The Gist of it all.
And now we draw to the close this thesis on the racehorse in Australia.
We have been, after all, but wandering upon the outskirts of a very vast
subject, and were we proposing to indite a work for the use of
experts—breeders, owners, trainers, even, let us add, punters—our thesis
would swell into a large volume, our large volume into an encyclopaedia,
and our encyclopaedia into a library. And the gist of it all? Is the
entire business, with all its branches and ramifications, with all the
employment offered by it to thousands of people, with all the land now
in use for breeding, with all those beautiful parks reserved for racing
purposes, in and near the great cities, is it all designed simply to
furnish an Australian holiday? I do assure you that there is involved
something a very great deal deeper than that. It is the horse, the whole
future and welfare of the horse, that is the great stake for which we
are playing, most of us unconsciously. The day of the noble animal is
not over, and its future spells infinitely more than the mere fact of
whether he can run a mile in a minute and 36 seconds, or whether he can
cover three miles in 5.23. During the Boer War, such a short time since,
but which seems to our children, perhaps, to have been waged centuries
ago, we expended an enormous amount of horse life in a country where
soldiers had perforce to be carried on horseback, and where all the
supplies for an army were dragged upon wheels, and when motor power had
not yet come into its own. And in the last great death grapple, with all
the petrol which was exploded, with all the motor traction used, with
all the amount of transport, and of scouting by air, we still required a
larger horse supply than ever before. We cannot see so clearly into the
future as did the poet Tennyson, when he wrote Locksley Hall. That
wonderful seer, you may remember, wrote his poem in the early ’forties
of the last century, and he predicted, as plainly as words could tell,
the advent of the flying machine, for use both in commerce and in war,
and “all the wonders that would be.” It is not given to many to possess
the true prophetic vision, but it is a simple task to foretell that war
has not yet ceased upon the earth, and that we have not even begun to
make reaping hooks of our spears, or spades and ploughs and harrows of
our guns. It is the improvement of our horse, for general utility
purposes, and for war, that is really the motive which ought to promote
this racing of ours, but which poor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in a fatuous
moment, has lately dubbed “the curse of the country.”
If the supply of horseflesh is to be maintained, if we are not prepared
to let the breed die out altogether, then horse racing is the only
method whereby the standard can be preserved at a proper and efficient
level. Shows, agricultural and otherwise, are powerless in their
endeavour to accomplish this end. Magnificent looking creatures bred for
the ring, only too surely and quickly prove themselves to be abject
failures when tested on the course or in the field. Vitality, stamina,
courage, soundness, are the qualities which we desire to perpetuate in
our breeds. The show ring does not test a single one of these. The
winning post must be our only guide.
Is it doing its duty in the matter? This might be a matter for endless
debate, but it is safe to say that it is not doing that duty nearly so
well as it might. For in our play we are so apt to forget that, after
all, it is not only sport that we are following, but that perhaps the
safety of our Australian nation lies in the qualities of endurance and
of speed in those beautiful creatures which we are looking upon as our
playthings of to-day. One’s mind invariably flies, whilst thinking over
these matters, to a future and a possible “War of Defence.” Britain, let
us imagine, is hampered with a Continental foe. America is on her back,
and fighting for her life upon the seas. And we are lying here in the
sunshine, a beautiful woman without means of defence, without oil for
our motors, without ammunition for our guns, without horses for our men.
With ammunition, and with half a million of splendid horses, and even
more splendid men, we might do wonders, even without oil, until help
could arrive. Without horses and ammunition we would be immediately
destroyed. And we are not taking the trouble to breed chargers and
transport horses for the purposes of war. Indian buyers, private
dealers, your own eyesight, will tell you that we are not producing the
quantity, nor the quality which we were so proud of fifty, forty, aye,
even thirty years ago. We have become careless. Our young men do not
desire the glorious companionship which their fathers enjoyed, that
loving friendship between horse and man. They fizz through their
stations now in a motor car, or possibly they even fly through the air
to the back of the run, and are home for luncheon. Their sires and their
grand-sires on these distant excursions camped out for nights, their
saddle for a pillow, their horses, in hobbles, not far distant from
their side. My young gentleman of to-day could do it all if he tried,
but he does not care to ride, and hunting is a bore. But what will his
son be? It is the old, old story. Read your Gibbon, study your Grote.
“All Empires tumble, Rome and Greece,
Their swords are rust, their altars cold.”
You know the old and sacred saying, “At sunset, when the sky is red, you
know that the weather will be fine,” and also, “When the fig tree
putteth forth her leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.” And Rome and
Greece fell because they would not take the trouble to see that the sky
was red, or that the fig tree was putting forth her leaves. And we are
travelling on exactly the same road. Not many people care to read about
the “Buried Cities of Crete.” The story carries a tremendous lesson. The
ancient Cretans, whose women wore high-heeled shoes, and hobble skirts,
and other abominations of civilisation, were so strong in their sea
power that they neglected the means of defence on land. Ruins, buried
deep beneath the soil, tell us the sad story to-day. A foreign power,
despised perhaps, but now grown strong, sprang at their throats so
suddenly that it took the Islanders completely by surprise. The
blackened walls, the charred rafters, thirty feet below ground, preach
their sermon to those who care to read. Neither does one ever forget
what took place at the great conference at Vienna between the Powers
when Napoleon had at length been chained and was languishing in his
little island kingdom and prison of Elba. There had been much
discussion, bitter wrangling, but matters were at length approaching a
more or less satisfactory conclusion. Then, unheralded, there burst into
that august assembly a messenger, “bloody with spurring, fiery with hot
haste.” “Napoleon has escaped and has landed in France.” A moment’s
silence, and the ambassadors with one accord fell a-laughing. After all
their grave debates, with the waste of so many millions of words, the
whole edifice of their deliberations was thrown to the ground by one
sweep of the hand. So may it be to-morrow. A League of Nations may meet
and deliberate. The representatives, perhaps, will disagree. Ere they
can turn round, one Power, which is, may be, the best prepared, declares
war. Necessity, when nations are in dire distress, choking for air and
starving for their daily bread, knows no law. Will we never learn our
lesson not to put our trust in Princes, no, nor in the children of men?
Therefore, let us foster our horses by every means in our power, and
place our dependence rather upon them. And let us remember that the race
course, the hunting-field, and the polo grounds are the nurseries and
gymnasiums of the breeds both of horse and man. The thoroughbred is the
keystone of the arch, the cornerstone of the building.
And yet one knows so well that prophecy is all in vain, that our rulers
only smile and imagine a vain thing, and that no seer has any honour in
his own country, until the words are proven to be true, and then it is
all too late. Bitter was the fate of Cassandra, that ancient prophetess
of Troy, whom no man could believe, and bitter still the lot of anyone
who tries once more to read the writing on the wall, and give it voice.
“Then like a raven on the wind of night
The wild Cassandra flitted far and near,
Still crying, ‘Gather, gather for the fight,
And brace the helmet on and grasp the spear,
For lo, the legions of the night are here!’
So shriek’d the dreadful prophetess divine;
But all men mock’d and were of merry cheer;
Safe as the Gods they deem’d them, o’er their wine.”
But, with the tremendous importance of the end in view, the improvement
of the thoroughbred horse, is our sport sufficiently fulfilling that
end? That is a question which is indeed a hard one to determine, and one
great camp may give its voices to the “Ayes,” and one may roar in unison
for “No.”
There is one thing, and perhaps only one thing, quite certain. Our horse
has increased in size. The fifteen-hands-two of the great winners of a
hundred years ago have swollen in their average dimensions somewhere in
the neighbourhood of sixteen-two. This may not, however, indicate
allround improvement. A good big one, we know, is better than a good
little one on the course, but I question if the rule holds good, either
in the battle or the hunting-field. Ormonde beat The Bard because he
outstrode him down the Epsom hill, but The Bard might have carried his
master, with his twelve stone ten, had he had the opportunity, more
safely and more speedily to the end of a forty minutes run, than his
great conqueror on the race course over the mile and a half of Epsom
Downs.
And we have gained in speed. There can be little doubt of that. If the
inexorable test of the “Winning Post” has not compelled us to breed from
our best, and if, in the course of the flying centuries, the result has
not been a march upwards, then Heaven help us and our methods. But do
you think that stamina and soundness have improved along with our size
and our speed? That, too, is hard to tell. And yet it is probable that
it is so. Races now are real tests of the stayer. In the days of
Fisherman, and Voltigeur, The Flying Dutchman, Plenipotentiary, Bay
Middleton, and before their time, races were not run in a manner to
prove stamina. More frequently there was much loitering on the way in
the two, three, and four mile bouts between the steeds of our ancestors.
To-day we run the two miles all the way from pillar to post, and
Archer’s three minutes and fifty-two seconds for the Melbourne Cup has
dwindled to the three twenty-four and a half claimed by Artilleryman.
Twenty-seven seconds difference means at least two furlongs, and that
takes catching. Well, admitting that we have marched forwards in the
matter of both speed and stamina, surely there is much more unsoundness
to-day than there was one hundred years ago, or even fifty years since.
At the first blush one would say “Yes.” But on second thoughts one does
not feel quite so sure. Herod was “a bleeder,” and bleeding has been not
uncommon in his descendants. It is one hundred and sixty-four years ago
since Herod was foaled. We rear regiments of racers now, where our
forebears bred squadrons. And yet “bleeding” is not so very rife after
all. But we hear more about it, with an active press focussing its
microscope on every individual racer in the land. And roaring, you ask?
Well, Pocahontas roared, and Prince Charlie made a fearful noise, and
Belladrum was indistinguishable from a fog-horn, and Ormonde did more
than whistle, but in Australia, at least, this is a defect, an actual
unsoundness, which we do not so very often see—or hear. But we are
breeding bad knees, bad feet, and round joints, and with the extra
weight of the enlarged frames, ligaments and muscles cannot bear the
strain. Yet this was always so. Bay Middleton had a mysterious foot and
leg, Whalebone’s near fore-foot was contracted, and all were
“pumiced”—whatever that might mean. He was “the most double-jointed
horse I ever saw in my life,” was the verdict of that celebrity’s groom.
Whitelock was “a naggish horse with a big, coarse head and plumb
forelegs.” Flat, thin-soled feet were the “bane of lazy Lanercost,”
Rataplan “always went proppy on his long fore pasterns,” and “Dundee’s
suspensory ligament went so badly in the Derby that after that race his
fetlock nearly touched the ground.” Partisan had a “clubby foot.”
Touchstone had “very fleshy legs,” and his “near fore ankle was never
very good.” And so on we could go, from the Adam of horses to our own
most rapid, modern times, which these grandchildren of ours will shortly
call “the old times.” But I cannot say if the “Sport” is improving; I
fancy not. I was talking to Walter Hickenbotham the other day, the doyen
of the profession of trainers, or at least one running in double harness
in that capacity with old Harry Rayner, of Randwick. Walter was
recalling the “old days” of his youth. Meetings were fewer then, and
railways were a comparative rarity where his paths led him. Mr. C. M.
Lloyd was his “boss.” Riding a mare and leading Swiveller, Walter would
leave the station on one of those beautiful, bright, health-giving
mornings of the late summer or early autumn, with just a touch of frost
in the clear air. The boy, with the buggy and the gear, the feed, and
all the other necessaries, had gone on before. From station to station,
’twixt sunrise and sundown, the little cavalcade would press steadily
on. Mr. Lloyd, no doubt, would follow in a few days with his tandem or
the four-in-hand. And so from meeting to meeting they would go. Round
Wagga, Hay, Bathurst, Deniliquin, Gundagai, Goulburn, a great circuit,
would they wander, taking with them the romance and glamour of the Turf
in their train. You can imagine the stir and enthusiasm at the stations
as they came. Nothing was too good for them, either for man or beast.
Everyone welcomed them, and the old greybeards, in the evenings, beneath
the big gum tree, while the boxes were being done out, and the horses
meanwhile were held in the shade, would talk horse, and nothing but
horse, by the yard. Some might even remember having seen Rous’ Emigrant
or Manto, and another might have come from Yorkshire, and had known all
about Sledmere and Sir Tatton Sykes. And the racing was more for the fun
of the thing then, and the owners betted more like gentlemen between
themselves. And ere the country circuit was completed, horse and man had
travelled almost a thousand miles, and had won many a Cup, and much fine
gold. And then, calling in at the station to drop their burdens, they
would be off to the Metropolis to take down the numbers of the swells
which trained there, ere settling down for the short, dark winter days
at home. Good days those, jolly days, grand days! And is it not so good
now? No? Alas! I fear that it is not in the sport, not in the horses,
not in the world at large, that we find changes for the worse. All
things are developing, evolving, marching upwards. It is in us, the
individual men, to whom we must look to find “the weary change.” And yet
even we must take comfort.
“Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved heaven and earth; that which we are we are.”
PAINTINGS OF RACEHORSES
BY MARTIN STAINFORTH
The figures in brackets are the Bruce Lowe family numbers of each horse.
(†) signifies no family number.
[Illustration:
PLATE 2.
MUSKET (3) imp. Brown Horse, 1867, by Toxophilite—half sister to Gen.
Peel’s dam. Winner of the Ascot Stakes, and 9 of his 11 last races.
Imported to New Zealand in 1878. Sire of Carbine, Trenton,
Hotchkiss, Nordenfeldt, Maxim, Martini-Henri, etc. Died 1885. From a
painting of the horse, at the age of 18 years, in the possession of
the artist.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 3.
CARBINE (2). Bay Horse, 1885, by Musket (imp.)—Mersey (imp.). Winner
of £29,626. Sire in Australia of Wallace, La Carabine, etc. Exported
to England in 1895, where he sired Spearmint, Greatorex, Fowling
Piece, etc. Died 1914 at Welbeck, England. From a painting of the
horse, at the age of 6 years, in the possession of Mr. F. G. White.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 4.
TRENTON (18). Brown Horse, 1881, by Musket (imp.)—Frailty. Winner of
good races in N.Z. and Australia, and sire of Wakeful, Aurum,
Revenue, Auraria, etc. Exported to England in 1895, where he sired
Torpoint, etc. Died 1905. From a painting of the horse, at the age
of 14 years, presented to the A.J.C. by Sir William Cooper.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 5.
CROSS BATTERY (7). Brn. Mare, 1902, by Stepniak—Firecross. Dam of
Artilleryman (Melb. Cup), and ALEXANDRA (13) imp., Bay Mare, 1904.
Dam of Kingsburgh (Melb. Cup), by Persimmon—Ambleside. With foals at
foot by All Black (imp. sire of Desert Gold, etc.). The property of
Mr. Norman Falkiner, Noorilim, Victoria. From a painting of the
mares, at the ages of 18 and 16 years respectively, in the
possession of Mr. Falkiner.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 6.
THE FINISH FOR THE V.R.C. FLYING STAKES, 1902, 7 furlongs, Flemington,
Victoria. Ibex, ridden by Jas. Barden, steals the race from the
great Wakeful. From a painting in the possession of Jas. Barden.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 7.
MALTSTER (21). Brown Horse, 1897, by Bill of Portland (imp.)—Barley
(imp.). Winner of the A.J.C. and V.R.C. Derbies, etc. Premier sire
of Australia on five different occasions, among his progeny being
Alawa, Malt King, Desert Rose, Popinjay, Maltine, etc. From a
painting of the horse, at the age of 23 years, in the possession of
the artist.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 8.
WALLACE (3). Ches. Horse, 1892, by Carbine—Melodious. Winner of
£6,116, including V.R.C. Derby, Sydney Cup, etc. Sire of winners of
over £250,000, including Trafalgar, Aurous, Emir, Mountain King,
etc. Died in 1917. From a painting of the horse, at the age of 12
years, in the possession of the artist.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 9.
LANIUS (7) imp. Brown Horse, 1911, by Llangibby—Mesange. Winner in
England of the Rous Memorial Stakes, Jockey Club Stakes, and
£11,406. Imported to Australia in 1917 and won A.J.C. Plate,
Cumberland Stakes, etc., before retiring to the stud in 1919. The
property of Dr. Syme, Victoria. From a painting of the horse, at the
age of 8 years, in the possession of Mr. Ken Austin.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 10.
LINACRE (8 imp.). Bay Horse, 1904, by Wolf’s Crag—Lismaine. Winner
Champion Breeders’ Foal Stakes, Atlantic Stakes, etc. One of the
leading sires of Australia; his progeny include Dame Acre, Mistico,
Tangalooma, Panacre, Lordacre, etc. The property of Messrs. A. W.
and A. E. Thompson, Widden Stud, N.S.W. From a painting of the
horse, at the age of 17 years, in the possession of the artist.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 11.
YIPPINGALE (1) imp. Bay Mare, 1909, half sister to Traquair (imp.), by
William the Third—Chelandry. With foal at foot by Comedy King
(imp.). The property of Mr. Norman Falkiner, Noorilim, Victoria.
From a painting of the mare, at the age of 11 years, in the
possession of Mr. Falkiner.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 12.
TRAFALGAR (4*). Ches. Horse, 1905, by Wallace—Grand Canary. Winner of
£22,111, and a high-class stayer. Now at the stud in N.S.W. Sire of
Visibility, Heart of Oak, Annexit, etc. Owned by the Executors of
the late Walter Mitchell, N.S.W. From a painting of the horse, at
the age of 7 years, in the possession of Dr. Stewart McKay.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 13.
BRATTLE (1). Brown Mare, 1910, by Maltster—Astron. Winner V.A.T.C.
Oakleigh Plate, etc. Owned by Mr. W. Booth, N.S.W. From a painting
of the mare, at the age of 4 years, in the possession of Dr. Stewart
McKay.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 14.
POITREL (3). Ches. Horse, 1914, by St. Alwyne (imp.)—Poinard. Winner
of £26,919, including Melbourne Cup carrying 10 st., and all the
principal long-distance weight-for-age races of Australia. A very
high-class stayer. Retired to his owners’ (Messrs. W. and F. A.
Moses) stud in 1921. From a painting of the horse, at the age of 6
years, in the possession of the artist.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 15.
GLOAMING (26). Bay Gelding, 1915, by The Welkin (imp.)—Light (imp.).
Winner of 43 races out of 46 starts to date of publication, and
£28,443. One of the most brilliant horses bred in Australia. Owned
by Mr. G. D. Greenwood, N.Z. From a painting of the horse, at the
age of 6 years, in the possession of the artist.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 16.
ARTILLERYMAN (7). Brown Horse, 1916, by Comedy King (imp.)—Cross
Battery. Winner V.R.C. Melbourne Cup, dead-heated A.J.C. Derby, etc.
Died in 1920. From a painting of the horse, at the age of 4 years,
presented to the A.J.C. by Sir Samuel Hordern.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 17.
TRIPTYCH. Cross Battery, with Artilleryman as a foal at foot in 1916.
Comedy King (imp.) the sire of Artilleryman. Artilleryman, winner of
the V.R.C. Melbourne Cup, 1919. From a painting in the possession of
Sir Samuel Hordern.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 18.
CETIGNE (29). Bay Horse, 1912, by Grafton (imp.)—Pretty Nell. Winner
of £27,216, and second on the list of winning Australian racehorses.
Retired to the stud in 1921. Owned by Mr. T. A. Stirton, Dunlop
Stud, N.S.W. From a painting of the horse, at the age of 7 years.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 19.
KENNAQUHAIR (2). Ches. Horse, 1914, by Kenilworth (imp. Fr.)—Calluna.
Winner of £17,126, and a very fine individual and stayer. Retired to
the Mungie Bundie Stud in 1922. From a painting of the horse, at the
age of 6 years, in the possession of Mr. W. M. Borthwick.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 20.
COMEDY KING (7) imp. Black Horse, 1907, by Persimmon—Tragedy Queen.
Winner of the Melbourne Cup, V.R.C. All-Aged Stakes, etc., and
£12,945. One of the most successful stallions in Australia, having
sired Artilleryman, Biplane, Fiscom, Folly Queen, etc. The property
of Mr. Norman Falkiner, Noorilim Stud, Victoria. From a painting of
the horse, at the age of 13 years, in the possession of Mr. Ken.
Austin.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 21.
WOORAK (31). Ches. Horse, 1911, by Traquair (imp.)—Madam. Winner of
£17,000, and the most brilliant horse of his time. Retired to the
stud in 1917 and a very successful stallion. Sire of Soorak, Salrak,
Yanda, etc. Raced by Mr. L. K. S. Mackinnon, Victoria. From a
painting of the horse, at the age of 5 years, in the possession of
Dr. Stewart McKay.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 22.
PANACRE (†). Brn. Horse, 1912, by Linacre (imp.)—Panara. Winner of the
A.J.C. Epsom Hcap., etc. Retired to his owner’s (Mr. J. C. Wood)
stud in 1921. From a painting of the horse, at the age of 5 years,
in the possession of Mr. J. Campbell Wood.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 23.
EURYTHMIC (5). Ches. Horse, 1916, by Eudorus (imp.)—Bob Cherry. The
largest stake winner of Australia, having won £33,066, including the
Sydney Cup with 9 st. 8 lbs. Owned by Mr. E. Lee Steere, W.A. From a
painting of the horse, at the age of 5 years, in the possession of
the artist.
]
[Illustration:
PLATE 24.
THE FINISH FOR THE A.J.C. CRAVEN PLATE, 1918, 1¼ miles, Randwick,
N.S.W. Reading from the rails: Cetigne (A. Wood) first, Desert Gold
(fourth), Wolaroi (second), Estland (third). From a painting in the
possession of Mr. W. A. Crowle.
]
MARTIN STAINFORTH: AN APPRECIATION
By W. J. STEWART McKAY.
Next to a fine picture of a lovely woman there is nothing perhaps which
more strongly appeals to the æsthetic sense than a picture of a splendid
thoroughbred horse. This accounts, probably, for the vogue for pictures
of racehorses by Herring and artists of lesser note, which existed in
England during the last century.
These pictures, however, when scrutinised with the critical eye of
to-day, are found to be full of inaccuracies and exaggerations. For
example, many of us are more or less familiar with the style of picture
frequently displayed in old English inns, and, more rarely, in our own
country. The horse is almost invariably depicted as standing in a stable
with a small feed-box in one corner, his muscles bulging out and his
contour greatly accentuated by the aid of unaccountable lights and
shades. Every animal was shown with a ridiculously small head, tapering
legs and tiny feet. Again, the horse may be shown in action, galloping,
his ears well back, legs stretched out to their fullest extent, and the
animal a foot or more clear of the ground, while in the background a few
spectators in top hats appear watching “The Devil doing his gallop.”
Still another phase in these sporting pictures was the introduction of
the owner and trainer as in Hobbs’ painting of “Eclipse,” and Herring’s
picture of “The Flying Dutchman,” or a number of horses racing in the
familiar stretched-out attitude, the jockeys sitting bolt upright with
arms fully extended. In the background are seen the winning post and a
long line of excited spectators.
The greater skill of present-day artists, coupled with the advent of the
cinematograph (which has provided them with the means of studying the
horse in motion), has been responsible for some wonderfully accurate and
lifelike portrayals of the more prominent of our equine celebrities. It
may be said with little fear of contradiction, that among latter day
artists, few, if any, have been more successful in horse portraiture
than Martin Stainforth. His pictures usually represent a horse as
possessed of irreproachable manners, standing quite still, and of
exemplary docility. But when he leaves this favourite pose and gives us
the racehorse in action his art achieves supreme heights.
An Englishman by birth, Stainforth came to this country in 1909 and now
claims to have served a sufficient period of probation to entitle him to
be an Australian by adoption. A year or so of station life with his
cousin in North Queensland inspired him with such enthusiasm for the
outdoor life and our genial climate that a return to London was out of
the question, so he decided to come to Sydney, there to indulge a
long-cherished ambition to paint Australia’s thoroughbreds for which he
had conceived so warm an admiration.
I am the fortunate possessor of Stainforth’s picture of “Artilleryman”
finishing in his memorable Melbourne Cup. The horse is shown going at
top speed, quite off the ground, with his legs well under him. The
drawing is absolutely correct, and shows that there is at least one
phase of the gallop which is graceful and sightly. But his finest
interpretation of the moving horse is to be seen in his great picture of
the most exciting finish in a classic race ever seen at Randwick. It was
a memorable meeting of four champions in the Craven Plate of 1918, when
the faithful Cetigne, ridden by Albert Wood, forced his way through a
chance opening at the last moment and snatched victory from the
brilliant Wolaroi, the hardy Estland, and the consistent Desert Gold.
The canvas brings the scene back to all of us who witnessed the event so
vividly that we live those few intense seconds over again; we do not see
the impossible horses depicted by Herring; we see four horses, lifelike
in the fidelity of their pictured action, and each horse an entity in
itself. In a fast and close finish the eye cannot distinguish minute
details of the struggling horses, and the painter, cognisant of this,
does not attempt that detail which he would portray if he were painting
a stationary and specially posed horse. His chief object is to convey
the impression of rapid movement. That is the essential, and he has
achieved this with such consummate art that the picture is a classic
among racing paintings. In Australia the horse is a national asset, and
in the Craven Plate picture Stainforth has endeavoured to depict for
posterity the most outstanding and memorable classic event in the annals
of our turf history. By his signal success he has earned the thanks of
all lovers of a good horse.
Stainforth’s art, however, is not confined to the painting of horses
alone. As an exponent of that now almost forgotten art, wood engraving,
he has proved himself a master. Both Lord Leighton and Sir John Millais,
as Presidents of the Royal Academy, selected some of his work for the
Exhibitions at Paris, Berlin and Brussels as the best examples of the
English engraver’s art. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy on many
occasions and has achieved considerable success as an illustrator for
the principal English magazines. But his best work as an engraver is to
be found, perhaps, in the illustrations to Grant Allen’s “Evolution of
Art.” Much of Stainforth’s present-day skill as a painter of horses is
no doubt due to the patience and attention to detail with which he
became imbued as an exponent of the engraver’s art.
One has only to study his “Head of Trafalgar” to realise that he holds a
high place among the great painters of animals. This work is a
wonderfully lifelike and faithful reproduction of the erstwhile turf
idol. The head is framed in bold relief by the shadow of the empty box,
a look of expectancy is in the eyes, and our attention is irresistibly
drawn to the well-shaped ears and the long, white blaze that so many of
us have watched with anxious hearts as the game old battler was
commencing his characteristic finishing run to victory. Note how
beautifully the cheek fades away to a neck, whose glossy sheen covers
smooth rolls of muscles. Surely his nostrils move, and the old horse
breathes again! If Landseer had painted no picture but his “Fighting
Dogs Getting Wind,” a work which he executed when quite a young man,
that effort alone would have raised him to the first rank of animal
painters. And without hesitation I claim that Stainforth’s “Head of
Trafalgar” is one of the finest studies of the horse in existence, and,
as an experienced student of sporting pictures, I declare that his
“Craven Plate” is the greatest racing picture ever painted.
Recently I stood before his “Poitrel,” that great horse whose
achievements almost equalled the mighty Carbine. He stands on a trimmed
plot of grass with a wall at the rear, his shapely, ruddy chestnut form
in such clear relief that we realise at a glance how this strong fellow
won a Melbourne Cup with ten stone on his back. He stands poised in his
virile beauty of pliant muscles and shining coat, a splendid specimen of
the thoroughbred—truly a picture that will bring delight to future
generations of horse-lovers. Such a picture should belong to the Nation.
[Illustration:
DUKE FOOTE (1). Bay Horse, 1907, by Sir Foote (imp.)—Ortelle (imp.).
Winner of £14,069, and a high-class horse. Now at his owner’s (Mr.
John Brown) Will’s Gully Stud, N.S.W. From a painting of the horse,
at the age of 5 years, in the possession of Dr. Stewart McKay.
]
[Illustration:
DESERT GOLD (2). Bay Mare, 1912, by All Black (imp.)—Aurarius. Winner
of £23,133, and one of the best mares bred in Australasia. Now at
her owner’s (Mr. T. H. Lowry) stud in New Zealand. From a sketch of
the mare, at the age of 5 years, in the possession of the artist.
]
[Illustration:
MALT KING (5). Ches. Horse, 1906, by Maltster—Patrona. A very
brilliant horse, winning £12,663, including All-Aged Stakes, Sires
Produce Stakes, Metropolitan Hcap., etc. Retired to his owners’
(Messrs. J. E. and C. H. Brien) stud in 1913, and his progeny
include Maltgilla, Green Malt, Hawker, Pannikin, etc. From a
painting of the horse, at the age of 5 years, presented to the
A.J.C. by Mr. J. E. Brien.
]
[Illustration:
BIPLANE (3). Brown Horse, 1914, by Comedy King (imp.)—Air Motor.
Winner of £13,596, including A.J.C. and V.R.C. Derbies, Craven
Plate, etc. Retired to the stud in 1922. Raced by Mr. G. D.
Greenwood (N.Z.) and now owned by Mr. T. A. Stirton, Dunlop Stud,
Merriwa. From a sketch of the horse, at the age of 3 years, in the
possession of Mrs. H. Gordon.
]
[Illustration:
THE WELKIN (19). Brown Horse, 1904, by Flying Fox—Woodbury. Imported
in 1910. A brilliant sprinter and a phenomenal stud success. Premier
sire of Australia for 1921–22. Among his progeny are Gloaming,
Furious, Thrice, Rosina, Isa, Three, etc. Standing at the Melton
Stud, Victoria, the property of Mr. E. E. D. Clarke. From a sketch
of the horse at the age of 16 years in the possession of the artist.
]
[Illustration:
CAGOU (13). Brown Horse, 1909, by Ayr Laddie (imp.)—Tartar. Winner of
£15,514, including A.J.C. Metropolitan Handicap (twice). Owned by
Mrs. O. C. Flemmich, and now at the stud in Queensland. From a
painting of the horse at the age of 7 years, now in the possession
of Mrs. Flemmich.
]
[Illustration:
GREENSTEAD (4*). Brown Horse, 1914, by The Welkin (imp.)—Tuning Fork.
Winner of £12,450, including A.J.C. Epsom Hcap., etc. Now at the
stud in N.S.W. From a painting of the horse, at the age of 6 years,
in the possession of Mrs. F. Body.
]
[Illustration:
BEAUFORD (18). Brown Gelding, 1916, by Beau Soult—Blueford. Winner in
1922 of 8 races and £11,390 up to the date of publication. One of
the most brilliant horses of recent years. Raced by his breeder, Mr.
W. H. Mackay, Sydney. From a painting of the horse, at the age of 6
years, in the possession of the artist.
]
[Illustration:
MARTIN STAINFORTH sketching the famous Poitrel. The artist when
preparing for a painting, inspects the horse and makes written notes
and slight sketches.
]
[Illustration:
A couple of pages reproduced actual size from Martin Stainforth’s
note-book. He makes detailed notes of outstanding features and
carefully preserves the general character of the horse.
]
[Illustration:
At his studio he makes a memory sketch of the horse as it impressed
him. On a second visit he corrects various parts and paints these
separately until the character is secured.
]
[Illustration:
With his note-book, his rough sketch and careful studies of various
parts, the artist proceeds to paint the finished picture, using the
rough sketch as his main guide.
]
[Illustration:
By this method the artist obtains freshness, virility and truth that
could not be secured if a complete painting were attempted from an
animal in training.
]
[Illustration:
“Ready,” a sketch by Martin Stainforth in the National Art Gallery of
N.S.W. In the original of this sketch Martin Stainforth has
displayed excellent technique, and shows his facility for painting
animals in a lifelike manner.
]
[Illustration:
In his paintings of dogs the same extreme care is shown to preserve
the character of the animal. Pal, the bull dog sketched above, is
owned by Mrs. Herbert Marks.
]
[Illustration:
In this picture Martin Stainforth has successfully overcome the
problem of painting an eight-year-old setter as it would have
appeared at the age of three. The dog, Mallwyd Albert, is owned by
Dr. Herbert Marks.
]
There have been a few men in Australia who could both draw and paint the
horse. One of them was Douglas Fry. I knew him well, and had every
opportunity of examining his work. As a draughtsman he was fine. His
pencil studies of horses showed expert facility, yet when he employed
colour as his medium, though he produced an artistic study, the animal
often lacked that lifelike quality so essential to a successful
portrait. Stainforth may not be able to do with the pencil what Fry
could, and I am sure he doesn’t know the horse as Fry did, yet he far
out-distances his late rival, not only in his facility for technical
expression and in his gift for infusing life, but because he has the
power to delicately handle his subject without robbing it of its
strength and character.
Aylyng Arnold, who from 1906 to 1910 was a special correspondent for the
“London Sporting Life,” happened to be visiting Australia in 1915 and
saw some of our artist’s work in Melbourne. He did not know Stainforth,
but he went back to his hotel and wrote him a letter in which the
following words occur: “I can confidently say I have seen as many
portraits of horses as falls to the lot of any one man, but never have I
seen anything approaching yours.”
It is surprising to find how few notable Australian horse-owners have a
sufficient affection for their animals to desire their portraiture in
paint.
I once asked Stainforth to give me some idea of his methods. He replied
that he first examines the horse carefully, making small pencil sketches
with remarks on characteristic features, and then, with the impressions
fresh in his mind, makes a small sketch in colour from 8 to 12 inches in
size, giving as far as possible the pose, proportions and colour,
without any attempt at fine detail. This study is then compared with the
horse, and any alterations that are necessary are made, and further
notes are made all round the study. In some cases he makes several
sketches, each one getting nearer the perfect representation. The head
is the part that requires the greatest care, and many studies of this
alone may have to be made before he is satisfied with the results.
Having decided the size of the canvas, he next decides on the pose which
will best suggest the character of the subject and the direction from
which the light will fall to show to best advantage such salient
features as the head, shoulders or quarters. An appropriate background
has also to be chosen.
When we come to sum up the merits of Martin Stainforth as a painter of
horses, the first point which must be conceded in his favour is his
power for conveying a faithful delineation of the particular animal that
he is dealing with. He possesses a gift for detecting a horse’s chief
characteristics and is thus enabled to interpret anything in the
animal’s conformation that is vital in helping to make the completed
work an accurate portrait, in addition to its being an agreeable work of
art. As regards his medium, he is equally at home in either water-colour
or oils, but he tells me that oils give him much more scope for his
large pictures, while water-colour is more suitable for his small
studies. His technique has reached such a pitch that he can paint a
horse’s coat with such fine detail and beauty of texture that it
resembles the work of a painter of miniatures.
Stainforth’s love for the horse helps him to strike the ideal pose for
each particular animal, and this is most happily shown in his studies of
the brilliant Woorak, who was noted for his exuberant spirits and
playful, contented nature. Perhaps there is nothing more difficult to
achieve in painting a horse than the successful suggestion of his
muscular body by means of delicate light and shade. The ordinary painter
of the horse generally represents exaggerated muscles, but in
Stainforth’s horses, though we do not actually see muscles brought into
relief, we are nevertheless made aware of their presence under the
glossy skin with its vivid sheen.
The reproductions of Stainforth’s pictures included in this volume will
serve in a great measure to prove to the public generally his calibre as
a painter of the horse. Those of us, however, who have had the pleasure
of studying his work in the originals, have every confidence in allowing
posterity to judge of his merits. Certain it is, that at no distant date
his pictures will be acclaimed and much sought after as classic examples
of equine portraiture.
THE SECRET OF STAYING POWER
By Dr. W. J. STEWART McKAY
The ambition of every man that breeds racehorses is to produce a good
stayer. That this is a difficult matter is made evident by the large
number of horses entered for the Derby and St. Leger and the few that
run.
Therefore the question is naturally asked: Why cannot all horses run a
distance? The answer is that all horses can run a distance; it’s the
_time they take_ that is the important point.
In dealing with the questions relating to “staying,” we must take into
consideration _distance_, _time_, and _weight_. We must try and find out
the difference between the horses that can sprint six furlongs in 1.12
and the horses that can go two miles in 3.24, and ask how they differ
from the horses that can go 80 miles from sunrise to sunset.
If a number of racing men and breeders of racehorses were to gather
round a ring, and five horses—say, Soultline, Prince Foote, Woorak,
Desert Gold and Poitrel—were brought into the ring, would it be
possible, if the onlookers did not know the horses or their
pedigree—would it be possible, I ask—to pick out the real stayers? Could
a good judge tell that Woorak could just get a mile, and that Prince
Foote, who was about the same size and build, could stay all day? Could
a good judge say that Soultline could not stay a mile? and tell that
Desert Gold, the champion of her day, was no champion once she was asked
to go much more than a mile and a half? I doubt very much whether any
judge could place these horses in the true order of their staying powers
by merely inspecting them. The late Andrew Town, who may be regarded as
one who knew everything that was to be known about the points of a
horse, once said to me that had he seen Carbine with a rough coat in a
country sale-yard that he would not have rushed to buy him.
If judges were able to tell the future of racehorses by their
conformation, then yearlings that are sold at 1,500 guineas would not be
such consistent failures. Let us never forget that the father of English
racehorses, the immortal Eclipse, was sold as a yearling for less than a
hundred guineas; yet he was the ancestor of Sceptre, who was sold for
10,000 guineas as a yearling, and the ancestor of Flying Fox, who
fetched 39,375 guineas at public auction.
What, let us ask, is the secret of Staying Power?
We may say at the outset that all the horses that we have mentioned
above had the requisite bone and muscle. Soultline and Woorak could
each have carried a sixteen-stone man without turning a hair, and the
same could have been said of Desert Gold. While, then, we must grant
that a given horse must have the proper development of bone and
muscle, this development must be of a particular pattern. This, of
course, is obvious; a Clydesdale has far more muscle and bone than any
racehorse, but the type of muscle is of no use for speed, though
suitable for endurance, and we shall see later on that endurance is a
very different thing to staying power. Mere size is not the secret,
since some of the finest-looking horses ever seen at Randwick have
been non-stayers—Machine Gun, Malt King and Tangalooma, for instance.
But it is because size so largely influences one’s mind that high
prices are given for well-grown colts in the hope that they will prove
“Derby colts.” If we study the history of the evolution of the
racehorse we shall find some justification for this idea, for the
present-day horse is a bigger animal than he was in former days. While
the average racehorse nowadays, among the best horses, would be over
16 hands, we find, if we go back to 1745, that 15.2 (the height of
Sampson) was considered almost gigantic. Captain Hayes thought that
English horses had increased an average of an inch in height between
1867 and 1897, and that the average horse was six inches taller than
he was 200 years ago. Certain it is that pony horses don’t win the
Derby nowadays.
But, as I have said above, the size of the horse is not the essential
point; with size there must go a particular type of heart, if a horse is
going to stay. Anyone who saw Beragoon as a yearling might easily have
mistaken him for a two-year-old, and a year later he looked like a
three-year-old, and he was as good as he looked, for he won the Derby
here and in Victoria, yet he could not stay in the true sense of the
word.
While large size is the rule among stayers, yet small horses may
occasionally be good stayers and have the required pace. That marvellous
horse Prince Foote was very stoutly built, but he was not taller than
Woorak—this his trainer, Frank McGrath, assures me—yet he won
everything, including Derbys, Legers, and a Melbourne Cup. He had the
proper staying heart and he transmitted it to Prince Charles and enabled
him to win a recent Sydney Cup. Yet in the same stable was Furious with
a Welkin heart; the one with the non-staying heart was, a little before
the day, almost favourite, the other went out at 33 to 1, and won.
Wakeful, the finest mare over all distances ever seen on the Australian
turf, was on the small size, yet she won the Sydney Cup with 9.7 in the
saddle.
We may at once admit that there may often be a very considerable
difference between the conformation of the stayer and the sprinter, yet
the real difference lies hidden from the sight of the judge, for the
difference is in the _particular kind of heart that the animal has
inherited_.
If my contention as regards the heart be accepted, we then have a simple
explanation of the common rule that staying sires produce staying stock.
Carbine, for instance, was the prince of stayers, and his son, Wallace,
gave us Trafalgar and innumerable other stayers. Positano was a stayer,
and he gave us four Melbourne Cup winners. Maltster, on the other hand,
was an indifferent stayer, and while he was one of the most successful
sires in the whole world, he gave us only one stayer, Alawa. Some of his
sons and daughters could just get a mile and a half—Malt King and
Maltine were both Metropolitan winners, but they could go no further.
Thus it is brought home to us that though a sire may be the father of
hundreds of brilliant milers, it is reserved for a few horses to beget
stayers of two miles or more. Nothing could show this better than a
study of the progeny of Grafton and Linacre. These sires have been the
fathers of hundreds of horses that have won races up to a mile, and yet
we look in vain for long-distance horses from either. True it is that
Peru won an Australian Cup, and that Lingle and Erasmus both ran second
in the Melbourne Cup, but three swallows don’t make a spring.
Let us then recognise this fact, that just as a man may transmit his
nose, his eyes or his ears to his sons and daughters, just so may a
horse transmit his bone, his muscle, his colour and his _heart_ to his
sons and daughters. So now we come to the secret: It matters not whether
a horse is black or brown or chestnut—the essential thing the animal has
to possess in order that he may stay is a _staying heart_.
Now, the first objection that will be put forward to this proposition is
that every now and then a true stayer arises from a non-staying sire—I
admit this is true. I have already mentioned that Alawa was a son of
Maltster; Lingle a son of Linacre, Peru from Grafton, while Eurythmic,
the most wonderful horse at present racing, who won a Sydney Cup
carrying 9.8 on his back, with a run that will for ever make him famous,
had for a sire Eudorus, a brilliant horse for a mile, especially when
that mile was in the mud!
The answer to these objections is that, just as a genius _sometimes_
comes from a back-lane; just as a poet is born in a hovel; just as some
great orator comes from a peasant stock; so with a sprinter for a sire
we get sometimes a stayer. This would have been explained by Darwin by
his theory of Atavism—throwing back to a former ancestor for hidden
powers—and this is a reasonable explanation. Thus we may reasonably say
that David, through his granddam Wakeful, did inherit some of her
ancestor Musket’s power to stay. But this leads up to another
explanation that can be put forth with plenty of examples to back it
up—i.e., that the horse may get his staying powers from his _mother_:
that is, that he has inherited his dam’s heart, not his sire’s.
Eurythmic must be regarded as an excellent example of this, for, as we
have just mentioned, Eudorus was but a good miler, and his other sons do
not show staying powers in spite of the fact that Eusebius won a Derby
and a V.R.C. St. Leger, both, however, in shocking time! But when we
come to examine the pedigree of Bob Cherry, the dam of Eurythmic, we
find that staying is spelt in every line of her pedigree, being by
Bodadil from Ardea by Wallace.
Now that I have enunciated my theory, let me suggest why it is that some
horses begin their career in brilliant fashion, and look from their
first performances as though they would stay, and yet go off and never
come back. My opinion is that some of these horses have poor hearts and
are made too much use of during their two-year-old period; while some
horses during their early three-year-old career are asked to do more
than their hearts are fit to do, as a consequence their _hearts become
dilated_. They fail time after time, and are consequently called rogues;
in reality, they may be quite honest animals, but their strained hearts
cannot respond when called upon—Bigaroon, I think, is an example.
I regard the failure of Eurythmic, when matched against Beauford, as an
instance of the dilated heart. Eurythmic was asked to carry the record
weight of 10.7 in the Futurity Stakes. He won, and critics said that it
was merely a welter race, and that he had nothing to beat. When he came
to Sydney to run against Beauford, almost every trainer gave their
opinion that Eurythmic would win. What happened? He pulled up absolutely
in distress, and a few days later was beaten by David and Furious over
two miles. The real explanation is that no matter what may be said to
the contrary, Eurythmic did not have a true staying heart, having
inherited it from his mother; that it probably became strained in the
Futurity and probably dilated, and that while he may win at a mile or a
little more, I think it unlikely that he will ever win at two miles
again.[1]
Footnote 1:
This was written in April, 1922.
Let me make my meaning about the dilated heart quite clear. First of
all, one must understand that the heart is a pump; that its walls are
composed of muscle—though not of the same kind of muscle that the flesh
of the arms and legs is made of. Then the valves of this wonderful pump
are made of very strong tissue almost as strong as fine canvas.
Considering the amount of work that the heart is called upon to do,
getting no entire rest either night or day, the wonder is that it can
keep on for sixty or seventy years in man, and twenty or more in the
horse, in such a very efficient manner.
Now, if a man who has been working in an office gets “run down” from
overwork, and takes it into his head to go off for a holiday, and part
of that holiday is devoted to climbing mountains, he will often come
back to his office in a worse condition than when he started. What has
happened? He has tried to make his heart muscle do work which it is not
prepared to do. He has strained his heart. In other words, this
wonderful pump has done its best to cope with the extra work that it was
called upon to do, and while it may have succeeded, the effort has
affected it, and the result of the extra work performed is that the
heart has become _dilated_, and, for the time being, it is not able to
do the ordinary work that it is called upon to perform. Provided such a
heart is rested and nursed it may come back, but if the possessor of
such a heart tries to drive it, and does not rest it, then that heart
will fail to do ordinary work, and will most certainly fail if asked to
perform extra work.
What happens to the untrained office-man happens over and over again on
the racecourse to horses that are asked to win races when they are not
“ready”—that is, when they are only half-trained; and while they may
succeed they often dilate their unprepared hearts in their honest
efforts to succeed. The most recent example of this is Salrak, injured
by his Newcastle race.
Again, when a horse is “ready” and his muscles are fit and he is quite
able to run a mile and carry a decent weight, he is asked to run a mile
and a half; he makes a mighty effort, and from that day on he never does
himself justice in a race, for his effort strained his heart; and not
being allowed to rest, his heart remains dilated till the end of his
days.
Let me illustrate these general remarks by a few concrete instances.
Woorak was a most brilliant two-year-old; his bones were short and
strong, his hindquarters were perfect, while his muscles were so
exquisite that had he been cast in bronze he would have been a joy for
ever. He ran in the Chelmsford stakes as a three-year-old, and won,
beating his great rival Mountain Knight. Then came the Derby a few weeks
later. Everyone who had seen Woorak race recognised the fact that he
must be given his head, and that to check him would be fatal. He was a
very pronounced favourite, and one of the most experienced trainers said
to me: “If you don’t back Woorak don’t bet on the race.” But I
remembered that Woorak’s sire had been only a brilliant sprinter in
England, so I backed Mountain Knight at six to one simply because his
sire, Mountain King, had a Wallace-Carbine heart and could run a mile
and a half, and even further, at a brilliant pace. The Derby was run and
Woorak put up the effort of his career, but was beaten in the last
hundred yards by a very narrow margin. Now we come to the after-history.
Five days later Woorak was brought out to run in the Craven Plate, ten
furlongs, and he won in record time; some of the field being at the
half-distance when he was walking in. From that day onwards Woorak never
won at a distance again. These two races dilated his heart, and a mile
was the length of his tether. Watching him do his training gallops at
Randwick during the winter of 1916, I became convinced that as he had to
carry less than weight-for-age in the Epsom that he would be able to run
the mile right out. I backed him well and truly, and was rewarded by
seeing him win the Epsom by six lengths in a common canter. Now this
form so impressed the public that a few days later they simply rushed to
back him in the Craven Plate, he having only four opponents. He was at
odds-on, and ran in front to the half-distance, then his dilated heart
failed suddenly and he was easily beaten by St. Carwyne and Reputation.
Let me take another example. Wallace Isinglass was a fine upstanding
three-year-old with plenty of bone and plenty of muscle, and had a
proper Derby-Wallace-Carbine inherited heart. He ran in the Rosehill
Guineas a few weeks before the Derby of 1916, the distance being
increased from seven furlongs to a mile and a furlong, and he was made
an odds-on favourite. By some means he got into a bad position, and when
he entered the straight he seemed to have no chance of beating Cetigne.
Then he made a wonderful effort; it was the effort of a horse with a
stout heart, and he put every ounce of reserve he had into the final
run, and inch by inch he gained on the brilliant, honest Cetigne, and
won by a nose! Never was a braver effort ever seen on a racecourse, and
I felt that he had to thank his Wallace heart—not to mention what his
dam (Glass Queen) may have added—for his victory.
This victory made him an odds-on favourite for the Derby, and Bobby
Lewis, thinking that he had a real Wallace stayer to handle, determined
to “make the running” and knock Cetigne out; but he failed for two
reasons. In the first place, he hurried his mount most unwisely for the
first half-mile, forgetting what Fred Archer had laid down as a rule,
that if you hurry a stayer enough for the first half-mile you will kill
him dead; and, in the second place, Bobby not being a pathologist did
not know anything about dilated hearts, so he evidently took it for
granted that his mount’s heart was of the true Wallace brand. But he
found to his dismay that he had made so much use of his horse that he
died in his hands in the last fifty yards and Cetigne won. The effort
certainly did not do Cetigne’s non-staying heart any good, for he never
ran a decent race over a distance afterwards, though he lived to win the
most dramatic race ever seen at Randwick when he won the Craven Plate in
record time in 1918. Now, though Cetigne had a non-staying heart—Grafton
being no sire of stayers—yet he must have had a very sound heart to win
a Newmarket six furlongs with 9 stone in 1.13½, a Villiers mile in 1.38¼
with 9.4 in the saddle, and lower Woorak’s Craven Plate record of 2.5¼
to 2.4½; and yet he could not run a mile and a half with success in good
company.
Let me say that a heart that is dilated may recover if the animal is
properly rested. Wallace Isinglass being bred to have a staying heart on
his sire’s side as well as on his dam’s side, was judiciously nursed by
his rich owner, and, as a result, as a four-year-old and a five-year-old
he did well over a distance, and lived to defeat Desert Gold at two
miles in Melbourne, and to run Lanius and Westcourt to a neck over the
Cumberland Stakes two miles.
Let us see if we can learn anything of use from the above remarks. The
chief lesson that is to be learnt is: _That you can’t make a stayer out
of a horse that has not inherited a staying heart, train him as you
will_. The old ideal that if you wanted a horse to run two miles you had
to train him over that distance was absurd. You must, of course, get the
animal’s muscles in a fit condition, and that can be done by slow, long
work, and by running him at a fast pace from time to time over a mile or
so; but you can’t make his heart carry him two miles _at the requisite
pace_ if he does not inherit the proper kind of heart, _no matter how
you train him_! It is quite true that a horse in some cases stays better
the older he gets, because his heart improves; still the fact remains
that the true stayer is _born_, not made.
After all in staying it is the _pace_ that tells; in other words, a
great stayer must have the power to run at a great pace all the way and
to have something out of the common to finish with; and unless the horse
has an inherited staying heart it is quite impossible for him to finish
well. When we think of the run that Poitrel with 9.9 on his back made
when Kennaquhair won the Sydney Cup in 3.22¾; when we think of the run
he made in the Spring Stakes when he beat Desert Gold in 2.31 one year,
and Gloaming in the same race the following year; when we think how he
finished in his Melbourne Cup, carrying ten stone, then we realise what
a true staying heart is capable of doing when called upon.
It has often been observed that great stayers are wont to hang behind in
the early stages of a long-distance race. No one, for instance, ever saw
anything of old Tartan until the distance was reached, then he would
come along like a bolt from the blue and smother his opponents, as he
did with 9.6 in the Australian Cup. This is quite characteristic of the
stayer. If you hurry him too much in the early stages of a long race you
will defeat him. The reason is that his heart must not be asked to do
too much too quickly. You must let him gradually get his heart beating
in a slow, methodical way, and then all goes well, and when the time
comes everything is as it should be; his lungs being unimpeded in their
work co-operate with the heart. If, however, you hurry the stayer too
much in the first part of the race the circulation becomes upset—that
is, the circulation in the lungs causes an engorgement that interferes
with the breathing of the horse, and with the smooth working of his
heart.
Some stayers have a particular kind of heart which enables them to
sprint, and, at the same time, it allows them to begin quickly in a
distance race, to get into a good position early, and to keep their
places. Poseidon was such a horse. He was a perfect stayer, could sprint
like a pure sprinter, and was so clever in a big field that he could
take up any position he liked in any race no matter the distance.
Mooltan, another horse with a Positano heart, could run a mile (second
in the Epsom), win a Metropolitan, and run second in a Melbourne Cup. No
better example of this type of horse could be found now than Sasanoff—a
perfect sprinter and a perfect stayer. Wakeful was another.
Again, there are some horses who can run in front of the field for a
distance and keep up the pace. They, in fact, run a waiting race in
front. These horses, however, are often not _true_ stayers. Desert Gold,
Biplane and Gloaming could each do this for a mile and a half; for two
miles Prince Bardolph did it in the Sydney Cup with success, and tried
to do the same thing in the Australian Cup, but when he had gone two
miles and a furlong a horse with a Carbine heart—Defence—caught and beat
him easily. Posinatus won his Melbourne Cup in this way from start to
finish, and I fancy Newhaven did the same thing, while Harvest King,
with a Comedy King staying heart, won the last Australian Cup and led
throughout.
Now a word on _Endurance_: this is not the same thing as staying. The
difference between the two is a matter of pace. For instance, some
horses in East India can sprint quite well for three furlongs, but
cannot go fast for any distance, yet they are capable of going 80 miles
in a cart from sunrise to sunset. This brings home to us that staying
power—that is, the ability to go two miles at a very rapid pace—requires
a different type of heart to the endurance heart. We may admit that this
latter must be a good type of heart, but it is a different type to the
staying heart. The endurance heart is well illustrated when we come to
deal with jumping horses. We all know of horses that could only get a
mile on the flat—say, for instance, Lord Nagar, who won the Villiers—yet
when these horses become hurdlers we see them putting up records and
winning over two miles in quite brilliant fashion. The explanation is
that it is only a matter of _pace_. A cab horse can run two miles, but
his pace is nothing. A hurdler can run two miles, but the time he takes
would leave him a furlong or two behind in a weight-for-age race.
Therefore when we say a horse can _stay_, we imply the possession of a
heart that can stand the enormous strain of running two miles, or more,
in time that will not much exceed three minutes twenty-six seconds,
carrying a good weight.
And now that I have mentioned weight, let us ask: What effect has weight
on a horse in regard to staying?
If we walk and carry a weight we can go a certain distance and not feel
fatigued, but if we attempt to run with the same weight we soon find out
the difference. In walking we always have one foot on the ground; in
running we are entirely off the ground at times. In walking we put
little strain on the heart, for the foot that is always on the ground
helps us; while in running we have to lift the whole weight of the body
from the ground, and so we call on the heart to do much more work. If
then, we have to carry a weight and run, we have not only to lift the
body from the ground but also the weight. Naturally, the heart is called
upon to do more work and becomes exhausted in proportion to the amount
of weight carried, the distance it is carried, and the time consumed.
The heart muscle, as a matter of fact, in great exertion has to work at
eight times its normal rate, and so it becomes tired, and the effect of
fatigue is simply to reduce the output of the heart.
Weight acts on the heart in the same way that distance does—that is,
weight tires the heart after a certain amount of energy has been
expended, and distance exhausts the heart in galloping on account of the
amount of work required from the heart; a horse may trot fifty miles who
cannot gallop two; the reason being that in the trot his body is not
entirely off the ground, in the gallop it is. It is the pace that tells.
There are many horses capable of carrying a huge weight at a great pace
for a short distance, and yet they cannot carry a light weight for a
long distance. Thus Woorak, as he got on in years, could carry
weight-for-age for a mile, but we saw 9.12 send him into second place in
the Doncaster; yet he ran away with the Oakleigh Plate, 5½ furlongs,
with ten stone five in the saddle. What a heart the immortal Carbine
must have had when he carried this very same weight to victory in his
celebrated Melbourne Cup! Is it any wonder that Wallace and Trafalgar
inherited great staying hearts?
THE AUSTRALIAN JOCKEY CLUB
AND RANDWICK
By KEN AUSTIN
There is a faded document hanging in the Secretary’s room at the
Australian Jockey Club offices. It may be regarded as the coping-stone
of what is now the most important Racing Club in Australia. This
document reads as follows:—
“S. C. Burt, Esquire,—
“In consideration of your commencing the foundation of a Racecourse at
Randwick, I hereby undertake to become liable to the extent of £50 for
the purpose of paying the expense thereof.
“The revenues to be derived from the annual subscriptions and the sale
of gates, booths, stands, etc., when completed, to be a security to me
for whatever I may be called upon to pay under this guarantee.
“Sydney, Thirtieth June, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
“(Sgd.) GEO. ROWLEY.”
“Pay to the order of W. McQuade, Esq., Treasurer, A.J.C.
“(Sgd.) S. C. BURT.”
R. JONES,
S. C. BROWN,
CHAS. MARTYN,
ROWLAND HASSALL,
W. G. HENFREY,
JNO. ROBERTSON,
DAVID BELL,
HENRY PRINCE,
J. H. ATKINSON,
W. M. ARNOLD,
J. F. PERRY,
A. LODER,
GEO. ROWLEY,
ALEX. MACKELLAR,
ALFRED CHEEKE.
There is not much data concerning the early days of Randwick, but the
wonderful strides the Club has made since 1880 may be gauged by
comparing the Club’s racing expenditure, which was £734/10/- for that
year and £152,559 for the year ending August, 1922.
The late T. S. Clibbon, who took over the duties of Secretary in 1873,
made the most of his then somewhat slender opportunities. He was
succeeded by the present Secretary, Mr. C. W. Cropper, in 1910, who made
his name in Western Australia. Under his regime Randwick has never
looked back, but has flourished like the proverbial bay tree of old. C.
W. Cropper is the ideal Racing Secretary, a man who is held in the
highest esteem by all who come in contact with him, and whose heart and
personality are embodied in the course. Of the men who have controlled
the destinies of the Club as Committeemen from time to time, no one has
done more for Randwick and racing generally than the present Chief
Justice of Australia, The Right Hon. Sir Adrian Knox, who was elected to
the Committee in 1896 and was Chairman from 1907 to 1919. On his
resignation the Club made a presentation to him of his portrait. A
duplicate of the picture hangs in the Committee’s Council Room. The
Adrian Knox Stakes, a race for three-year-old fillies, held early in the
year, was also inaugurated in 1921 in his honour. During the time he
acted as Chairman, Randwick was practically rebuilt, the prize-money was
tremendously increased, Associations to control country racing were
formed, and racing legislation generally widened and improved.
So long as racing flourishes in Australia the name of Sir Adrian Knox
will be held in affectionate esteem by everyone who realises what a
wonderful influence for good he brought to bear on turf matters
generally.
[Illustration:
General View of Randwick Racing and Training Tracks and Flat taken
during Steeplechase.
]
[Illustration:
Randwick Weighing Yard, Official and other Stands, and Judge’s Box.
]
[Illustration:
The Flat at Randwick, with Betting Ring in foreground, St. Leger (on
left), Members’, Grand, and Official Stands.
]
[Illustration:
Plan of Randwick Racecourse.
]
A list of names of the men who have served on the Committee of the
Jockey Club since 1870 is not out of place in an article such as this,
and I am obliged to include my father’s name among those who helped to
make the A.J.C. the respected and capable institution it is to-day. The
names of the Committeemen who served for various periods since 1870 are
Messrs. S. C. Brown, W. R. Campbell, Hon. H. C. Dangar, E. Lee, A.
Thompson, H. Thompson, Henry Austin, J. W. Johnson, J. A. Scarr, Colonel
Richardson, Water Hall, J. de V. Lamb, F. C. Griffiths, F. W. Hill, Hon.
James White, Captain Osborne, W. B. Walford, J. Wentworth, Andrew Town,
S. A. Stephen, F. C. Griffiths, J. H. Want, W. A. Long, W. C. Hill,
Richard Jones, Junr., Dr. W. M. Traill, C. A. Goodchap, E. M. Betts,
Vincent Dowling, Alex. Mackellar, _Harry Chisholm_, Sir Adrian Knox, F.
W. Wentworth, A. Busby, George Lee, _R. C. Allen_, Ewan R. Frazer, A.
Hooke, John McDonald, _Hunter White_, _E. A. M. Merewether_, _C. C.
Stephen_, _Sir Samuel Hordern_, _T. A. Stirton_, _F. A. Moses_, _Walter
Brunton_, _George Main_—the names of present Committee being in italics.
Mr. C. C. Stephen has held the position of Chairman since the
resignation of Sir Adrian Knox. He has proved himself a worthy successor
to the best Chairman the Club ever had.
The Australian Jockey Club opens its Randwick season with what is known
as the Spring Meeting, held generally during the last days of September
and the first week in October. The racing is extended over four days. On
the first day of this meeting the A.J.C. Derby is decided. This race,
which is run over a mile and a half, is a classic event in which colts
and geldings are asked to carry 8 st. 10 lbs., while fillies get an
allowance of 5 lbs. The added money this year is 7,000 sovereigns, to
which a sweepstake of 25 sovereigns from each starter is added. The
breeder of the winner receives 250 sovereigns.
The Spring Stakes, a weight-for-age event, 1½ miles, involving 2,500
sovereigns, is another important race of this day, as well as the Epsom
Handicap, 1 mile, of 3,000 sovereigns. A considerable amount of
ante-post wagering in connection with this race and the Metropolitan is
indulged in prior to the meeting. The second day’s programme includes
the latter race, a handicap worth 6,000 sovereigns to the winner plus a
sweepstake of 30 sovereigns for starters, the distance of which is one
mile and five furlongs. The first two-year-old race of the New South
Wales racing season is the other important event. The Breeders’ Plate, 5
furlongs, of 2,000 sovereigns, is reserved for colts, who are asked to
carry 8 st. 5 lbs., and geldings 8 st. 2 lbs. The Craven Plate,
weight-for-age, 1¼ miles, of 3,000 sovereigns, and the Gimcrack Stakes,
5 furlongs, of 2,000 sovereigns, for two-year-old fillies, form the
attractive events of the third day; while on the last day’s racing a
two-mile weight-for-age contest, known as the Randwick Plate, of 2,500
sovereigns, tests the stamina of the best.
Four richly endowed jumping races are included in the Spring Meeting
programme.
Two meetings are held by the Jockey Club in December—the Villier’s
Stakes, a mile handicap; the December Stakes, 5 furlongs, involving
2,000 sovereigns, for two-year-olds; and the Summer Cup, a handicap of a
mile and five furlongs. A two-days’ meeting is held in the January of
each year at which the Challenge Stakes, a six-furlong handicap, and the
Anniversary Handicap, 1½ miles, are decided, as well as a race over the
hurdles on each day; and the Adrian Knox Stakes, 1 mile, of 1,500
sovereigns, a set-weight race for three-year-old fillies.
The Autumn Meeting, held every Easter, offers a splendid programme to
horse owners. On the first day is the Autumn Stakes, 1½ miles,
weight-for-age, of 2,500 sovereigns; the Doncaster Handicap, 1 mile, of
3,000 sovereigns; the A.J.C. Sires’ Produce Stakes, 7 furlongs, for the
two-year-old colts and geldings carrying 8 st. 10 lbs., and fillies 8
st. 7 lbs. The added money is 5,000 sovereigns in addition to a
subscription of 10 sovereigns each from the sires nominated, the progeny
of which are only eligible to compete. The nominator of the sire of the
winner receives 250 sovereigns. The A.J.C. St. Leger, 1¾ miles, is also
decided on this day, and is a classic race for colts, geldings and
fillies, of 2,500 sovereigns added money. The second day of the Autumn
Meeting is held on Easter Monday, and in the presence of some 80,000
people, which number increases each year, the Sydney Cup is run. This is
the most important long-distance handicap decided at Randwick, and is
run over two miles. The added money in 1921 was 6,000 sovereigns, and
the best horses in Australia are to be generally found among the field.
The Champagne Stakes, a six-furlong, set-weight, two-year-old race, is
decided before the Cup is run. Colts are asked to carry 8 st. 10 lbs.,
fillies 8 st. 8 lbs., and geldings 8 st. 7 lbs., the winner receiving
3,000 sovereigns in added money. On the third day are the All-Aged
Stakes, 1 mile, weight-for-age, of 2,500 sovereigns; the Easter Stakes,
7 furlongs, a special condition race for two-year-olds, of 750
sovereigns; and the Cumberland Stakes, 2 miles, weight-for-age, of 2,000
sovereigns. The concluding day’s racing contributes the A.J.C. Plate, 3
miles, weight-for-age; the second Steeplechase, and some interesting
handicap races.
What may be termed the Jumping Meeting is held early in June, and this
year the A.J.C., who have recently become alive to the importance and
attractiveness of cross-country racing, wisely established the
Australian Jockey Club Hurdle Race, 2 miles 3 furlongs, of 2,000
sovereigns added money, and a similarly named Steeplechase carrying the
same amount of added money, and run over a course of about 3 miles.
So much for the races which the Club offers the horse owner in New South
Wales. In addition to the fourteen days’ racing held at Randwick by the
premier Club, the two principal Betting Clubs have six days between them
there, while racing takes place every Saturday in the many proprietary
racecourses around Sydney, the Rosehill Club being the principal of
these moneymaking concerns.
But to return to Randwick. The pictures of the course and buildings will
give a good idea of the general outlook. The racing track is of oblong
shape, and the horses are asked to race round four easily negotiated
turns in traversing the mile and three furlongs of grass sward, which
the course proper measures in circumference two feet out from the inner
rail. It is practically a level stretch from start to finish, though
there is a gradual decline from the winning post to the mile and a
quarter start and a slight rise between the four and the two furlong
posts. The average breadth of the racing track from fence to fence is
100 feet, so that there is plenty of room on it for a very large-sized
field of horses to race with safety. The plan of the course published in
this book gives a good idea of the various training tracks; a recent
improvement to the latter is the conversion of the sand into a cinder
track, which will be of great value to work on during the wet months of
the year.
A distinctive feature of Randwick is its steeplechase course, situated
inside the course proper, and three other training tracks. A good field
of jumpers streaming up the hill and negotiating the jump on the crown
of it before racing down the steep incline to the foot is a splendid
sight. Steeplechasing is gaining favour with the public, and one of the
principal reasons for this is that the horses are well in view for the
greater part of the journey. The ascent and descent of the hill is most
spectacular, and also serves as a good test of stamina. The credit for
this successful innovation is due to the late Mr. Vincent Dowling, who
was a thick-and-thin supporter of jumping, and during the time he was on
the A.J.C. Committee did much for the “leppers” generally. There are
eleven fences to be jumped at Randwick, all made of thickly packed solid
brush, which will bring down any horse taking the slightest liberties
with them. The average height of the jump is about 4 feet 3 inches and 2
feet 6 inches wide across the top. Only two other courses in Australia
have a hill like Randwick—one in Victoria, at Warrnambool, and the other
at Oakbank in South Australia. Randwick is a very convenient course for
the average race-goer. It is situated some four miles from the Sydney
Post Office and Railway Station; it can be easily reached by a very
excellent tram service. Once inside the course one is struck by the
splendid buildings, which are growing every year. The great Totalisator
House, which handled in 1920 no less than £1,280,861, a sum that has
increased largely since; the Grand Stands, capable of seating over
25,000 people on their spacious decks; the Members’ Enclosure; the Tea
Rooms; the Leger Stand, etc. All these bear silent testimony to the
great, steady progress of the Club. The crowds are each year increasing,
and before long some big comprehensive scheme of remodelling the paddock
and stand accommodation will have to be introduced. The erection of the
Totalisator buildings has severely taxed the already somewhat
overcrowded accommodation, and the problem of expansion is one which the
A.J.C. will have to seriously consider. However, the policy of the Club
has always been a progressive one, so we need not fear.
The Club now pays over £24,000 in wages annually, and to add to this big
figure there is a Totalisator staff of over 400 when the machines are in
work. Hitches at Randwick are unknown, and everything goes like
clockwork from the time the turnstiles are opened on race days until the
day’s racing is over. The starting is in the capable hands of Mr. Harry
Mackellar, who not only has the confidence of the jockeys, from the
smallest apprentice upwards, but is a thorough horseman in the truest
sense of the word, and a starter by instinct. The important position of
handicapper is filled by Mr. Fred Wilson, for many years the present
Secretary’s right-hand man in the office, and now an established success
as a weight adjuster. The Club is lucky in having two such officials.
One of the highest tributes the course has received in its long history
comes from the present Prince of Wales, who during his visit to Sydney
spent some of his happiest days riding impromptu races at Randwick.
It is the Mecca of Australia to the true horse-lover, and, sitting under
its shady fig-trees, one may see the bronzed men of the far Northern
Territory who have come thousands of miles to swell the cosmopolitan
crowds which tread the green lawns and back their fancies. In the
paddock the strangest conglomeration of people assembles, for racing is
the greatest class leveller in the world. There is much truth in the
saying that all men are equal both on the turf and under it.
THE VICTORIAN RACING CLUB AND FLEMINGTON
By Dr. W. H. LANG
The early colonists of Victoria inaugurated racing, first upon the
slopes of Batman’s Hill, and then on the now famous flats alongside the
Salt Water River. The first Secretary of the Victorian Racing Club, Mr.
Bagot, performed his duties with an enthusiastic and far-sighted
thoroughness, and, at his too early death, his place was taken by Mr.
Byron Moore, who has carried on the work unremittingly ever since, and
who is still at his post there in Bourke Street, quiet, urbane, mild,
and entirely business-like. The name of Mr. Byron Moore will live for
ever in the annals of the V.R.C. During the late ’seventies, the
’eighties, and the ’nineties of the last century, the accommodation at
Flemington was ample, and no one ever seemed to imagine that the great
extent of lawn and hill, flat and grand stands would ever be overtaken
by the magnitude of the crowds which assembled there to watch the
national sport of the country. But since those days vast changes have
been silently creeping on almost unnoticed. In the early days of the
twentieth century, and even earlier, it became noticeable that on Cup
days it was extremely difficult to force one’s way from the stands to
the saddling enclosure and the betting ring. There was a somewhat narrow
“bottle neck” between the corner of the main stand and the saddling and
weighing enclosure, where, on a Melbourne Cup day, the difficulty
experienced in worming a passage between races was almost
insurmountable. A certain amount of relief was obtained by robbing the
course itself of some of its superfluous width, and by slightly altering
the turn out of the straight. But the relief was only temporary. By the
year 1920, on which anniversary of the great day, the crowd was a record
one, the attendance on the ground actually amounted to 110,000. Crowds
of holiday-makers had also assembled on what is known as “The Footscray
Hill,” an eminence on the other side of the Salt Water River, which
faces the long straight six furlongs, and which is a splendid coign of
vantage from which to view the scene, without being able accurately to
name the winner in anything like a close finish.
Estimating the numbers there, and on the steep hillside at the other end
of the “straight six” at some 15,000 or 20,000 more, the folk who
actually took part in the day’s sport can be set down at somewhere close
on 130,000 souls. Thirty-two years previous to this, when Mentor was the
hero of the day, the crowd was reckoned at 80,000—an increase of 50,000.
And the question at once arises in the mind: “Where is it going to end?”
Victoria, which used to be nicknamed “the cabbage garden” of the States,
will, before very long, be re-christened “the workshop of Australia.”
She has cheap electrical power at the very doors of her metropolis, and
has already surveyed her city of the future with a view to providing
accommodation for two millions. And will the growth of the city come to
an end there? To what size may Melbourne grow during the coming fifty
years? And when she has even her two million inhabitants, will there be
room enough at Flemington to provide for the 200,000 at least who will
find their way to the course on Cup day?
The V.R.C. Committee has had something of this idea in front of it when
it accepted the plans, during the last twelve months, for the
reconstruction of the stands, lawns and saddling paddock.
Let us take a survey of the course and its surroundings, and you will
then appreciate what the famous race-ground has been, and what it is
destined to become.
If you stand upon the top of “The Hill,” you can take almost a
bird’s-eye view of the arena and the features of the surrounding
country.
The ground which the V.R.C. received from the Government at a peppercorn
rent, and additional land which they acquired subsequently by purchase,
lies at the foot of, and on the north-eastern side of, a huge cup. This
cup on the south side, that farthest away from the winning post and
stands, has a large piece bitten out of it, and then resembles the
teacup which Tenniel represents the Mad Hatter in “Alice in Wonderland,”
carrying about in his hand.
To the north-west, between the Flemington and the Footscray Hills, a
considerable chip from the edge of the cup has also disappeared, and
through the gap thus formed flow the sluggish waters of the Salt Water
River.
Here on the Hill there is accommodation for an enormous crowd of
racegoers, and from this high eminence, and from the stands which crown
it, a magnificent view of the racing can be obtained. It is the choicest
portion of the whole ground from which to enjoy the spectacle, and the
top of the hill itself is nearly fifty feet above the race track as it
passes the judge’s box. From here you see the Yarra, “dank and foul,”
but deep and wide enough for two great ocean-going steamers to pass one
another, flowing downwards to the bay, ere, “strong and free,” it
reaches “the foaming Rip and the infinite main,” as in Kingsley’s song,
and becomes as a “soul that has sinned and is pardoned again.” And here,
too, at the wide gap in the cup, the Salt Water joins it and increases
the Yarra’s volume on its course to the bay.
There is a little bit of commercial romance connected with the
acquisition of the Hill, and some other portions of the grounds, by the
Committee. In the beginning of the ’eighties of the last century the
Club did not own the Hill, and the Railway Department was compelled,
from lack of land, to take an inconvenient and even dangerous sweep of
the line to the right, just before entering the platform. The blocks on
which the Hill stands, and where the railway now runs, were for sale at
this period—100 acres of land—and the price was £100 an acre. The
Committee met and considered the advisability of making the purchase,
and turned it down. But at this time the Royal Agricultural Society was
located in a miserable spot which was half a swamp, and was on the look
out for fresh fields. The V.R.C. Committee, having definitely refused to
buy the 100 acres, Mr. Byron Moore, on his own account, now secured the
lot. Thirty acres of this he sold to the Agricultural Society at £150 an
acre, and the rest of it—the Committee now having its eyes thoroughly
opened—he disposed of to that body at cost price. On this land the
railway found room enough to straighten out the line; the Members’ Drive
now sweeps majestically through its avenue of trees; the Hill provides a
glorious site for the accommodation of racegoers; and an entrance is
provided into the back portion of the saddling paddock.
You can see from where we stand the Members’ Drive, with its long line
of trees, winding its way up to the edge of the cup at the Melbourne end
of the course, and there disappearing into the general traffic. The
public drive runs up to the same vanishing point, but on a lower level.
Follow the edge of the cup round to the great gap, and you see, on the
low-lying lands there, the abattoirs, from which, unfortunately, when
the breeze blows direct from that quarter, a somewhat disagreeable odour
reaches the senses of the crowd. Over the abattoirs, through the mists
of winter, or the haze of the hot summer days, you see innumerable
derricks and the funnels of the great fleets of steamers lying in the
docks, and, as if to remind us of the past, the slender masts and furled
sails of many a ship and gallant barque, loading for their long trek
across the deep seas.
Warned by the sensible proximity of the abattoirs, the Committee in 1903
bought all the rugged stony hill, which lies there close at hand to
where we are standing, and disposed of it very cheaply to the Footscray
Council, provided always that it should be used as a public garden. It
also gained possession of all the land on the far side of the river
between the Footscray Hill and the ammunition manufactory, so that any
risk of industries being established in the neighbourhood of the course,
and which might, in the days to come, emit objectionable odours, has
been for ever done away with. There, immediately at our feet, is the
Grand Stand, separated from us only by a great gulf which somewhat
resembles the barriers restraining the wild animals in their enclosures
at the new Zoological Gardens in Sydney. Beneath the Grand Stand lie the
very beautiful lawns, in the spring-time gay with flower-beds, and with
the rails of the race track festooned artistically with creeping roses.
The judge’s box and winning post stand opposite the lower end of the
stand, and beyond that, and nearer the river, rise the Official and
Members’ Stand and the Committee and Members’ Luncheon Rooms. Here,
sheltering the Members’ Enclosure and the Betting Ring, rises a
delightful little forest of “immemorial elms.” In the warm spring days,
and in the scorching heat often experienced at the New Year Meeting,
members, standing and sitting alongside the rails, the betting public,
and the fraternity of bookmakers, have conducted their business for many
years past in a leafy and chequered shade, and in an odour of sanctity
which almost resembles that of a great cathedral.
Beyond the betting ring, and close by the river’s banks, lies the
Bird-cage, where the racers have each their stall, and where they are
sheltered from any wind that blows, and from the burning heat of summer
suns. A lane runs from the Bird-cage up to the saddling enclosure in
front of the Official Stand, and outside the Bird-cage, too, are the
Casualty Rooms and various other necessary offices of the Club.
Everything is beautifully complete.
And now look at the race track itself. The straight course, six furlongs
in length, and the “course proper,” are nearly as level as a table. The
Newmarket Course, the only straight six furlongs in Australia, with the
exception, I think, of that at Singleton, runs from the foot of the
pine-clad hillside where the Members’ and Public Drives merge into the
general traffic, straight down to the winning post. Half-way to the post
it is joined by the course proper, which, some three parts of a furlong
past the judge, curves with a perfect racecourse turn to the left. After
rounding the bend the horses race along by the river and have a splendid
stretch in front of them with only a very slight curve until after
passing the mile post. After this the track inclines very gradually
left-handed past the seven furlongs, and the Australian Cup Starting
Post, and then it rounds gently, like the large end of a great egg,
until it joins the straight six again. The track itself is splendidly
grassed, and the going is almost always as near to perfection as
possible. The circuit of the course is 1 mile 3 furlongs 111⅓rd yards,
and it is essentially one which is suitable for a genuine stayer.
The Melbourne Cup Course Starting Barrier stands between the entrance to
the course proper and the Newmarket Barrier at the top of the straight.
It is a noble sight to see a field of between twenty and thirty of the
best horses in Australia wend their way from the enclosures, and, after
the canter, trot up the straight to the Cup start. Here, within easy
view of all the stands, they line up, and, after a few moments of
breathless suspense, the barrier rises, and, to a mighty roar from a
hundred thousand throats, the field with their glittering jackets jump
off and thunder down the broad ribbon of green, round the turn, and away
along the river bank. It is the most heart-stirring event of the whole
racing year, and will probably ever continue to be so. The Derby start
takes place just above the Grand Stands and the Hill.
That, then, is the Flat Race Course. But Flemington is the home also of
the Steeplechaser, and the Grand National, run for in the July of each
year, is, to many sporting men, even as grand a spectacle as the Cup.
The fences are higher and stiffer than on any other steeplechase course
in Australia, and although they are not nearly so formidable as they
were fifty years ago, they are still a splendid test of the capabilities
of the best of jumping horses in the land. The course runs inside the
racing track, although at the big end of the egg it crosses to the
outside and then comes back again just before the entry to the straight
running. There are six obstacles to be surmounted in the straight—three
posts and rails, a log, a very solid stone wall and a paling. After
leaving the straight a very good live hedge, with plenty of width on
top, is taken, and then along the river side two posts and rails. At the
abattoirs the field turns to the left, and, crossing the race track,
takes a solid post and rail and a log, then two more fences of the same
description, and, lastly, a live hedge is crossed before entering the
straight for the run home.
In the old days the leaps were, as we have noticed, higher, and they
were also what you might call “very rough and hairy.” The top ends of
the posts were left sticking right up, and were “iron-clasped and
iron-bound” like Michael Scott’s book of Glamourie. Now, in a more
humane age, the posts are sawn off level with the rails, the top rails
themselves and the coping of the walls, and the logs, too, are well
padded, so that if horses strike they no longer seriously injure their
limbs, even if they hit very heavily.
The sport of steeplechasing, fostered by hunting, is a very popular one
in Victoria, and in spite of the fact that races of that sort are
decided almost every week, very few horses are seriously injured, and
the riders, as a rule, escape with comparatively little hurt.
At the far end of the property several training tracks are laid out,
some of which cross the straight six furlongs racecourse at right
angles. Here are “the big sand” and the “cinders” and the “tan,” while
in the space enclosed by the round course, on the flat, is a sand, and,
just completed within the last few weeks, a capital grass track. The
course itself is occasionally thrown open for galloping at special
times, but, of course, some distance out from the rails.
There are usually somewhere approaching 400 horses located in
Flemington, Ascot Vale and the neighbourhood that make use daily of
these various training grounds.
Such, then, is a brief description of the course, training grounds,
stands and lawns of famous Flemington, as they have been until this year
of grace 1922. But, although the running tracks and steeplechase course
will probably remain unchanged for an indefinite number of years, the
stands, lawns, betting rings and all the enclosures and saddling
paddocks are about to undergo an entire regeneration.
A plate showing the projected improvements—which will be commenced very
shortly—will give the best idea of what is to be done. The present Grand
Stand will remain as it is, as will the Members’ and Official Stands.
The large brick stand farther up the lawn, which is being used to-day,
will be removed, and a magnificent three-decker, as seen in the plate,
will take its place. In front of this will be the new lawns, the
saddling and mounting enclosure, and, farther up the straight, the
Bird-cage.
The lawns of to-day will still be there, but the betting ring will be
located behind the new Grand Stand, and the park for motors will occupy
the space between the Bird-cage and the Members’ and the Public Drives.
And provision has been made for space in which to erect totalisator
buildings, if that form of wagering ever becomes law in Victoria.
The whole scheme of things is a tremendous stride in advance of what was
deemed so good during the last forty years. In the ’eighties all the
arrangements were believed to be as near to perfection as it was
possible to attain. In another forty years the increase of population
may once more insist upon still more extensive alterations. And meantime
there is one question which causes habitués of Flemington to heave a
heavy sigh. And that is: What is going to happen to our glorious elms?
The trees will remain where they are, of course, but who will make use
of them? The leafy groves which sheltered our forefathers as they took
their pleasure joyously, and which lent their shade, giving a feeling of
peace even whilst sitting in their shadow beside the babel and
pandemonium of the betting ring, will no longer perform their wonted
function, and we shall all miss them sorely—those old and trusted,
never-failing friends.
But a new generation will arise that knew not Joseph Thompson, nor
Oxenham, nor Sol Green, nor the Messrs. Allen, and all the other famous
members of the ring, and “Under the Elms” will become a memory.
[Illustration:
The Lawn and Stand at Flemington.
]
[Illustration:
Flemington Course from the Air, showing Maribyrnong River in the
foreground.
]
[Illustration:
Projected Improvements to Flemington Racecourse.
]
[Illustration:
Plan of Flemington, showing Race-track and Steeplechase Course.
]
THE THOROUGHBRED HOMES OF AUSTRALIA
By KEN AUSTIN
Thoroughbred horse breeding in New South Wales, or, in fact, in any of
the Commonwealth States, has never been on a sounder or more
satisfactory footing than it is at the present time. This happy position
is more or less due to the policy of the principal Racing Clubs
throughout Australia in so richly endowing their race programmes, and as
there has been a steady advance in prize-money from year to year, so
prices for Thoroughbred stock, and especially yearlings, may be expected
to hold good for some time to come.
Nowadays a majority of the successful Thoroughbred Studs in the State
have their home on the Hunter River or waters that run into it, and
within a radius of about 100 miles, on the upper stretches of this
famous district, most of the principal horse-breeding establishments are
to be found. The Hunter, on account of its extreme richness and
soundness is peculiarly adapted as a nursery for the Thoroughbred. The
Hunter, which derives its name from Governor Hunter, during whose regime
it was discovered, is one of the most important rivers of New South
Wales. It rises in the Mount Royal Ranges and flows in an easterly
direction past Muswellbrook and Denman. Three miles below the latter
town its waters are increased by the Paterson, and it eventually empties
itself into the sea at Newcastle. An extremely rich belt of country
follows the banks of the Hunter from Singleton up to Aberdeen, and some
miles beyond crosses to the Widden Mountain, and it is on these rich
flats and reaches that most of the studs are situated.
One of the oldest studs in Australia—the far-famed Tocal—is the first to
be met with after leaving Newcastle, and here the Reynolds’ Estate are
still carrying on the stud which the late Mr. Frank Reynolds owned for
so many years. No name is held in greater reverence among lovers of the
Australian Thoroughbred than that of Frank Reynolds—a man whose heart
and soul were centred in his horses and cattle, and who was in a great
measure responsible for the adoption of the Bruce Lowe Figure System.
Bruce Lowe and Frank Reynolds practically originated the system between
them, and, up to the day of his death, Frank Reynolds was a hard and
fast believer in the figures. One could write volumes on the Tocal Stud
and its influence on the Australian racehorse, but space is limited in
an article such as this. Tocal’s glory is at present somewhat
diminished, so far as its Thoroughbred Stud goes, and it is now some
seasons since a first-class horse has come from its paddocks. A new
sire, in use for the first time this season, is the Amphion horse The
Nut (imp.—an own brother to Lally), a very bloodlike individual who has
met with a very fair measure of success as a winner getter. About four
miles from the picturesque old Georgian homestead of Tocal is another
Reynolds holding in Duninald, and here Mr. Sydney Reynolds has been
breeding more than his share of winners for many years past. At the time
of writing, two English horses—Prudent King (a son of Love Wisely) and
Piedmont (a tail male descendant of Barcaldine)—are being used. The
first-mentioned horse has sired a number of winners, and, in Cadonia,
gave us a good-class Leger winner. Near Maitland Mr. John Hart keeps a
small but select stud at Bolwarra, and at the present time has the
imported sire Something Irish in use.
The next stud of importance to be met with is Wills Gully. It is
situated about five miles from the town of Singleton, and here it is the
coal magnate, Mr. John Brown, breeds on a lavish scale for his own
racing. There are upwards of 200 mares at the stud, including a number
of English importations, and a number of good winners have been bred at
Wills Gully during recent years. Prince Foote, Duke Foote, Wallace
Isinglass, Richmond Main and Prince Charles are names that suggest
themselves, and their owner and breeder has generally a good horse
running for him among the big string that F. J. Marsden trains for him
at Randwick. Stallion honours at Wills Gully are shared by Duke Foote,
Richmond Main and Wallace Isinglass, all three horses having been bred
at this stud. The first-mentioned two are of Wisdom descent, and
Richmond Main, who is a son of Prince Foote, the best horse ever bred at
Wills Gully, takes up his stud duties for the first time this year. The
Australian racehorse suffered a severe loss in the recent death of
Prince Foote, a racehorse of the highest class and held in almost
reverent affection by his owner.
Another breeder close to Singleton is Mr. Thomas Longworth, whose
property, Dulwich, shelters the English horse Shadowland and a number of
good mares. Shadowland is a half-brother by Dark Ronald to Troutbeck,
and is, consequently, a member of the successful Agnes family.
Across the railway line from Wills Gully is the famous old Dangar
holding, Neotsfield, held by that family since 1824. The present
occupier, Mr. R. H. Dangar, has practically given up Thoroughbred horse
breeding, having dispersed his fine stud in 1904. Many good performers
first saw the light of day in the rich Neotsfield paddocks, such horses
as Gibraltar, Sussex (of jumping fame), Mooltan and Poseidon all having
been bred there. About 18 miles from Neotsfield, on the Cockfighter
Creek, is the South Wambo Stud, the property of Mr. R. C. Allen. Here
St. Simon is represented by his son Charlemagne II., a horse of
beautiful quality, whose daughter Carlita may be counted among the ranks
of the first class. Another St. Simon descendant in William the Silent
is also here, and the South Wambo stallion ranks have just been added to
by the arrival of the French-bred Francinet, a half-brother to the Ascot
Cup winner, Willonyx, by Flying Fox’s son Ajax. Here, too, spending the
evening of his life, is Antonio, a remarkably fast English horse who won
good races for his Australian owner before going to the stud. There are
some fifty mares at Wambo, and the stud sells a large number of
yearlings each year at the Sydney sales.
The next stud of importance is Arrowfield, founded by Messrs. W. and F.
A. Moses, who have been remarkably successful breeders. Any success that
has gone to them is well deserved, for they have bought nothing but the
best, and have kept up the high standard of their stud by regular
importations from England. On these rich flats, in stallion state, is to
be found Poitrel, one of the best stayers Australia has produced, and
the winner of the V.R.C. Melbourne Cup, and practically all the
principal weight-for-age races of his time.
Poitrel is now in his second season at the Stud, and has let down and
developed into a magnificent horse, who may do big things in his new
sphere. Two high-class English importations—Valais, by Cicero, and
Roseworthy, by William the Third—are being used at Arrowfield; and the
twenty-three-year-old St. Alwyne, a son of St. Frusquin, and a great
sire of stayers, is also ending his days in happiness near his best son,
Poitrel. The Arrowfield mares are a splendid collection, and the stud
ranks as one of the most representative of Australia’s horse-breeding
establishments.
The peerless Wakeful, a winner of over £16,000 in stakes, is among the
mares at Arrowfield, and the way she carries her age is a good
advertisement for the richness of the Arrowfield pastures. She is still
the property of Mr. C. L. Macdonald, whose colours she made so famous.
Adjoining Arrowfield, with only a fence between the two properties, is
Woodlands, originally owned by the late Mr. H. C. White, but now the
property of Mr. E. G. Blume. The original old stone-built homestead is
still in use, and the view from the flagged verandah across the Hunter
to the hills beyond has to be seen to be appreciated. Shepherd King, a
good-looking horse by Martagon, is at the head of the stud, and is ably
seconded by Duke Humphrey, a half-brother by John O’Gaunt to the English
One Thousand Guineas winner Vaucluse, and these English horses have as a
mate Piastre, a Melbourne Cup hero, by imported Positano. Woodlands can
boast of a fine collection of mares, and the property has been brought
thoroughly up to date since coming into the hands of its present owner.
Several small studs are to be found in more or less close proximity to
the town of Muswellbrook, 76 miles from Newcastle and some 12 miles away
from Woodlands. Among these are Messrs. Jos. Brown’s and Walter
Brunton’s properties. The former has the Desmond horse, imported
Montecello, in use, while Mr. Brunton does not keep a stallion but sends
his well-bred matrons to the best available. His colours are conspicuous
at Randwick, and he is not only a breeder but regularly buys at the
yearling sales.
One of the best-known Muswellbrook properties is Merton, from whose
luxurious paddocks Mr. E. R. White bred so many winners. It is now owned
by Mr. W. H. Mackay, junr., a son of the owner of Beauford, and who
inherits the family’s love of the Thoroughbred and their knowledge of
them. He is just starting to breed in a small but successful way.
Martindale, owned by the polo-playing White Bros., is not far away, and
shelters an English classic winner in Night Hawk, winner of the Leger.
This hefty son of Gallinule looks like doing yeoman service in the near
future for his owners.
Leaving Muswellbrook we reach one of the most famous fattening
properties on the Hunter in the famous Turanville Estate, with its
beautiful flats and willow trees, and, adjoining this, is Camyr Allen,
where two of the younger generation of the famous family of
horse-breeding Thompsons have settled. The stud is owned by Messrs. W.
B. and C. L. Thompson, who have had great success at the yearling sales,
and in the paddocks is Bob Cherry, the dam of Eurythmic, the largest
stake winner in Australia. His sire, Eudorus, an imported son of
Forfarshire, and another English importation in Buckwheat, by Martagon,
are the stallions being used at the time of writing by the Thompsons.
The Camyr Allen mares are a very representative lot, and, as a great
proportion of them are daughters of Maltster, it is almost unnecessary
to add they have produced, and are producing, a big percentage of
winners. Maltster, whose fame as a stallion is almost too well-known to
bear repetition, has gained undying fame through his daughters.
Camyr Allen is only a few miles out from Scone, on the other side of
which prosperous town we find the Sledmere Stud, which has been quite
recently established by Messrs. H. R. Denison and H. G. Raymond, the
latter recently bringing on his return from England the successful sire
Quantock, a son of Thrush. Since coming to Australia Quantock’s stock
have been remarkably successful in England, and he looks to hold the
ball of stud success at his feet. A well-chosen and select band of
matrons are happily ensconced in the Sledmere paddocks, and if the young
Quantocks bred there follow in the footsteps of their English relatives,
the stud’s fortune is made. At Sledmere is Mr. Denison’s old favourite
Poseidon, a winner of over £19,000, and although more or less of a stud
failure, is being well cared for in his declining years by his grateful
owner. D. S. and H. Hall are young breeders in the Scone district, who
generally are represented at the Sydney sales by a good-class yearling
or two, and, leaving their place at Cressfield, we approach one of the
largest and most important studs on the Upper Hunter in Kiora, the
property of Mr. Percy Miller. No breeder of recent years has gone more
whole-heartedly into the breeding business—for business it is
nowadays—than the owner of Magpie, Sarchedon and Demosthenes, all very
high-class English importations. The first-named horse is by Dark
Ronald, and in his last race in England was beaten by a neck by his
stable companion Gay Crusader in the English Derby. Demosthenes, by
Desmond, and a close relation to Sunstar, was brought from New Zealand,
where he had been a great stud success, at a very high figure; while
Sarchedon, the most recent addition to the stud, and incidentally one of
the highest priced horses who have come this way, is a grey son of The
Tetrarch, and was the most brilliant two-year-old of his year in
England. There are certainly more high-priced mares at Kiora than in any
other New South Wales stud, and it keeps growing in numbers from year to
year. The property is part of the very famous Segenhoe Estate, and the
Hunter divides it from the original Segenhoe Homestead block where Mr.
William Brown bred many good ones.
Across the range from Segenhoe, in a very rich bend of the Hunter, is
Kingsfield, owned by Messrs. J. E. and C. H. Brien, and three stallions
live in luxurious ease here. Malt King, one of the most brilliant horses
we have had of recent years, and the fastest horse Maltster sired, has
been at Kingsfield since the inception of the stud, and he is kept
company by Beragoon, an Australian-bred son of Multiform, and the
recently imported St. Frusquin horse Rossendale. Beragoon was one of the
finest two-year-olds produced here, and was a racehorse of the highest
class, winning both the A.J.C. and V.R.C. Derbies, and is siring some
useful winners.
Rossendale comes from England with sire honours thick upon him, and with
the splendid chances Kingsfield will afford him he should do really
well, for he is a splendid type of horse whose racing merit was of the
highest order. The Kingsfield brood mares are second to none, the
foundation stock being young English mares bought at a very high cost
from the well-known English breeder J. B. Joel, and the additions made
to the mares since have been wisely chosen with a very high regard for
quality and a disregard for cost. Kingsfield is an ideal situation for a
Thoroughbred Stud, the Hunter running right through the property, which
consists of rich flats extending by gradual slopes up to limestone
hills, which form an almost natural boundary fence to the property.
Retracing our steps again to Scone, we find above Sledmere, on the
Kingdon Ponds, the brilliant Panacre, by imported Linacre, at the head
of the Cliffdale Stud, formed last year by Mr. J. Campbell Wood, whose
colours Panacre carried with such success. On this very rich and sound
piece of country a select stud is being put together, and the young
Panacres will shortly be trying to emulate the deeds of their speedy
sire. On north from Cliffdale Sir Samuel Hordern’s Petwyn Vale lies, a
small, attractive holding whose name has yet to be made. Let us hope the
well-bred Englishman Emblematic, a son of Tracery, and a fine stamp of
stallion, will rise to fame and breed some good winners for his sporting
owner, whose success as a breeder has been small in comparison with his
efforts. He has the horse, the mares and the country—that great
essential—and the remaining one, luck, let us hope, may be lurking
behind one of the corner posts. Still further north, near Quirindi, is
the Werribon Stud, and here The Sybarite, a half-brother to the
ill-fated Craganour, is located, with a number of well-bred mares.
Branching off the Northern Railway line at Werris Creek, well outside
the Hunter District, and running inland towards the Queensland Border,
is Mungie Bundie, where Messrs. B. and J. P. Burgess have lately taken
over the stud run so successfully by Mr. John McDonald. Here, on very
rich country, is a grandson of Carbine in Mountain King, a successful
sire, and this year he has been joined by another colonial-bred horse in
Kennaquhair, one of the finest individuals and gamest horses who ever
looked through the proverbial bridle.
Mr. D. Livingston, whose property, Boolaroo, is also in the Moree
District, has recently joined the ranks of yearling breeders, and he has
made an auspicious start by securing the imported Polymelus horse My
Poppo, who is siring good winners. The Yetman Stud, owned by Mr. G. W.
Dight, is farther north again, being practically on the Queensland
Border. The well-bred importation Chipilly, a son of Spearmint, and that
great mare Pretty Polly, is at the head of affairs at Yetman, and should
help to strengthen the house of Carbine in Australia.
Back to Scone once more, and striking out across country towards the
Widden Mountain in the direction of Mudgee, we find a belt of country
which has no superior in Australia as a Thoroughbred nursery. Here is
the home of a famous family of horse-breeders, the Thompsons, and it was
here such famous stallions of the past as Lochiel, Grafton, Ayr Laddie
and Maltster all earned their undying crown of fame. Widden is now owned
by Messrs. A. W. and A. E. Thompson, and they, with their cousins, the
Thompson Bros., of which firm Herbert is the head, have been wonderfully
successful horse-breeders. Widden and Oakleigh are beautiful bits of
country, and the excellence of their paddocks has contributed a great
deal to the success of the numerous horses reared there. Herbert
Thompson and his brother can lay claim to be the largest breeders of the
Thoroughbred in the world to-day, and last year they sent down to the
Sydney sales no less than seventy yearlings, all of whom sold remarkably
well. At Widden the premier stallion of New South Wales, in Linacre, a
well-performed son of Wolf’s Crag, shares the honours of the stud with
the French-bred Kenilworth, a staying descendant of St. Simon. Both
these stallions have been remarkably consistent as winner-getters, and
if the grey Chrysolaus, the most recent addition to the stallion
strength, meets with the same success, his dual owners, the Thompson
Bros., and their cousins A. W. and A. E., will have no reason to regret
having spent 3,600 guineas in acquiring him. The Widden and Oakleigh
mares are a wonderful lot, and are kept up to a very high standard by
the retention of the best fillies bred at the stud. In an article of
this description it is impossible to write of individual mares, for
reference to the good producers owned by the Thompsons would fill many
large sized volumes. At Oakleigh are the English stallions Gadabout, by
St. Denis, Sir Dighton, by Bayardo, and Cooltrim, by Flying Fox, and the
Australian-bred Greenstead, by The Welkin (imp.). The stud suffered a
severe loss recently by the death of imported Tressady, a successful son
of Persimmon.
Another Thompson holding is Canema, where Baverstock, a son of Maltster,
and Wakeful, is siring winners, his son David ranking as one of the best
stayers racing in Australia at the present time. Eaton Lad, by Orvieto,
sires his share of useful horses at Holbrook, near Widden, for his
owner, T. A. Harris. Leaving Widden behind us, and traversing the Bylong
Valley, long famous for the production of good cattle and horses, we get
within close call of Mudgee. Some ten miles before you reach this
veritable lucerne oasis Havilah appears in its picturesque frame of
hills, and here some good performers have been and are being bred. The
property is now owned by Hunter White, a member of one of the best-known
pastoral families in Australia, and a nephew of the late James White, a
counter-type of the famous Admiral Rous. Three, a very highly bred son
of The Welkin, is the hope of the Havilah Stud at the present time, and
he is a splendid individual who looks like getting good stock. Mr.
Hunter White not only breeds on a large scale, but is a staunch
supporter of the N.S.W. Turf, and no colours are more popular than the
red jacket and white Maltese cross of their non-betting owner.
On the other side of Mudgee Mr. D. U. Seaton has Eurunderee, where his
brilliant racehorse Wolaroi is embarking on his stud career. Wolaroi, by
Kenilworth, was bred and raced by his owner, and few more brilliant
horses have carried silk of recent years. Another good performer, in the
Bright Steel horse Westcourt, a Melbourne Cup hero, is at Eurunderee,
and the stud has a nice collection of English and colonial-bred mares.
Farther out from Eurunderee is the old-established stud Biraganbil,
owned for years by the Rouse family, and the present owners, Messrs. L.
G. and H. C. Rouse are keeping up the family’s long connection with the
Thoroughbred. A beautifully bred son of Chaucer, in imported Allegory,
holds sway at Biraganbil, and, if judicious mating will mean success,
the horse has got into the right stud. It is almost needless to say that
L. G. Rouse is identical with the keeper of the Australian Stud Book,
and there is no sounder judge of pedigree in the Southern Hemisphere. He
has done splendid work in his official capacity, not only as regards the
Stud Book, but also as a Racing Steward, etc., and our Thoroughbred
breeders are under a debt of gratitude to him, and Mr. Archie Yuille, of
Melbourne, for their efforts in recording reliable breeding records
whose value cannot be over-estimated.
Dunlop, near Merriwa, is a stud of fairly recent origin, Mr. T. A.
Stirton having established his splendid horse Cetigne, by Grafton
(imp.), there, as well as the flying Biplane, by Comedy King (imp.), a
dual Derby winner and one of the fastest horses of his day.
Another Western Stud, situated near Wellington, on the banks of the
Macquarie, some 80 miles from Mudgee, is that of Mr. Harry Taylor, a
successful breeder. A recent purchase is the New Zealand-bred Humbug, a
great, strapping son of Absurd, and a fine performer in the land of the
Moa. He also owns a fine son of The Welkin in Trillion, and some very
high-class mares. Mr. E. J. Watt, whose dark-blue jacket is familiar to
most racegoers in most parts of Australia, has the Boomey Stud near
Molong, an important station on the branch line from Orange to the
Lachlan and not far from Wellington. A horse of his own breeding in
Pershore, a son of All Black (imp.), is at Boomey, and he will not want
for opportunity among the mares he is being mated with.
Near Cowra, a flourishing Western town, is Alfalfa, owned by the Payten
Bros., sons of the successful trainer, Tom Payten, who saddled so many
good winners for the Hon. James White. The colonial-bred Popinjay, a
brilliant son of Maltster, has done yeoman service for his youthful
owners since being given to them by the present Chief Justice of
Australia, Sir Adrian Knox, whose colours he carried with distinction.
Here, too, in the rich Lachlan country, Mr. I. J. Sloan breeds a number
of good horses, and the latest addition to his stud in the English horse
Cyllene More should materially increase the record of winners turned out
from the North Logan Paddocks. Cyllene More, as his name implies, is a
son of the great Cyllene, and his dam is the well-performed St. Maura.
Another star in the Western breeders’ firmament is Mr. E. A. Haley,
whose stud is not far from the celebrated Leeholme, where the great mare
Etraweenie and her daughters bred so many good horses for the late Hon.
George Lee. At Tekoona, near Bathurst, Mr. Haley has a real English
aristocrat in Redfern, by St. Denis. This well-performed horse will be
represented in the yearling sale ring of 1923 for the first time, and if
Redfern’s progeny inherit their sire’s speed all will be well for the
Tekoona Stud. Redfern was imported at a high cost by Sir William Cooper,
Bart., who raced Trenton and other good horses, and whose colours were
very popular with the Australian racing public.
Another Bathurst studmaster is Mr. John Lee, whose family bears a name
famous in Australian turf and stud history. He is justly proud of a fine
son of The Welkin in Wedge, the last horse to carry Mr. John Turnbull’s
respected and popular colours, and who is just embarking on his stud
life.
An enthusiastic breeder in Mr. C. S. Macphillamy is happily located at
Warroo, near Forbes, on the Lachlan, whose peaceful waters, usually
teeming with bird and fish life, flow on through the property. Good
winners in the past have first seen the light of day in the rich river
frontages of Warroo, and a recently acquired English horse in Polydor,
by Polymelus, should sire many more there.
The Southern Districts of New South Wales breed many good horses, and
the Messrs. G. and H. Main have turned out their share of winners since
starting breeding at their Retreat Stud, near Illabo. William Allison,
the renowned “Special Commissioner” of the London “Sportsman,” made no
mistake in sending out to them the good-looking sire, Limelight, and
some beautifully bred English mares, for in his first stud season
Limelight was successful in siring the brilliant dual Derby winner
Salitros.
At Wagga, one of the oldest racing centres of the State, Mr. J. J.
McGrath and his sons have their Wattle Vale property, and this year a
recent purchase in the New Zealand-bred Egypt, an own brother to the
famous mare, Desert Gold, will be used the first time by them.
One of the most recently formed Southern Studs is Curraburrama, near
Young, owned by Mr. A. P. Wade, whose transactions in matters pertaining
to the pastoral industry generally have been on a very large scale
during recent years. He has established at the head of his Thoroughbred
stud a good-looking and well-bred stallion in Colugo, by The Welkin
(imp.), who will not want for opportunity. Mr. Wade does not do things
by halves and is giving Colugo a great chance with some splendid mares
at the outset of his career.
The rich, sound lands of the Upper Murray are ideal pastures for the
production of big-boned, sound horses, and here at Towong Hill, just
across the river on the Victorian side, stands a turf idol of yesterday
in splendid Trafalgar, the well-beloved of the Randwick and Flemington
crowds. Had his owner, the late Mr. Walter Mitchell, lived, Trafalgar’s
stud chances would have been greater than they now are.
Messrs. Leitch, A. E. Tyson, A. S. O’Keefe, etc., are all breeders who
contribute their quota to the number of good horses the South produces.
Mr. A. S. O’Keefe had in imported Bright Steel a very noble son of St.
Simon, whose memory will be kept alive by Westcourt, Chrome, Scarlet and
others.
Thoroughbreds also find a place on the Northern Rivers, and the
old-established studs of Gordon Brook and Dyraaba, near Casino, have
turned out their share of winners. The first-named property no longer
goes in for thoroughbred breeding, but Mr. H. S. Barnes has a very
elegant son of Bridge of Canny in the imported horse Canzone at Dyraaba
as well as another English-bred horse in Repartee, by Melton, and is
breeding some very useful horses.
Of the studs near Sydney, the famous old Hobartville comes easily first;
a beautiful old home surrounded by the most magnificent trees and
situated just outside the historic town of Richmond. Now owned by Mr.
Percy Reynolds, it still keeps up its reputation for producing
high-class winners, and in his English stallions Bernard, a son of
Robert le Diable, and Bardolph, by Bay Ronald, Mr. Reynolds has two most
valuable sires whose progeny for the most part know how to stay. Here it
was that the Ascot Gold Cup winner Merman first saw the light of day, as
well as the countless good horses bred by Andrew Town, Messrs. Long and
Hill, and other breeders who owned the property in bygone times.
Another historic property not far from Sydney is the Camden Park Estate,
owned by the Macarthur Onslow family, whose ancestor, Captain Macarthur,
brought out the first Merino sheep to Australia. A beautifully bred
horse in imported Polycrates, by Polymelus, is in use at Camden Park, as
well as another importation in the Desmond horse Flying King.