STUD NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20288, 22 June 1929, Page 11

STUD NOTES.

wrong Pedigrees. BY'PHAETON.- ! ' The alleged mis-up in which the name of the A.J.C. Derby winner, Prince Humphrey, is involved, has brought to light a good few illustrations of where mistakes have been made in the mating of mares and, it follows, in describing tho offspring .entered in the Stud Book. One of the most extraordinary I can call to mind—and tho facts can bo absolutely vouched for—was connected with tiie mating 'of the Hippocanipus mare Satanella in 1889. The owner wns wishful for tho mare to oe mated with St. Leger, but the stud mrnager at Sylvia Park notified him that St: Leger's list was full 'and that Satanella would have to be put to one of the other sires. Satanella was duly mated with Hotchkis# and a filly resulted. The owner of Satanella, however, forgot about tho mare being blocked from St. Leger's list and he registered tho foal as by the Dcncaster hone. Matters were, however, to take an even more extraordinary turn. The filly, who was named St. Ella, was raced as by St. Leger, and, with the owner still believing that the mare was by that horse, he had her mated with her sire Hotchkiss, and sho produced a colt foal. Now, bearing in mind that the parties met frequently and that matters advanced to such a stage when a mare could be mated with her own sire, this furnishes a striking illustration of what can happen in breeding horses. It may be remarked that the correct breeding of St. Ella was subsequently entered in the St id Book. LUCKY SPECULATIONS. Buying a mare that turns out satisfactorily is a fine game (remarks " Audax" in Horse and Hound). The financial return from the produce of four matrons purchased for the famous Sledmere Stud up to the close of the Doncaster sales in 1928 furnishes very interesting reading, Taking them in alphabetical order, Allash (by Simontaull out di Meanus) cost £3OOO, and eight yearlings from her have fetched collectively £24,097; Blue,. Tit (by the St. Leger winner Wildfowler from Petit Bleu) was bought fcr only £6OO, and the 12 yearlings disposed of out of this marc mado no less than £51,503; Honora (by Gnllinule out of Word of Honour) was bought for £3BOO when she.was in foal to Bayardo and had a colt at foot by William the Third, and up till the close of last year 13 yearlings from her have realised £50,500; while Lady Josephine kby Sundridge out of Americus Girl), for whom only £I2GO was paid, has earned £29,137 l)y tho seven yearlings out of her that havo been sold, which included that wonderfully speedy mare Mumtaz Mahal. THE GREY SHADE. As a result of tho victories registered by Mr. Jinks and Taj Mali, who aro th» respective winners of the Two Thousand Guineas and One Thousand Guineas tl-is year, both of which are in colour grey, and the fact of tho marked increase of horses of that ehade figuring on the turf in Ens land, interesting references thereto arc mado by several London critics. " Audax" remarks thus:—" The grey shade of colour, it may be remarked, became extinct in this country, which ia explained in Miss Prior's very interesting volume, ' The History of the Racing Calendar and Stud Book.' There is a table showing how tho grey colour has been handed down without a break from Crab (foaled in 1722) to The Tetrarch. Crab was by the Alcock Arabian, who, according to Miss Prior, was also known as Mr. Polham's Grey Arab, and was afterwards *he property of tho Duke of Ancaster. But for the timely importation of Roi Herode in 1910 by tho late Mr. Kennedy, of the Straffan Stud Company, Kildare, the buccess of whose stock greatly assisted to popularise tho colour, there would bo very few grey brood mares left.'

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. St. Girons, ono of the last of the direct descendants of St. Simon, was destroyed ;n England .in May last. St. Girons Bad reached bis 21st year. Six stallions figuring in the sires' list in Australia stand at a fee of 200gns, the lis u being made up with the following horses: Caravel, Gothic, Grosvenor, Heroic, >vlanfred, and Rossendale. Heroic and Manfred, who are by Valais, are Auetralian-bred horses. The resijective sales of Day Comet and Valkyrian to southern breeders further tlepletes this quarter of'the Dominion of V :o horses tracing to tho celebrated St. Simon, and the Waikato district especially will experienco the loss.; Soult was the .direct descendant of St. Simon that stood ut tho Auckland district for a number of years, put his male descendants at tho stud are now ■.few, and it seems only a Question of a short period when the whole of them Will havt disappeared.