TALK OF THE DAY

Otago Witness, Issue 2671, 24 May 1905, Page 50

TALK OF THE DAY

THE DEATH OF MARION.

The death of the Maribyrnong mare Marion calls to mind the fact that^Strowan, whom ehe threw to Lochiel, was one of the first of the Prince Charlie horse's stock to bring him into prominence as a sire. Lochiel haa since departed to the hapDV hunting grminds where all good «q?" 1 «| go: but prior to his death he established a. World-wide reputation as a sire, of which the foundation stones were Strowan, Geraint Lakeshell, Reflector, and two or three fillies, chief of whom was Pibroch, who afterwards became famous as the dam of the flying Mensohikoff, who was the result of her union with Stepniak. Marion was got by Maribyrnong out of Peeress, a daughter of The Peer and the Sir Hercules mare Miss Rowe, to which family Vedette (who was one of the fastest horses which has ever left here), Irish Twist FitzHercules, Herculaneum, and others oi lesser note also belonged. Marion was by no means a success as a brood mare, as apart from Strowan, although mated with Medallion, Dreadnought. Stepniak, and Gipsy Grand, she threw nothing which earned distinction on the turf. Mr Buckley of Uamaru, recently added to his team of horses hex colt to Multiform, who is said to be a promising youngster. On the turf Marion was a fair performer, and made her debut in the colours of Mr J. Pilbrow in the Juvenile Plate won by Lady Evelyn, and which was also the race whieh-Hyacinth, a promising colt belcnging to the late Mr John Stephenson, met with a fatal accident. In Lady Evelyn's Middle Park Plate win, Marion, carrying the colours of Mr G. G. Stead, ran third to the Perkin Warbeck II filly and Liverpool the half-brother to Sir Modred. She failed to eatoh the iudgete eye as a two-year-old, but in the following season she yon half a dozen out of eleven starts. In her next season Marion won five races out of 15 starts,' and her- most notable wins were achieved in the D-J-C St. Andrew's Handicap, Timaru Cup, and D.J.C. Birthday Handicap. It was in oon : nection with the mare's win in the lastnamed race that her riderr Jackson, was disqualified for susnicious riding of her in the Provincial Handicap, and which created a considerable amount of discussion at the time. Marion's first foal appeared in 1890, and she was IK years old at the. time of her death.