later purchased for the Sledmere Stud for 12,600 guineas. It is stated that when Sir Tatton Sykes took delivery of La Fleche she spent the day in a truck at Sledmere railway station and it was only through the efforts of Lady Sykes that the famous mare was taken delivery of.

In spite of his distinguished blood lines. Beau Pere’s moderate race record, which might have been better had he had forelegs that stood training, was not of much recommendation when he went to the stud and in 1932 he was advertised at a fee of nine guineas and 10s 6d for the groom.

Sold for 100 Guineas At the stud in England, Beau Pere did sire a few winners, but at the Newmarket December sales on December 4, 1933, Beau Pere was sold as the property of a Sentieman to the British Bloodstock gency for 100 guineas. At the same sale Kincardine, later to earn fame in New Zealand as the sire of Kindergarten, was sold for 18 guineas. Beau Pere was bought on behalf of the Westmere studmaster, Mr John Donald, who was very surprised that he had secured the horse for such a small figure. Beau Pere’s first lot of yearlings appeared in the sale ring at Trentham in 1937, and they immediately attracted the attention of buyers. In that first draft from the Westmere Stud were the fillies Peerless and Taurangi, which quickly made a reputation for their sirfe when they raced as two-year-olds, and BqauEartir, which won the New Zealand St. eger as a three-year-old. Beau Pere was such an immediate success as a sire that ever since his stock have always commanded high prices The success of Beau Pere’s progeny on the racecourse was such that he was the leading sire in 1938-39. the second season in which his stock had raced in New Zealand. He was again leading sire in 1939-40. His principal winners sired in New Zealand included Beau Vite (winner of 31 races and £27,770 in stakes), Beaulivre (20 wins and £17,045 in stakes), Beaupartir (New Zealand and G.N. St. Leger), Peerless (New Zealand and G.N. Oaks), Beau Leon (Avondale Guineas), Sir Beau (Wellington and Wanganui Guineas), Happy Ending (New Zealand and Wellington Cups), Tara King (New Zealand Derby), Belle Cane (New Zealand and Great Northern Oaks), Beau Cheval, Taurangi, and Arvakur. In 1937, the Westmere Stud was dispersed, and Beau Pere was lost to New Zealand. He was bought by Mr W. J. Smith for 3300 guineas and went to his St. Aubins Stud at Scone, New South Wales. There were several would-be New Zealand purchasers, but they were silenced by the resources of Mr Smith, who this week has bought Shannon at a record figure. Beau Pere continued to be successful in Australia, and was leading Sire there in 1939-40, 1940-41, and 1941-42, but many of his successful progeny in those years were sired in New Zealand. Although he sired some good class horses in Australia, there was of the class of Beau Livre or Beau Vite.

After a few seasons at the stud in Australia, Beau Pere again changed hands, being purchased by the Californian owner, Mr Louis B. Mayer, at what was reported to be a record figure. The actual sum was never disclosed, but reports made it as high as £30,000 His first lot of two-year-olds created a sensation in California. Through the deeds of Honeymoon, whfch held the world’s record for seven furlongs, and others, Beau Pere’s reputation as a sire continued to grow in the United States. When Mr Mayer decided to dispose of his racing interests last year, Beau Pere, then an old horse, was sold for 100,000 dollars.

No stallion in the world has had such a colourful career as Beau Pere. When English breeders passed over the son of Son-in-Law, which had been standing at a fee of nine guineas, they lost one of the greatest stallions the world has known.