Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/196

184 184 HORSE [THE RACE-HORSE, 14 hands or thereabouts. It is only necessary to trace carefully back the pedigree of most of the famous horses of early times to discover faults on the side of the dam that is to say, the expression &quot; dam s pedigree unknown,&quot; which evidently means of original or native blood. What ever therefore may be owing to Eastern blood, of which from the middle of the 17th to the beginning of the 18th century a complete wave swept over the British Isles, some credit is unquestionably due to the native mares (which Elaine says were mostly Cleveland bays) upon which the Arabian, Barb, or Turk blood was grafted, and which laid the foundation of the modern thoroughbred. Other nations may have furnished the blood, but England has made the race-horse. Without prosecuting this subject further, it may be enough here to follow out the lines of the Darley Arabian, the Byerly Turk, and the Godolphiu Arabian or Barb, the main ancestors of the British thoroughbred of the 18th and 19th centuries, through several famous race-horses, each and all brilliant winners, Flying Childers, Eclipse, Herod, and Matchem, to whom it is considered sufficient to look as the great progenitors of the race-horse of to-day. 1. The Darley Arabian s line is represented in a twofold degree first, through his son Flying Childers, .his grandsons Blaze and Snip, and his great-grandson Snap, and, secondly, through his other son Bartlett s Childers and his great-great-grandson Eclipse. Flying or Devonshire Childers, so called to distinguish him from other horses of the same name, was a bay horse of entirely Eastern blood, with a blaze in his face and four white feet, foaled in 1715. He was bred by Mr Leonard Childers of Carr House near Doncaster, and was purchased when young by the duke of Devonshire. He was got by the Darley Arabian from Betty Leedes, by Careless from sister to Leedes, by Leedes s Arabian from a mare by Spanker out of a Barb mare, who was Spanker s own mother. Spanker himself was by D Arcy s Yellow Turk from a daughter of the Morocco Barb and Old Bald Peg, by an Arab horse from a Barb mare. Careless was by Spanker from a Barb mare, so that Childers s dam was closely in-bred to Spanker. Flying Childers the wonder of his time was never beaten, and died in the duke of Devonshire s stud in 1741, aged twenty-six years. He was the sire of, among other horses, Blaze (1733) and Snip (1736). Snip too had a celebrated son called Snap (1750), and it is chiefly in the female line through the mares by these horses, of which there are fully thirty in the Stud- Book, that the blood of Flying Childers is handed down to us. The other representative line of the Darley Arabian is through Bartlett s Childers, also bred by Mr Leonard Childers, and sold to Mr Bartlett of Masham, in Yorkshire. He was for several years called Young Childers, it being generally supposed that he was a younger brother of his Flying namesake, but his date of birth is not on record, and subsequently Bartlett s Childers. This horse, who was never trained, was the sire of Squirt (1732), whose son Marske (1750) begat Eclipse and Young Marske (1762), sire of Shuttle (1793). This at least is the generally accepted theory, although Eclipse s dam is said to have been covered by Shakespeare as well as by Marske. Shakespeare was the son of Hobgoblin by Aleppo, and conse quently the male line of the Darley Arabian would come through these horses instead of through Bartlett s Childers, Squirt, and Marske ; the StAid-Book, however, says that Marske was the sire of Eclipse. This last-named celebrated horse perhaps the most celebrated in the annals of the turf was foaled on the 1st of April 1764, the day on which a remarkable eclipse of the sun occurred, and he was named after it. He was bred by the duke of Cumberland, after whose decease he was purchased by a Mr Wildman, and subse quently sold to Mr D. O Kelly, with whom he will ever be identified. His dam Spiletta was by llegulus, son of the Godol- phin Barb, from Mother Western, by a sou of Snake from a mare by Old Montague out of a mare by Hautboy, from, a daughter of Brimmer and a mare whose pedigree was unknown. In Eclipse s pedigree there are upwards of a dozen mares whose pedigrees are not known, but who are supposed to be of native blood. Eclipse was a chestnut horse with a white blaze down his face ; his off hind leg was white from the hock downwards, and he had black spots upon his rump this peculiarity coming down to the present day in direct male descent. His racing career commenced at five years of age, viz., on the 3d May 1769, at Epsom, and terminated on the 4th October 1770, at Newmarket. He ran or walked over for eighteen races, and was never beaten. It was in his first race that Mr O Kelly took the odds to a large amount before the start for the second heat, that he would place the horses. When called upon to declare, he uttered the exclamation, which the event justified, &quot; Eclipse first, and the rest nowhere.&quot; Eclipse commenced his stud career in 1771, and had an enormous number of foals, of which four only in the direct male line have come down to us, viz., Potoooooooo, or, as he is commonly called, Pot-8-os (1773), his most celebrated son, King Fergus (1775), Joe Andrews (1778), and Mercury (1778), though several others are represented in the female line. Pot-8-os was the sire of Waxy, (1790) out of Maria (1777) by Herod out of Lisette (1772) by Snap. Waxy, who has been not inaptly termed the ace of trumps in the Stud-Book, begat Whalebone (1807), Web (1808), Woful (1809) Wire (1811), Whisker (1812), and Waxy Pope (1806), all but the last being out of Penelope (1798) by Trumpator (1782) from Prunella (1788) by Highflyer out of Promise by Snap, while Waxy Pope was out of Prunella, dam of Parasol (1800) by Pot-8-os. Trumpator was a son of Conductor, who was by Matchem out of a mare by Snap. Whalebone s best sons were Camel (1822) and Sir Hercules (1826). Camel was the sire of Defence (1824) and Touchstone (1831), while Sir Hercules was the sire of Birdcatcher (1833) and Faugh-a-Ballagh (1841), own brothers, and of Gemma di Vergy (1854). Touchstone was the sire of Newminster (1848), who begat Lord Clifden, Adventurer, and the Hermit, as well as of Orlando (1841) sire of Teddington (1848). Whalebone s blood also descends through Waverley (1817) and his son the Saddler (1828), while Whisker is represented by the Colonel (1825) and by Economist (1825) and his son Harkaway (1834), sire of King Tom (1851). Birdcatcher begat, besides Saunterer (1854), the Baron (1842), sire of Stockwell (1849) and of Rataplan (1850). Stockwell, who was a chestnut with black spots, was &quot;the sire of Blair Athol (1861), a chestnut, and also of Doncaster (1870), another chestnut, but with the characteristic black spots of his grandsire ; and Doncaster was the sire of the chestnut Bend Or (1877). To turn to Eclipse s other sons. King Fergus (1775) was the sire of Beningbrough(1791), whose son was Orville (1799), whence comes some of the stoutest blood on the turf, including Emilius (1820) and his son Priam (1827), Plenipotentiary (1831), Muley (1810), Chesterfield (1834), and the Hero (1843). Joe Andrews (1778) was the sire of Dick Andrews (1797), and from him descend Tramp (1810), Lottery (1820), Liverpool (1828), Sheet Anchor (1832), Lanercost(1835), Weatherbit (1842), Beadsman (1855), and Blue Gown (1865). Mercury was sire of Gohanna (1790), who was foaled in the same year as Waxy, and the two, who were both grandsons of Eclipse and both out of Herod mares, had several contests, Waxy generally getting the better of his cousin. Gohanna s descendants come down through Golurnpus (1802), Catton (1809), Mulatto (1823), Royal Oak (1823), and Slane(1833). 2. The Byerly Turk s line is represented by Herod, the Turk being the sire of Jigg, who was the sire of Partner (1718), whose son Tartar (1743) begat King Herod, or Herod as he was commonly called, foaled in 1758. Herod s dam was Cypron (1750) by Blaze (1733), son of Flying Childers. Cypron s dam was Selima by Bethel s Arabian from a mare by Graham s Champion from a daughter of the Darley Arabian and a mare who claims Merlin for her sire, but whose mother s pedigree is unknown. In Herod s pedigree there are fully a dozen dams whose pedigree is unknown. Herod was a bay horse about 15 hands 3 inches high, possessed both of sub stance and length, those grand requisites in a race-horse, com bined with uncommon power and stamina or lasting qualities. He was bred by William, duke of Cumberland, uncle of King George III. He commenced his racing career in October 1763, when he was five years old, and ended it on the 16th of May 1767. He ran ten times, winning six and losing four races. He died in 1780, and among other progeny left two famous sons, Woodpecker (1773), whose dam was Miss Ramsden (1760) by Cade, son of the Godol- phin Barb, but descended also on the dam s side from the Darley Arabian and the Byerly Turk, and Highflyer (1774), whose dam was Rachel (1763) by Blank, son of the Godolphin Barb from a daughter of Regulus, also son of the Godolphin. These two horses have transmitted Herod s qualities down to the present day in the direct male line, although in the female line he is represented through some of his other sons and his daughters as well. Wood pecker was the sire of Buzzard (1787), who in his turn became the lather of three celebrated sons, Castrel (1801), Selim (1802), and Rubens (1803), all three chestnuts, and all out of an Alexander mare (1790), who thereby became famous. This mare was by Eclipse s son Alexander (1782) out of a mare by Highflyer (son of Herod) out of a daughter of Alfred, by Matchem out of a daughter of Snap. Bustard (1813), whose dam was a daughter of Shuttle, and his son Heron (1833), Sultan (1816) and his sons Glencoe (1831) and Bay Middlcton (1833) and Middleton s sons Cowl (1842) and the Flying Dutchman (1846), Pantaloon (1824) and his son Windhound (1847), Langar (1817) and his son Epirus (1834) and grandson Pyrrhus the First (1843), are representatives of Castrel and Selim. Highflyer is represented through his greatly esteemed son Sir Peter Teazle, commonly called Sir Peter (1784), whose dam was Papillon by Snap. Sir Peter had five sons at the stud, Walton (1790), Stamford (1794), and Sir Paul (1802) being the chief.