The First Race Mare.
But now, after Waterloo, with the seemingly interminable wars and
tumults lulled into peace and calm at last, things were beginning to
shape themselves in the Colony. Evans had explored the country a hundred
miles or so farther out than that point to which Blaxland’s little
company had penetrated, and he had discovered the Macquarie River, and
named it. Oxley had already condemned as useless almost all the fertile
land of the Southern Riverina, although, at any rate, he had thrown it
open, and in 1824 Hamilton Hume had walked with his few followers, and
with Hovell, an old ship’s captain with whom he continually fought, from
Lake George to Port Phillip Bay. Cattle and sheep had increased
enormously, the country over which they depastured seemed to be without
end, but markets were few and far apart. Horses of stamina, and
therefore of the best blood were urgently required in order to round up
the mobs of bullocks and cows which roamed the unfenced plains, and to
accomplish the long journeys to the distant towns.
And thus it was that our best early stallions, and some of our mares
which still, through their descendants, carry on their lines, were
brought to Australia. Steeltrap, in 1823, was the first of the
successful stallions to land. His was valuable blood. He was by Scud,
and Scud sired two Derby winners, the first, Sam, bred in 1815, the very
year in which Steeltrap was foaled, and the second, Sailor, in 1817. The
Oaks winner of 1819, Shoveler, was also a Scud filly, and therefore it
is perfectly evident that Steeltrap came from the most fashionable blood
of his day, and must have been worth a great deal of money. His dam was
by Sorcerer out of Pamella, by Whiskey from Lais. He was a chestnut, and
“sired very game horses.” Their gameness, no doubt, was exhibited during
the long and tiring journeys after cattle, for contests must have been
rare in which they could have had opportunities of proving their mettle
on the racecourse. Steeltrap remains with us still in the persons of the
descendants of “The Steeltrap mare.” There were several matrons
identified by the same cognomen, but this particular representative of
the clan was out of “a Government mare,” presumably clean bred, and she
left two daughters, Beeswing and Marchioness, both by The Marquis, a son
of Dover.
Zulu, the winner of the great Melbourne Cup in 1881, came from this
line, as well as Bylong, Stanley, Sweetmeat and Tridentate, while around
Wagga numbers of the same breed are still alive through the medium of
the mares Lady Cameron, Lady Phoebe, Latona and Antonia.
In the same year, 1824, which brought us Steeltrap, there also came to
our shores Bay Camerton, or Old Camerton, or simply Camerton. He was
known by each and all of these names from time to time. He was by
Camerton, from Waltonia, by Walton, and quickly ran out, on his dam’s
side, to the very famous Burton Barb mare, which is now so readily
identified as the tap-root of the exceptionally high qualitied No. 2
family. Bay Camerton survives through the line of Camilla, a daughter of
his when mated with Old Betty. But now, in the following year, 1825,
arrived the first of all the race mares that have made Australian Turf
story. This was Manto. It was indeed a happy day for our Turf when she,
then a three-year-old, landed in New South Wales. She was bred in
England in 1822, was bought by Mr. Icely, Coombing Park, and imported to
Australia in 1825. I can find no description of the colour of Manto, as,
curiously, she does not appear in the “General Stud Book.” The omission
came about probably in this manner: In 1780 the Duke of Cumberland, “the
Butcher” of Culloden, bred a mare named Rose, by Sweet Briar out of
Merliton, by Snap. She passed through several hands, but ultimately
ended up in the ownership of old Dick Goodisson, an eccentric fellow,
and the favourite jockey, as well as companion of the Marquis of
Queensberry, better known as “old Q.,” and worse known in the lines of
the Poet Wordsworth as “Degenerate Douglas.” Dick Goodisson bred a filly
by Buzzard from Rose in 1800, a full brother to the same-named Lyncaeus,
and two more sisters, one in 1802, and another in 1803. These mares were
simply known, after the slack method of the time, as “sisters to
Lyncaeus.” The last foal of one of these same sisters to Lyncaeus, by
Soothsayer, the individual dropped in 1802, was this Manto of ours, and
Mr. Wanklyn, the erudite keeper of the “New Zealand Stud Book,” and a
prolific author in the matter of “Stud Book” lore, believes that it was
the fact that she was the youngest born foal of her mother, and that she
was sold as a youngster to go abroad, which accounted for the
non-appearance of her name in the recognised official records of the
day.
Before leaving England, Manto had been served by Young Grasshopper, by
Grasshopper, who was by Windle, a son of Beningborough, by King Fergus,
by Eclipse. Young Grasshopper’s dam was a daughter of Sorcerer, and as
Manto was by Soothsayer, by Sorcerer, we have an early illustration of
the value of close in-breeding. Manto dropped her foal a few days after
setting her feet on Australian soil, and the little thing was christened
Cornelia. Unfortunately, Mr. Icely, unappreciative of the excellence and
value of his importations, failed to keep anything like accurate records
of his stud. He did not even take a note of the colour of his foals. We
do know, however, that Manto, subsequent to the birth of Cornelia, also
foaled Chancellor, to Steeltrap, Lady Godiva to Rous’ Emigrant, Lycurgus
to Whisker, and Emilius to Operator.
She also produced a colt named Jupiter, which was sent to South
Australia, but he is returned without the name of his sire attached. It
is to Cornelia that we must look for the tap-root from which nearly one
thousand racehorses in Australia have traced their origin. She threw a
colt named Emancipation, by Toss, a bold experiment in still more
extensive in-breeding to Sorcerer—a filly, Lady Flora, by Whisker, a
full sister to her, named Besom, a colt, Euclid, by Operator, a filly,
Old Moonshine, by Rous’ Emigrant, and Flora McIvor, also by Emigrant.
Moonshine’s name still crops up through Coquette, Speculation and
Progress—Grand Flaneur’s understudy, but Flora McIvor had an enormous
family. For Mr. Icely she threw the fillies Fatima, Florence, Faultless,
Emily, Zoe, Flora and Chloe, and five colts, Figaro, Cossack, Nutwith,
The Chevalier and Bay Middleton. Mr. Icely then disposed of the old mare
to Mr. Redwood, of Nelson, New Zealand, and for him she produced at the
age of 26 and 28, or possibly, for Mr. Icely’s lack of stud records
causes much uncertainty, at 27 and 29. Io and Waimea, Flora McIvor’s
pair of New Zealand children, and her children’s children, from these
two famous mares, rose up and called her blessed. Io and Waimea were
dropped in 1855 and ’57, and then, full of years and honours, and with
no further offspring, the grand old mare died in 1861. The list of great
racehorses which claim her for their ancestress is too long to quote,
but the names of even a few of these will tell you what a very
cornerstone of our pastime Flora McIvor has proved herself to be. There
was Bloodshot. I can see him in the Cup chasing Newhaven home now, when
my eyes are closed. And then there were Chicago, Churchill, Circe,
Cissy, Cremorne, Cuirassier, Euroclydon, Frailty, The Gem, Havoc,
Manuka, Newmaster, Niagara, Nonsense, Oudeis, Parthian, Progress, Siege
Gun, Trenton, Wakatipu, Wild Rose, Zalinski, Beauford and Zoe, whilst
the brood mares that trace to the same source run into hundreds.