Among Horses and Ostriches.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume III, Issue 120, 10 November 1892, Page 10

Among Horses and Ostriches.

[By

“Sir Launcelot.”]

Whitford Park, where Mr. L. D. Nathan keeps his thoroughbreds and also goes in for ostrich breeding, is a comparative terra incognita to the average New Zealand sportsman This arises from the fact that it is not so easy come-at-able as other homes of the young thoroughbred, for to see it properly takes a whole day. It is only lately too that Mr. Nathan has gone into racing with a thorough earnestness, and but very few youngsters have been reared at Whitford Park. But now that Mr. Nathan has gone into the “ sport of kings ” with a thorough vim, aud intends keeping up a good breeding establishment at the Park, we will, I think, find many winners hailing from the property so prettily situated on the banks of the Turanga Creek. I have said that it takes a whole day to visit Whitford Park, and so it does if you want to “ do ” the place properly, but if one only wants to cursorily inspect the blood stock he can run down by the boat, which leaves Auckland for Turanga Creek on either Thursday or Friday, and stays there about an hour and a-half and then returns. But it was by road that we journeyed the other day, Mr. Nathan himself and his brother-in-law Mr. A. Davis (who manages his racing operations, in which St. Hippo this season has played such a prominent part) being my cicerones. In a comfortable waggonette, and behind a slashing pair of Pullen and Armitage’s nags, vye traversed the journey to the Park in about three hours—net bad time for a distance of 21 miles, especially when portions of the road were in very bad order and some steep hills had to be mounted. A beautiful view is obtained nearly the whole way down. The eye of the visitor rests on the one side on the placid waters of Auckland harbour, and on the other he can take in a panorama embracing at various stages of the journey Epsom, Otahuhu, and all the country adjacent thereto stretching as far down as Onehunga, the Manukau Heads being distinctly visible when one steep hill has been breasted. Arrived at the farm a light breakfast was the order, as we had left town at the early hour of 7 30 a.m., and then with Mr. Dibble, Mr. Nathan’s energetic manager, we sallied forth to roam among the thoroughbreds. A description of how to get to Whitford Park has, however, led me away from mentioning the fact that we diverged slightly on the road thither in order to have a look over a portion of Sylvia Park which Mr. Nathan has leased for grazing purposes, and where some of his mares were at the time located. Old and pleasant memories were revived as I trod this historic ground, which I had not visited for more than eight years ; but times have changed since then, and not only has Musket paid the debt of nature and the stud been dispersed, but the old stallion boxes have been burnt down and an old landmark thus removed. However, there are some thoroughbreds still at the Park other than those I saw, so it cannot altogether be said that this famous spot is entirely given over to other and more ignoble uses than it formerly boasted of. The first mare of Mr. Nathan’s now pointed out to me was Sybil, a four-year-old sister to Leolantis and Fabulous by Leolinus (imp.)—Atlantis (imp.). She never ran, but is a roomy mare of nice quality. Her first foal was at her side in the shape of a filly by Tasman. La Dauphine is a fine big bay of great power and substance, and withal by no means devoid of quality. She is by The Dauphin (son of Traducer, and winner of the Canterbury Derby of 1881) out of the Panic mare Brassolis, and had a bit of foot when in training, and turned out to be a small winner. She has a filly by St. Leger at foot —a fine booming baby that does her credit. Her mother Brassolis was close by. This is a fine strapping mare—not one of much quality, but with tons of substance, and quarters like a cart mare. She is one of the only two Panic mares ever imported to this colony —Bragela being the other—and she is by that sire out of Josephine, by Boiardo (imp.)—Wando, by Cossack (brother to Waimea) —Fair Helen,by Rous’ Emigrant —a fine old-fashioned pedigree. Both she and Bragela were imported about 10 years ago to Poverty Bay by Mr. J. Macpherson, and afterwards drifted up this way, and were both sold to Auckland residents. Panic mares are worth a bit of money in Australia nowadays. Brassolis is now 15 years old, and is beginning

to show signs of wear and tear. She had a very finely-developed filly by St. Leger running with her, and. the Stockwell, Thormanby, and Wild Dayrell blood in that horse should be the very thing to nick with the Panic strain in Brassolis and La Dauphine, and I was glad to hear that they are to be mated with the same sire this season. Close by was a little mare that was pointed out to me as Lady Whitford. This is the filly by Nordenfeldt out of Bianca, whom Mr. Nathan got for 75gns at the break up of the New Zealand Co.’s establishment —rather a contrast to the s6ogns, which Mr. Gollan gave for her full brother the following year at Mr. Morrin’s sale. Lady Whitford was, however, a lot on the small side, which accounts for her going at such a low figure. She was put to the stud as a two-year-old, and therefore I was not surprised to find her first foal so small. It is a chestnut colt by St. Leger, and exhibits a lot of quality. St. Leger on a Nordenfeldt mare is a combination of two successful young stallions that is hard to beat. Lady Whitford again goes to St. Leger. There were three other mares of Mr. Nathan’s at Sylvia Park that had rambled away up a hill, and we had no time to go and see them. This I. regretted more especially,because one of the trio was St. Hippo’s sister Roie, who has been served by Cuirassier. Another visiter to Cuirassier is Maxim’s half-sister Liquidation, by King Cole —Realization (whom I had of course seen when Mr. Stead had her in training), and the other of the trio was Operatic, by Don Giovanni out of the Burns mare. This mare has visited St. Leger. But to return to Whitford Park and what I saw there.

Mr. Dibble first led the way to the yearlings’ boxes, and brought out a filly by Nordenfeldt —La Dauphine. She is chestnut in colour, with a white forefoot and white hind one and a blaze down her face. She is well-grown enough almost to pass muster fora two-year-old, and yet she is not a bit leggy. She stands on a capital set of legs, has beautifuly sloping shoulders and a back like a billiard table, a well - rounded barrel and massive quarters, but her hocks might be a bit closer to the ground. She is the first foal of her dam, and if La Dauphine breed many more like her and the filly I saw at Sylvia Park, she should be one of the most valuable brood mares in New Zealand. If Mr. Nathan send this filly up for sale as a yearling she should set many heads nodding. The filly by Nordenfeldt out of the Leonidas mare Inisthona, is also a chestnut in colour, with the off fore-foot and off hind-foot white. She is not quite as tall as the previouslydescribed filly, but is well grown for all that, and better let down; she shows heaps of quality, and being one of the last of the Nordenfeldt’s in New Zealand should realise a good figure. The filly by Leolinus out of Cantiniere (the dam of Brown Bess) represents a cross of Leolinus and Musket that I’m very fond of. She has the usual back of the Leolinus stock, but she is not as tall as he generally gets them. She is of good average size though, and shows plenty of quality. Her bone is big right through, and she girths well, and her legs and feet are all right, but she is a bit pigeontoed, which, however for my part, I never regard as a blemish. A filly by Leolinus —Outcast completes the quartette of young ladies. This filly is not a big ’un —far from it—but she has several good points about her, and as she is sure to be a cheap lot she should be worth the attention of upcountry sportsmen. Whitford Park is graced by the presence of two yearling colts, which number would have been three had not the colt by Nordenfeldt —Lovebird had the misfortune to injure himself so badly that he had to be destroyed. This was a piece of very hard luck for Mr. Nathan. The first young gentleman we looked over was a son of Nordenfeldt and Brassolis, who bears a great deal of resemblance to his relative, the above mentioned filly out of La Dauphine. It therefore almost goes without saying that he is a really good looking colt containing power, substance and quality. The colt by Nordenfeldt out of Operatic is not as tall as the other colt, and is a trifle narrow to follow, but he is quality enough, and looks like coming to hand early. St. Valentine, the two-year-old son of St. Leger and Lovebird I had before seen when he was in training at Wright’s, and he was now again shown to me. Mr. Nathan has done wisely to elect to give such a loose overgrown fellow a good spell, and he should be greatly benefited thereby. We next interviewed a two-year-old colt by Ingomar (imp.) out of Nelson’s dam My Idea. When the N.Z. Stud Co.’s stud was dispersed this colt was running

at his dam’s foot, and for the mare and him Mr. Nathan gave 1 jogns, which alone would not have been dear for the dam of such a celebrity as Nelson. However, she did not live long to enrich Mr. Nathan with a second Nelson, and her colt before he had been long at Whitford Park jumped a fence and cut himself very badly on the hind leg. He still bears the marks, and there is an ungainly swelling on the leg, but Mr. E. D. Halstead has examined him lately, and has given it as his professional opinion that it will not interfere with his training when he is put into work. I have often thought that with Ingomar’s own performances over sticks added to the fact that he is bred from chasing blood, his stock should have been tried at the “ illegitimate ” game more than they have been, and this bay young gentleman looks just the handy cut-and-come-again sort to turn out a “ dandy ” over the little sticks or across a country. Mr. Nathan now suggested a return to the house for luncheon, where a repast, in which succulent home-fed mutton and ditto beef formed a component, proved substantial and appetising, and here I iray remark that there is a neat little residence at Whitford Park, to which Mr. Nathan’s family retire during the hot weather, and it is surrounded by another residence for the manager and substantial outbuildings. After lunch and some dessert we were again on the move, this time to see the broodmares, who were running in a large paddock through which ran a beautifully trickling stream. En route some of the ostriches claimed our attention, and having been a visitor more than once to Mr. J. T. Matson’s ostrich farm in the vicinity of Christchurch, the antics of these ungainly looking birds did not afford me as much astonishment as they did to some of our party. Of them anon. The first mare to cross our path was Coryphee by Sword Dance: —Brassolis. This mare ran but once, when as a two-year-old she finished out of a place in the Calliope Handicap at the Takapuna Summer Meeting. She is a decidedly leggy lady, but is valuable because she is one of the few mares Sword Dance left behind him as the result of the only season he stood in New Zealand. Outcast, a burly chestnut mare that we saw later on, has a bit of a history. She is by Castaway (brother to Lurline and Le Loup) out of Moss Rose by Camden — Young Rosebud by Sir Hercules, and she therefore descends from the same family as Chancellor, Black Rose, York, Awarua Rose, The Shah and several others. She was purchased as a yearling by Mr. Redwood, I believe, at one of the Middle Park sales. Afterwards our local owner Mr. J. Lennard got hold of her, and then she went into obscurity for awhile, and Mr. Dibble, hearing of her in his neighbourhood, bought her for the Whitford Park Stud. Turning up the Stud Book, I find that Moss Rose foaled two chestnut fillies to Castaway —one in 1876 and the other in 1877. I wonder which this is, and as her owner does not know, peihaps some of my Southern readers can furnish me with the information. The mare was in foal to Fabulous when I saw her, and since then she has dropped a filly. Leolantis will now be her mate. Inisthona is as handsome a mare as you could wish to see in a day’s march, and she had a lovely colt at foot by Fabulous, and visits Leolantis. This mare reminds one a good deal of Steppe. She never raced owing to an accident, but Mr. Nathan was fortunate to drop across her casually as was the case with other of his mares. She is by Leonidas out of Moilena (a mare now in Mr. Morrin’s stud) by Patriarch—Rosabelle by Panic (imp.) — Rosabella by Gohanna ; Leonidas being by Kelpie (imp.) —Bessie Bell by the Black Prince (imp.). She was bred by Mr. Macpherson, who imported Moilena along with Bragela and Brassolis. and like them she was buried in obscurity for some time. It is really peculiar, however, how a most diligent student of the Stud Book loses the run at times of some brood mares. Another fine mare Mr. Nathan owns is Cantiniere, and she has produced a filly to St. Leger, whom she will again visit. It was the union of St. Leger and this mare that produced that smart little mare Brown Bess, whom it is a pity Mr. J. C. Booth did not bring back with him from Australia after the meritorious manner she raced there, as well as in the land of her birth. Cantiniere is a Musket mare, and is out of Queen Bess, a daughter ofNutwith, the brother of Waimea. This same Queen Bess has had several winners besides Brown Bess, and there is no doubt she is thoroughbred, but unfortunately her dam’s pedigree was lost in the early

days of Wanganui breeding, when did not in that locality attach as much importance to pedigree lore as they have had reason to do since then. In another paddock I received my introduction to Leolantis. This five-year-old son of Leolinus and Atlantis is entirely a different stamp to what I expected to see. He is a good deal shorter in the back than the average of Leolinus’ stock, and shows more quality than a large numberof them. He is nice and close to the ground, full of power and muscle, standing on good legs, and remarkably short in the cannon-bone. He was, those most competent to judge and who saw him running tell me a colt above the average calibre as a racer, and the records show that as a three-year-old he beat The Dreamer and Reprisal in the Auckland Guineas, and took the A.R.C.’s Christmas Handicap, carrying 8.3, and beating a field of half-a-dozen, whom but one he was conceding weight. He is getting several of his owner’s mares this season, and I see no reason why he should not be. as successful at the stud as his halfbrother St. Leger. Retracing our steps to the vicinity of the house we were shown some more of the ostriches ; some of them on their nests, the male and female bird taking turn and turn about at sitting on the eggs as is their wont; the plucking boxes where the feathers are taken from the birds ; the baby ostriches in a house artificially heated ; the young birds in a paddock by themselves ; and the veterans of the farm, most of whom were born there —and some of them were a bit aggressive too. In a paddock close to the house was grazing an old friend in the shape of Lovebird, whom I first saw at Mr. Stead’s, when she was imported from England in company with Steppe, etc. The daughter of Macaroni and Better Half is looking well on it, although she is now seventeen years old according to English time. There are so few Macaroni mares in the colonies that Lovebird is very valuable, but she has not hitherto been a success at the stud, the only one of her progeny that has achieved any success at racing being Leopold, who was undoubtedly an honest little fellow of his class. For Lovebird, with St. Valentine at foot, Mr. Nathan gave ziogs at the NZ. Stud Co.’s sale. She was when I was at Whitford Park heavy in foal to St. Leger, to whom she has since foaled a filly. Cuirassier will be her mate this season. A most pleasant day was terminated by a look at some of Fabulous’ progeny out of half-bred mares, that are most creditable productions and augur well for this horse’s success at the stud when Mr. Nathan places him at public service next season. And then, after a cup of tea “ homeward bound” was the order, and we arrived in town in the gloaming exquisitely pleased at the time we had spent among the thoroughbreds and the ostriches.