Family C-28: Woodstock

This New Zealand family has branches today that are still active with sprinters, stayers, and classic winners.

Woodstock was a chestnut mare bred by William Lawson in New South Wales. She was by the imported British stallion Theorem (1824 by Merlin), who stood for a time at Lawson's Veteran Hall farm at Prospect, and later at the neighboring Bungarribee stud of Charles Smith. Her dam and her dam's antecedents are not now known, but she was reported to be an English thoroughbred mare, entirely possible, since Lawson imported some horses from Great Britain, including the well-known stallion "Lawson's" Emigrant (1831, by Tramp). Some mares in Lawson's stud included Fair Helen, second dam of Josephine (Family C - 19) and the second dam of Lilla (Family C - 8).

Woodstock was part of New Zealander Henry Redwood's 1852 shipment of thoroughbreds from New South Wales to New Zealand that included the famous stallion Sir Hercules, the important mare Flora McIvor, Moth (Family C-26), and other horses that later had an impact on bloodstock breeding in New Zealand. These horses were brought from the stud of Thomas Icely, who had owned Bungarribee, but by then had decamped, with his stud, to Coombing Park, his station consisting of thousands of acres at Carcoar, near Bathurst. Icely had a large stud for which poor records were kept, but over the years he bred and raced many horses important in colonial Australia, and imported a number of horses, including the famous mare Manto (1817) and the stallion Operator (1832, by Emilius), and bred or owned two stallions significant in early New Zealand breeding, Figaro (1838, by Operator) and Sir Hercules (1843, by Cap-a-pie), the latter purchased from the estate of Charles Smith, who had bought Bungarribee from Icely in 1832. William Lawson's son, William Lawson Jnr., had married Icely's daughter, Caroline, in 1832, so it is not surprising Woodstock is associated with the Icely thoroughbreds purchased by Redwood.

In New Zealand, Woodstock passed into the stud of W.R. Nicholson. She bred nine live foals, and died in 1865. Two of her offspring, Phoebe (1854, by Sir Hercules) and her brother, the gelded Wildrake (1855), were both raced by George Duppa, an early settler in Nelson and an enthusiastic sportsman. Phoebe won races at Homebush, and Duppa and Henry Redwood took some of their horses to Australia to race in 1859 - 1860, where Phoebe won five races, although she did not place in the very first inter-colonial horse race at Flemington, later known as the Champion Race, which was won by Flying Buck (Redwood's Zoe ran second, however). Wildrake apparently also won some races in Sydney and Melbourne. Another foal from Woodstock, Oliver Cromwell (1860, by Potentate), became a stallion on the Welsh brothers' stud at Opaki in the Wairarapa.

Phoebe was the Woodstock daughter that continued the female line. She produced nine foals, including three daughters that established their own branches, and Sinking Fund (1872, by Towton), a winner for Henry Redwood. Phoebe's first two daughters, Queen of the South (1862, by Camden) and Countess (first called Misfortune, 1864, by The Peer), were bred by a Mr. Newton; Henry Redwood is credited with breeding the rest of her foals. Queen of the South produced the gelding Pinfire (1874), a very good stayer that won the ARC Handicap (14 furlongs), the Hawkes' Bay Cup (14 furlongs), the Wanganui Cup (18 furlongs), and the 1880 Auckland Plate (16 furlongs), and a daughter, Minamina (1870) that bred on. A recent descendant of Queen of the South was the gelded Welcome Knight (1986, by Always Welcome), a good sprinter-miler in Western Australia; Toxeuma (1925, see below) was also from her branch of the family. Countess was a broodmare in Henry Redwood's stud, where she produced two good winners Parawhenua (1869, see below) and Ngaro (1871), but her branch died out after that.

Phoebe's daughter Renga (1869, by Diomedes), bred in Redwood's stud, established the most successful branch of this family, with a number of classic winners descending from her. Her descendants, Dashing Star (1957, see below), a champion filly, and Dashing Star's half-sister Even Break (1963) were both good broodmares with multiple producing daughters that have revitalized the family. Another daughter of Phoebe bred by Redwood, Tangi (1871, by Ravensworth), produced the 1890 New Zealand Cup winner Wolverine (1885, by Le Loup), and was third dam of Jupiter (1894, by St. Clair), a good stayer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that won the SCJC Timaru Cup and CJC Winter Cup in 1899, and the Dunedin Cup and Invercargill Cup in 1901.

Notable Descendants