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Langar
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Langar was a flashy, handsome horse that won in England and was a dominant runner in Ireland. First standing as a stallion in Ireland, then in England, he got many winners of races over all distances, from four mile gold cups to sprints, but only one classic winner. He placed second, once, on the sires list in Great Britain. Of his several sire sons, EPIRUS was later a leading sire that got Epsom Derby winner Pyrrhus the First; MR. WAGS was a leading sire in France several times; PHILIP THE FIRST headed the sires list in Ireland, and his St. Leger winner, ELIS, got classic winners on the continent. His grandson, New Warrior, had a sigificant impact on Australian racing and breeding. Of his good daughters, Langar is most notable as the broodmare sire of the Derby winner and multiple-times leading sire Orlando. Today he and his sons are seen in pedigrees through their daughters.
His sire, Selim, was one of three famous brothers -- the others were Castrel and Rubens -- and a sister, Oaks winner Bronze, by Buzzard, out of a mare by Alexander. Selim was purchased as a three year old by the Prince of Wales, and for him won six races, including Newmarket's Oatlands Stakes twice, Newmarket's Craven Stakes, and some matches. When the Prince's stud was disbanded, Selim was given to Colonel Leigh. He stood at various locations in and around Newmarket for most of his stud career, including some years at Sir Hedworth Williamson's Oxcroft Farm, near Newmarket. He got six classic winners, among them Derby winner Azor (1814), Medora (1811) and Turquoise (1825), both Oaks winners, Two Thousand Guineas winners Nicolo (1820, Langar's brother) and Turcoman (1824), and an unnamed filly that won the One Thousand Guineas. Selim was leading sire in Great Britain in 1814, and got several sire sons who continued the tail-male line for some generations, including Sultan (1816, out of Bacchante, by Ditto (brother to Walton), who was his most influential sire son, and Langar, of closely-related breeding, who established his own sire line that lasted for several generations.
Langar's unnamed dam (1808), by the influential stallion Walton, was bred by Sir Charles Bunbury, "the Dictator of the Turf," at his Barton Hall estate in Great Barton, Suffolk. Her dam, Young Giantess, also bred by Bunbury, was a non-winner in two starts, but at Barton Hall had become a successful broodmare, producing the good race horse and influential sire Sorcerer (1796, by Trumpator); Epsom Oaks and Derby winner Eleanor (1798, by Whiskey), later dam of the important stallion Muley; Julia (1799, by Whisky), the dam of Derby winner and top broodmare sire Phantom (1808); Cressida (1807, by Whiskey), the dam of Two Thousand Guineas winner Antar and Derby winner Priam, who was an important sire both in England and in the U.S. In 1808 at age 18 she dropped the unnamed filly by Walton that became Langar's dam.
Langar's dam was a broodmare for Sir William Lowther (3rd) Earl of Lonsdale, a leading figure on the British turf. Like her half-sisters, she was a successful producer. Her first foal was born in 1813: Non-Conductor, by the Sorcerer son Thunderbolt. Next came the filly Pomona (1815), by Vespasian (by Pot-8-Os), and then a filly by Comus that died at age three. After that she dropped six successive foals (including twins, one of which died) to the cover of Selim, beginning in 1817 with Langar. She lost a ten day old foal in 1830, and produced two fillies, by Sorcerer's son Truffle (who had returned from France) in 1832, and by Falcon in 1833. She was put down in November,1833, at Tickhill Stud near Doncaster, where her famous son would also die, in 1841.
Besides Langar, his dam's most notable son was Nicolo (by Selim), a surviving twin of 1820 that went on to win the Two Thousand Guineas and the Newmarket Stakes in six starts at age three for Lowther. Non-Conductor, and Langar's brothers Rossini, Fiddler and Apollo, all bred and initially raced by Lowther, were also winners at places like Stockbridge, Derby, Bridgewater, Portsmouth, and Buxton, and at age three Apollo won a match over the Abingdon Mile at Newmarket, beating DeVere. Rossini, probably the best of the three, and the longest-running, was later a modest sire: he got Duvernay and some other winners.
Pomona, a winner at Warwick, Ludlow and Oswestry, produced Bud (1827), a winner of Doncaster's Champagne Stakes, and a filly(1834) by Partisan that was the dam of One Thousand Guineas winner Sorella, Union-Rennen winner My Hope, and additional daughters that bred on; the champion American filly Personal Ensign (1984) and her brother, Personal Flag, among other good horses, descend from Pomona. Pasta, who stayed in the Lowther stud, bred some winners, including Flourish (by Partisan), but her line did not continue.
Langar, a bright chestnut like his sire, with a flashy blaze and beautiful head, was described by The Druid, who called him a "handsome" horse, as a "flash Arab-style of horse about his forehand," which can be seen in the above portrait: Herring, impressed by his blood-like looks, also painted a head portrait of him. He was purchased as a yearling by Howe Peter Browne, (2nd) Marquess of Sligo, an Irish peer educated in England, and a big supporter of the Irish turf. He was put in training with Richard Noke at the Curragh, where he proved to have speed and staying power.
Langar on the Turf
Langar started for Sligo at the Curragh in October of his juvenile year, where he won all three of his starts: he took a 50 guineas sweepstakes, beating five, a 60 guineas each sweepstakes beating one and receiving forfeits from two others, and a Post Sweepstakes of 100 guineas each, beating one, with three others paying forfeits. That was it for his two-year-old season, but Sligo considered his success sufficient to consider taking him back to England to race.
Langar first ran at age three in the Doncaster St. Leger in August, but the best he could do was sixth in a large field. He ran a few days later in the Gascoigne Stakes, which he won, beating five, including Arbutus, The Duke, Tramper and Cannonade. He did not run again that season, and was shipped back to Ireland.
In 1821, age four, he won the King's Plate at the Curragh in April over three miles, beating five colts. At the same meeting he started for the Kildare stakes, and was beaten by Ivanhoe, but he was "said to have been amiss at the time of starting." In June he easily won the King's Plate at the Curragh in two mile heats, beating eight. In August at the Curragh he ran second to Rob Roy for a sweepstakes and the Gold Cup, with Ivanhoe running third. At the Curragh in October he won a sweepstakes, beating Roller and three others, and at the same meeting won the Whip (four miles), beating Roller, Rob Roy, and one other. He does not appear to have raced in 1822, but in 1823 he was back at the Curragh in October, where he won the Whip a second time, beating five, and the next day took the Wellington Stakes, beating two others. His wins in Ireland contributed to Sligo's position as leading owner in 1823.
Langar in the Stud
Langar spent his first season, 1824, at Sligo's seat, Westport House, Co. Mayo. The next season he was moved to Sligo's stables on the Curragh. His last Irish crop was born in 1830. In 1831 he was installed at Hon. Frederick Lumley-Savile's Tickhill Castle Stud, near Doncaster, in England, and he remained there until he was shot on January 28, 1841, after having "ruptured himself." In 1836, the year ELIS won the St. Leger, Langar was second on the leading sires list in Great Britain; he had 24 winners, more than the leader, Sultan, with 20, but they mostly ran at a lower, less lucrative level, than Sultan's offspring.
While nothing like Sultan as a stallion, he acquitted himself well as a sire, both in Ireland and England, with sons that were leading sires in England, France and Ireland. His son ELIS (1833), his only classic winner, won the Doncaster St. Leger, but it was the modest runner MR. WAGS (1833) that was his best sire son. MR. WAGS, imported into France in 1839 by Alexandre Aumont, got many classic winners and was influential there as a broodmare sire; although statistics are not compiled for early French racing, it is almost certain MR. WAGS was leading sire there in both 1851 and 1852, when his great daughter Hervine was carrying all before her, and probably in 1847, when daughter Prédestinée was the champion older horse. Another son, EPIRUS (1834, brother to ELIS), was a good winner, and later got an Epsom Derby winner in Pyrrhus the First; EPIRUS was the leading sire in England in 1850. An Irish-bred son, PHILIP THE FIRST (1828), a speedy juvenile winner, was leading sire in Ireland in 1843. Langar's sons STOCKPORT and EPIRUS were dam's sires of three Grand National Steeplechase winners.
It is through Langar's daughters, and those of his sons, that he is seen in pedigrees today. Langar's daughters produced four classic winners in three countries. PROGRESS (1833) became the dam of 1842 Epsom Derby winner Attila, himself likely the leading sire in France posthumously in 1850. Another Langar filly, the speedy VULTURE (1833), produced Orlando (1841), another Epsom Derby winner and three times leading sire in England. The German classic winner of the Henckel-Rennen, Leonidas (1853), was out of Langer's exported daughter LANGOLEE (1838), and the ill-fated, brilliant Prix du Jockey Club winner Lion was out of Langar's exported daughter MISS CAROLINE (1833).
In Ireland
Lord Sligo was very fond of Waxy blood. He bought from the Duke of Grafton and imported Wilful and Wire, full sisters to the noted runner and stallion Whisker, all by Waxy. Both sisters produced numerous winners for Sligo, several of them by Langar. He also bought Waxy's Epsom Derby-winning son Waxy Pope, who had an enormous influence on Irish bloodstock: Steam, a Waxy Pope daughter, bred three youngsters by Langar.
Steam's 1825 Langar filly, FOAM placed second twice in sweepstakes at the Curragh as a juvenile. She was a good producer for Sligo, breeding Frank, a useful runner in Ireland, Spume, a winner of the Great Yorkshire Stakes in England, and Suspicion, whose daughter Maria (1845, by Harkaway) continued her female line: dual classic winner Reve d'Or (1884, by Hampton) descended from her, and Maria's Newminster daughter Fleur des Champs went to the U.S. to establish a solid family from which sprang two Belmont winners, including The Finn (1912, by Ogden), a Preakness Stakes winner and a Kentucky Derby winner.
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Felt
His brother, Fang
| | Steam's next, and best, Langar foal was FELT (1826). This 15.3 hands tall colt was said to resemble Langar, except for his color, which was bay. He was purchased by trainer John Scott, and in England at age three won four races, but could only place fourth in the Doncaster St. Leger. At age five, running for Lord Derby, he took seven races, including five gold cups, at Chester, Newton, Liverpool, Preston, and the Hollywell Hunt, at distances between two and three miles. He retired to Derby's Knowsley Hall, and got a few foals before his purchase in 1836 by Dr. A.T.B. Merritt -- who imported eighteen stallions between 1832 and 37 -- and shipped to the U.S., where several of his daughters had an impact on bloodstock in the U.S.
Steam's 1829 Langar colt, FANG, was a promising juvenile for Sligo in England, winning the big two-year-old stakes at Doncaster, beating ten, and the seven furlong juvenile stakes at Pontefract; he was an early betting favorite for the Doncaster St. Leger. Sligo sold him to F. Richardson for 3,300 guineas and half of any stakes he won, but mismanagement by Richardson and his connections ruined his later career, when the best he could do was place third to Physician and Birdcatcher (by St. Patrick) in Doncaster's Scarborough Stakes and third in Newmarket's Craven Stakes; he bolted off-course at Newmarket in the fall, and was resold, but never regained his juvenile form.
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Wire's Langar daughter, VAT (1826), ran for Sligo in England, not successfully, and in Ireland at age four, where she was second to Uganda in the King's Plate for mares at the Curragh (4 mile heats), with four runners, and unplaced in the Wellington Stakes, won by PHILIP THE FIRST. VAT went into the stud of Col. J.C. Westerna in Ireland, where she bred a succession of winners, including Wedge (1833, by Picton), a winnner of the Anglesey Stakes and four other races as a juvenile, which made him champion money earner, of any age, in Ireland in 1835. In England at age four Wedge won York's Craven Stakes (1-1/2 miles), and at age five won Newcastle's Northumberland Plate (2 miles) and Newcastle's Craven Stakes. VAT'S other Irish-bred winners included Wirrestrew (1836, by Drone), who also took the Anglesey Stakes. After that, VAT was shipped to England to be bred to high-class stallions.
VAT'S 1837 filly Welfare (by Priam) was a high-class runner that ran second in the Anglesey Stakes at the Curragh at age two, and in England won the two-mile Ascot Stakes, and placed second in the Epsom Oaks -- she bred some winners, including Harkaway's excellent daughter, The Deformed (1850), and her female line, which included the great Argentinian Congreve (1924), continues to the present. VAT's 1845 daughter Vexation (by Touchstone) also bred winners and established a long-lived female line that included 1868 Epsom Derby winner Blue Gown, 1922 Kentucky Derby winner Morvich, and the Melbourne Cup winner What a Nuisance (1978). VAT'S 1846 son Vatican (by Venison), was a high-class winner of the Newmarket Stakes, Grand Duke Michael Stakes, Ascot's Triennial, twice (3 and 4 year olds), the Ascot Stakes, and the York Spring Gold Cup. Vatican was abused as a stallion, and eventually deliberately blinded in the belief it would make him more manageable (see Venison); he got some good north country runners, but under different management may have been a much better stallion.
Wire's Langar daughter VAMP (1825) ran unsuccessfully at the Curragh and in England. In 1835 VAMP, after producing four foals in Ireland, was bought by Elijah Boardman of Huntsville, Alabama, and imported into the U.S., where she produced a filly, St. Mary's (1844), by Hamlet, a colt bred by Boardman from imported Consol. St. Mary's' daughter, the unraced Dixie (1859, by imported Sovereign), was an important American matron, with numerous stakes winners and stallions descending from her in tail-female, including Santa Anita Derby winner Rough 'n Tumble (1948), Brooklyn Handicap winner Fit to Fight (1979), and Belmont Stakes winner Hail to All (1962).
PHILIP THE FIRST (1828), was from a Queensberry mare in Sligo's stud. She was sold to Colverstown, Kilcullen, trainer James Kelly, for whom she bred several winners, but PHILIP, by Langar, was her best. A 15.3. hands high horse with "great bone and sinew," he won the First Two Year Old Race and the Anglesey Stakes at the Curragh on the same day. At age three he won the Madrid Stakes, and then ran second to Distingué in the Kirwan Stakes, and in the fall took the Wellington Stakes, after which he retired to stud at Kelly's Colverstown stud; he later moved to H.L. Levinge's Levington Park in Mullingar. He was a better than useful stallion, and in 1843 was leading sire in Ireland, with three winners of six lucrative races. His best runner was probably King Dan, a winner of the Royal Whip in 1844, and of the Irish Cesarewitch, later also a useful stallion in Ireland, but the last of any significance in this branch of the Langar sire line.
PHILIP THE FIRST is seen in the pedigrees of several mares, including as sire of Peter Colgan's mare Victoria (1834). Victoria bred some high class winners to the cover of Harkaway, including Horn of Chase, a good juvenile winner, like his dam's sire, and leading sire in Ireland in 1858 (the only Harkaway son to reach that level); the great Irish mare Chaseaway (1848), twice winner of the Royal Whip, of Queen's Plates and other races, with descendants that include Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Vaguely Noble; Chevy Chase, a winner; Cheerful Horn, a winner of eight races, later the sire of Grand National Steeplechase winner Cortolvin. PHILIP'S daughter Mustard (1836) was fourth dam of Uncas (1865, by Stockwell), the champion money winner in Ireland in 1867 (at age two), and a leading sire in Ireland five times (sire of four Irish Derby winners).
Another good Langar colt, RATCATCHER (1830, from Rufina, by Blacklock), "of great power and splendid action," won 25 stakes and plates in 61 starts over several years at places like Chester, Newton, the Pottery (Davenport Plate), Liverpool, Wolverhampton (including the Wolverhampton Gold Cup), Oswestry (Gold Cup), and Wrexham (Town Plate) in England; he later got some winners in England. SILLY PAT (1827) won a number of races in Ireland, including a King's Plate at the Curragh and one at the Royal Corporation meet at Maze. He was a stallion at Tattersall's Willesden Paddocks near London, where he got some winners.
Other Langar Irish-bred daughters of note include PERDITA (1830, out of Delanda by Gohanna) and CARABELLA (1830, from a Waxy Pope mare). PERDITA produced Johnny (1837), a winner of the Anglesey Stakes at the Curragh that later won the Ascot Stakes and ran second in the Liverpool Cup in England, and of Ballinkeele (1839), also a winner of the Anglesey Stakes. Her female line continued through the twentieth century. CARABELLA'S in-bred (to Langar) daughter, La Belle Poule (1841, by Wedge), continued her family line: Grand National Steeplechase winner Sergeant Murphy (1910), traced in tail-female to CARABELLA.
In England
Langar's first crop bred at Tickhill, was born in 1832. His English youngsters, like the Irish, could stay, and a number won royal plates in heats and gold cups, occasionally after winning as juveniles. They had, said a sportswriter, "more a reputation for speed than stoutness."
THE POTENTATE (1832, out of a Don Juan mare), a gelding, ran through age eight for Lord Eglinton, mostly adhering to the northern circuit, and winning multiple gold cups at Paisley (Scotland), Goodwood's Harkaway Cup, Queen's Plates at Ayr (Scotland), Lancaster, Liverpool, and Manchester, and the 1-1/2 mile Chesterfield Cup at Goodwood (1840). In 1839 alone he won fifteen races, including three Queen's Plates, the Newcastle Cup, and the Silver Bell at Paisley.
BODICE (1832, from Stays, by Whalebone) ran in Lord Orford's colors first, and then Lord Exeter's. She won the Newmarket Stakes, and a 100 sovereign sweepstakes for fillies in a canter. In the Epsom Oaks, she was third to Queen of Trumps and Preserve ("a considerable distance between second and third"), with ten in the field. She ran last in Newmarket's King's Plate for mares. She dropped in class after her sale to Exeter, and ran last in a selling sweepstakes, and fourth in a fifty selling plate at Newmarket, and after that placed in some selling plates at Stamford and Goodwood before winning the Sussex Plate at Brighton in three heats, but followed that by running last at Lewes in the Gold Cup. She later produced Alexander (1839, by Plenipotentiary), a winner of the Henckel-Rennen (Two Thousand Guineas) in Germany.
Olympia's Langar Foals
Another Langar colt born in 1832 was STOCKPORT, out of Olympia (1815, by Doncaster Cup winner Sir Oliver), a broodmare in Lord Stamford's stud, and after 1829 owned by John Wood, proprietor of the Greyhound Inn Farm near Doncaster in Yorkshire, who had a small stud. Wood, who periodically raced his own horses in Yorkshire, but mostly bred to sell, was so little-known, that his name is usually misrepresented in the literature as Ward, or Hood. But he engineered the breedings of Langar with Olympia, which led to STOCKPORT and ELIS.
Olympia, a winner at Knutsford at age three, was a significant matron (Family 13-A). Her filly Kite (1821, by Bustard) was bred by Stamford, sold to Mr. Allanson, and would later produce the very fast VULTURE (1833, by Langar), later the dam of Epsom Derby winner and leading sire Orlando. After she entered Wood's stud, Olympia was bred exclusively to Langar, who was nearby at Tickhill. For Wood she bred the brothers STOCKPORT (1832) and ELIS (1833). It appears Lumley-Savile purchased her after she dropped ELIS, since it is recorded the next foal, EPIRUS (1834), was purchased directly from Lumley-Savile. Her next foals were LATITUDE (1835), later dam of the speedy Loadstone, and finally, EPIDAURUS (1836).
STOCKPORT, standing 16.1 hands "of great power and symmetry," was sold to John Robinson. At two he was second in Liverpool's Maghull Stakes. He ran third third in the Two Thousand Guineas of 1835 (won by Ibrahim), but failed to place in the Epsom Derby. The next year he was third in the Liverpool Gold Cup, and at Wolverhampton won the Holyoak Stakes. He went back to stand at Greyhound Inn as a stallion, and started out promisingly by getting Skipton, who won four of his five races as a juvenile, including the Thirsk Stakes at Stockton. His daughter Miss Elis was a high-class racemare for Lord George Bentinck that won the 1845 Goodwood Cup and the Goodwood Stakes, and her line bred on through the early twentieth century. But location and competition from STOCKPORT'S better-running brothers after their retirement kept his opportunities low; he died in 1845 at York, age 13. He is seen in the pedigrees of some horses through his daughters; one, Miss Cobden (1845, from a Blacklock mare, sister to St. Leger winner Jerry) was the dam of Grand National Steeplechase winner The Free Trader (1849, by The Sea). Free Trader was an entire, and was sold to Australia, where he stood for a while at Tocal, the New South Wales stud of Charles Reynolds; he got several daughters that were good matrons in Queensland. |
Elis
| | ELIS (1833), bred by Wood, and foaled out in "the elder tree box" at Tickhill, was sold to Charles Greville, a cousin and sometime race horse manager to Lord George Bentinck, the latter one of the noted "dictators" of the English turf. It's probable Greville bought the horse for Bentinck, who ran horses in the names of Greville, his trainer John Day, and others, to avoid the censure of his father. ELIS was a great turf hero, and widely admired, but his principal opponent, Bay Middleton, was better; and Bentinck purchased Bay Middleton at the end of 1836 for a huge sum, jettisoning ELIS the following year. Bay Middleton led the sire's list twice, but ELIS was a comparative failure as a stallion, so perhaps Bentinck's instincts were correct. Still, The Druid reports, after ELIS'S wins in 1836, Bentinck took ten of the forty seasons available for Langar in 1837, so he judged the sire a worthy stallion.
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ELIS was a bright chestnut with a small head, large shoulder, deep chest, clean legs, and muscular thighs, with an easy temper and sweet disposition. Standing 15.3. hands, he had a strong constitution, and was a good feeder. He was trained by John Kent at Goodwood, and ridden by John Day, who later trained all of Bentinck's horses, until they had a falling out.
ELIS ran in Greville's name in his first race, the Chesterfield Stakes (1/2 mile) at Newmarket July, which he won by half a length, making all the running and beating twelve other juveniles. After this ELIS ran in the name of another Bentinck associate, Lord Lichfield. ELIS went on to win Goodwood's Molecomb Stakes, beating two and giving them both five pounds, and at Newmarket Second October won the Clearwell Stakes, beating nine, including Slane, and at the same meeting ran second to Alumnus in the Predergast Stakes, with three behind. At Newmarket Houghton he took the big juvenile stakes, the Criterion, beating Slane, MR. WAGS, and four others, and then took a walk-over for a sweepstakes at the same meeting. His performances set him up as a primary contender for the 1836 Epsom Derby.
ELIS'S first race at age three was the Two Thousand Guineas at Newmarket, where he first met Bay Middleton, and was just beaten by a neck. He did not run in the Epsom Derby, won by Bay Middleton. At Goodwood he took the Drawing Room Stakes, beating seven other three-year-olds, was second to Hornsea in the Goodwood Cup (2-1/2 miles), giving him weight, two days later, but that same day took the Racing Stakes, beating two. Ten days later he was at Lewes, where he won the Lewes Stakes, with seven horses behind him, and giving 21 pounds to Hock, the horse that ran second. Secret trials at Goodwood after this grueling schedule showed ELIS to be in top form and a likely winner of the Doncaster St. Leger, Bentinck's principal goal.
Bentinck, like other owners of the period, made most of his money in racing from gambling and playing the odds. Most believed ELIS would be scratched from the St. Leger because of his compressed series of races at Goodwood and then Lewes; not only would he have to race again, but he'd have to walk 250 miles to Doncaster to do it. But Bentinck had already conceived the idea of a padded traveling van, to be pulled by six horses, to spare ELIS the stress of being walked to Doncaster from Goodwood. By the Goodwood meeting he already had a coach builder constructing a two-horse van, sworn to secrecy and not told the purpose of the vehicle. The van, the first of its kind, took three days to reach Doncaster from Goodwood, with a break at Litchfield to allow the horses (ELIS'S training partner Drummer also went) some exercise. The van arrived at Doncaster two days before the St. Leger, and ELIS showed well in his pre-race exercises.
Naturally, the van caused quite a sensation, as it had along the route, but at Doncaster the sensation was the wildly fluctuating odds on ELIS, whom many assumed would not appear. Bentinck had £1,000 down on his horse, when the odds were 12:1. He made a bundle when ELIS took the St. Leger Stakes easily by two lengths, beating jockey-owner William Scott's Scroggins, the great race mare Bee's Wing, and eleven others, including Langar's grandson Wedge and VULTURE. In succeeding years, until the railways were extended to towns near various courses, a number of other owners took up the van idea -- Lanercost, who raced all over England and Scotland, and the great Harkaway were two whose owners readily adopted the notion of a van.
ELIS then went to Newmarket First October to meet the Derby winner, Bay Middleton, in the Grand Duke Michael Stakes; all other entries were scratched from the field, leaving the two great runners, both grandsons of Selim, to face each other in what is considered one of the most memorable contests in racing history. Bay Middleton won by a length, despite Elis's jockey's John Day's, "lavish use of whip and spur to the flanks of one of the best and gamest horses that ever ran," but it was the first and only time Bay Middleton himself ever felt the whip. At Newmarket Houghton ELIS dead-heated with MR. WAGS in a sweepstakes, with the owners dividing the stakes.
At age four ELIS beat Slane in a 300 sovereign match at Newmarket Craven. That summer he was sold to Hon. Sydney Herbert (three-times secretary of war and an owner of Sir Hercules) as a stallion, and forfeited 100 sovereigns in a scheduled match at Newmarket that fall.
As a stallion at Herbert's Wilton stud near Salisbury, Wiltshire, ELIS was a huge disappointment, but his daughters, passing on his speed, made him a good broodmare sire. His best runner was probably Lucy Banks (1839, out of Walfruna, by Velocipede), a winner of Epsom's Craven Stakes at age three and of the Goodwood Stakes (2 miles) at age four. Daughter Needful (1841, from Frederica by Little John) won Goodwood's Racing Stakes. Juvenile winners included Passion (1839, from Pet, by Gainsborough), who took Newmarket's Chesterfield Stakes, and Nutbourne (1842, from a Peter Lely mare), who won Goodwood's Molecomb Stakes. Nutbourne was later a modest stallion.
A number of ELIS'S daughters were good producers. Arethusa (1839, from Languid by Cain) was the dam of Fernhill (1845, by Ascot), a winner of Epsom's Great Metropolitan Handicap and the Great Northamptonshire Stakes (both 2-1/2 miles) at age three. More importantly, she produced Traducer (1857, by The Libel), a winner of just one race, under a mile. Traducer was purchased by the Walker brothers of New Zealand and shipped there in 1862, where he became one of the most significant stallions in that country's history. Beyond his many winners and offspring that were important contributors to New Zealand bloodstock, Traducer got Sir Modred, who was shipped to California, where he became a leading sire in the U.S.
The ELIS daughter Fatima (1842, from Albania, by Sultan and so in-bred to Selim), was sold to France, where she was the dam of the speedy Nuncia (1856), a winner of the Grand Criterium at Longchamp, and of Gouvieux (1855, by Lanercost), whose wins included the Poule de Produits (Prix Daru) and Prix de l'Empereur (Prix Lupin). ELIS'S daughter The Landgravine (1841, out of the Margravine, by Little John) produced Landgrave (1846), winner of the Newmarket Triennial and the Cambridgeshire at age three; Maid of Kent (1855, by Chatham), who won Newmarket's Craven Stakes at age four, and her sister Allington (1857), a winner of Ascot's Coronation Stakes and their brother Sittingborne (1850), a winner of York's Convivial Stakes at age two, and at age three second in both the Two Thousand Guineas and Epsom Derby, and winner of Goodwood's Gratwicke Stakes and the Brighton Biennial. Another filly out of The Landgravine, Hesse Homberg (1848, by Robert de Gorham), won the Newmarket Handicap at age three, and the Brighton Stakes at age four. Mary (1840, sister to The Landragvine), produced two good juveniles -- Criterion Stakes winner The Nigger (1847) and Newmarket's Prendergast Stakes winner Maidstone (1849).
In 1844 ELIS was sold to Germany. Three of his German-bred daughters -- Reideben (1847), Lucia (1848), and Violet (1849) produced winners of the Preis der Diana; Violet also was the dam of Brigadier, a winner of the Austrian Derby.
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Epirus
| | EPIRUS (1834) was bred by Lumley-Savile at Tickhill and purchased from his widow as an untried two-year-old by Malton (Yorkshire) trainer John Scott for John Bowes, the illegitimate son of the (10th) Earl Strathmore, who owned a number of high-class race horses (including 1835 Derby winner Mundig, West Australian, and two other Derby winners) and had a stud at his seat at Streatlam, Co. Durham. EPIRUS' weanling brother, EPIDAURUS (1836) was included in the sale for a total of £1700, with a contingency of £500 if EPIRUS won the St. Leger. "it needed all John Scott's eloquence, in a two hours' confab, to get them at the price."
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EPIRUS, by all accounts was a beautiful horse. Mrs. Lumley-Savile called him "the young beauty" before his sale. He was referred to as "one of the most elegantly-formed thoroughbreds that ever passed through John Scott's hands," which, considering the number of classic winners Scott schooled -- forty-one (including Guineas winners) -- and other high-class race horses he trained, probably places him among the most attractive of the nineteenth century horses. But beauty is as beauty does, and while he was a game horse that ran frequently, he was not what could be considered a first-rate racehorse, certainly not as good as his brother, ELIS. He could stay "well enough, although speed was his best point," said The Druid. He won 12 of his 31 starts over five seasons, his best distance 1-1/4 miles or less. He was a more immediately successful stallion than ELIS, getting two classic winners and horses that won both high-class sprints and distance races. Several of his daughters became significant matrons in France.
Given his late start in racing, EPIRUS was kept at Scott's Whitewall establishment at Malton, and schooled on Langton Wold, tried with various reliable horses in the Whitewall stable, including the talented cup winner Cardinal Puff (1834, by Pantaloon), which he beat while giving away ten pounds. Based on reports filtering out of Whitewall, he was favored at odds of 2:1 for his first race, the 1837 Doncaster St. Leger, with thirteen in the field. The race was a disaster for EPIRUS, and other horses. Ridden by John Scott's brother, Bill, who was often his jockey, EPIRUS was among the leaders at the start. Scott favored riding his St. Leger mounts along a ditch that bordered the course, apparently for the footing, but he either miscalculated or was pushed too near the edge, and the ditch bank gave way. EPIRUS fell in the ditch, tossing Scott off in the process, unfortunately into the path of on-coming horses. EPIRUS got up and finished race riderless and unplaced; Scott was hit by The Prime Warden, resulting in a compound fracture of the collar bone. Later in the race a loose greyhound interfered with Dardanelles, who broke his stride, causing Henriade, running close behind, to fall and ruck his back. The race was won by a length by Mango in slow time. John Scott was often heard to say "Epirus could not have lost the St. Leger had he kept on his legs," and it's likely he would have known, based on his many successes, but EPIRUS' subsequent career barely supports the contention.
In 1838 EPIRUS "won" two races, both walk-overs, at Doncaster: the Doncaster Stakes and the Four Year Old Produce Stakes. Other than that, in April he was a bad second to Rat-Trap in the Port Stakes at Newmarket Craven, with five in the field, including Caravan. In June only three came out for the Ascot Gold Cup: Grey Momus won easily, out-staying EPIRUS, who was second by 1-1/2 lengths, and Caravan last. At the Doncaster meeting where he took his two walk-overs, he also ran in the Hornby Castle Stakes against his sole opponent, The Doctor; the latter won in a canter by several lengths. At Wolverhampton he met Harkaway in the Cleveland Cup (3 miles), and was beaten by the great horse by half a length in an exciting race; rumors flew around that EPIRUS, who did not have his usual rider, the still recovering Bill Scott, as his jockey, had been pulled in this race.
The next season, at age five, EPIRUS ran eight times, and won three races. He started at Ascot, running fourth to St. Francis, Sleight-of-Hand, and Domino in the Queen's Plate, with eight in the field, including Grey Momus. At Epsom he took the Craven Stakes (1 mile-2 furlongs), beating seven, including Ion, "easily" by a length, leading from start to finish. At Liverpool July he looked like he had a chance in the Tradesmen's Cup (2 miles), but in the stretch was knocked by King Cole in the crowded 16 horse field, and was third to Charles XII and St. Bennett; Lanercost and Cruiskeen were also in the field. In Nottingham's Gold Cup, he was third to Melbourne and Industry, but the race started from the wrong place and had to be re-run, and a number of runners were withdrawn, including Epirus (Melbourne ran it again and won again). At Goodwood, EPIRUS won the 1-1/4 mile Craven Stakes by a length, beating Mus, Domino and Caravan, leading from start to finish. He also took Goodwood's City Plate over a mile in two heats, beating Launchaway, but since only two started and three were required to receive the 100 sovereigns added, he won only £15 for his efforts. At the same meeting he was fifth in Harkaway's second Goodwood Cup (nine ran) in one of the fastest races on record to that time; he was carrying 9 st.-4 lbs., more weight than any other horse but Harkaway. In August he was at Wolverhampton, where he was unplaced in a field of eight in the Holyoake Stakes. At York in August he was third of four horses in the two-mile Queen's Plate, won by Bee's Wing, with Melbourne second. At Doncaster he was again third of four, in the 1-1/2 mile Fitzwilliam Stakes, with Bee's Wing the winner in the weight-for-age race.
In 1840 EPIRUS took the first running of the six furlong Stewards' Cup at Goodwood, with twenty-four in the field, carrying the heaviest weight of 9 stone-7 lbs. It was offered as a sort of novelty race that many disparaged and most thought would not last -- as it turned out the race is today one of the most popular and successful during Goodwood. At the Pottery he won the Copeland Stakes, worth 860 sovereigns, and a stakes and the Queen's Plate at Lincoln, and the Queen's Plate at Nottingham. The next year, 1841, he took two races at Newmarket Craven.
It's pretty clear EPIRUS could go a distance, if not usually win, in top company; his best distance was 1-1/4 miles or less, in an era where those races were just gaining in popularity, but mostly lacking in prestige. At the end of his career, Bowes sold ELIS to T.B. Potterson for £800, and Potterson installed him at his Clipston stud near Market Harborough in Leicestershire hunt country; later Potterson moved him to Pitsford, in Northampton. He was later sold to the Hall brothers and moved to their Dudding Hill farm (near London), where, in 1854, his old adversary, Harkaway, joined him and other stallions in a huge, and largely unsuccessful breeding operation.
In the stud EPIRUS hit right off the bat, with Pyrrhus the First (1843), another handsome chestnut colt in the sire line. Bred by John Day from Fortress, by the sturdy, good broodmare stallion Defence, Pyrrhus won the Newmarket Stakes and went on to take the Epsom Derby; he later proved to be the stayer his sire was not, winning five Queen's Plates. EPIRUS led the sire list in England in 1850, when the foals bred in 1847 as a result of Pyrrhus' succsess in 1846, reached age three, including Guineas winner Pitsford. He ranked eleventh in 1851, and then disappears from the top twenty on the sire lists. While never hugely popular in England -- with the exception of the year after Pyrrhus the First won the Derby -- EPIRUS and Pyrrhus the First were appealing to early breeders who came from Australia to purchase English bloodstock. Several EPIRUS sons and grandsons (through Pyrrhus the First) went to Australia, and were successful there, having a significant impact on the developing bloodstock industry. |
Epirus' Derby winning son Pyrrhus the First
| | Pyrrhus the First went on to get some winners, including Yorkshire Oaks winner The Argosy, Ascot Stakes winner Mouravieff, the good filly Moestissima, and the great, versatile filly Virago (1851), who won the One Thousand Guineas, Goodwood's Nassau Stakes and the Yorkshire Oaks, and went on to be a stayer of the first order, taking the Goodwood Cup, Doncaster Cup, Epsom's Great Metropolitan Handicap and City and Suburban Handicap, and numerous other races. In 1859 Pyrrhus the First was sold to Baron de Nexon and installed as his Haras de la Haute-Vienne, where he got the dams of some winners in France (Lesbos), Hungary (Lucrezia), and Austria (Advocat).
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Pyrrhus did not get a son in England that could continue the sire line, but his son New Warrior (1851, from Colocynth, by Physician), whose best was third place in Wolverhampton's Chillington Stakes for juveniles (and sixth in Andover's Derby), was purchased in 1857 by Australian bloodstock agents and sold in Australia to J.H. Atkinson, for whom he stood at stud at Maitland for several years. In 1864, purchased by Hunter Valley (NSW) stockman Frank Reynolds for 700 guineas, he became an enormously influential stallion, first at trainer John Tait's Varoville stud and then at Reynolds' Tocal stud, where he died in January of 1871. New Warrior, whose stock were "remarkable" as weight-carrying stayers, got many stakes winners, including the great Tim Whiffler (1862), a Melbourne Cup winner among many other races, and two other Melbourne Cup winners, The Pearl (1866) and Warrior (1863). New Warrior got numerous sire sons in Australia, which kept Langar's line alive for several generations, but imported English stallions gradually supplanted them, and they are now seen through the descendants of their daughters.
EPIRUS also got Pitsford (1847, from Miss Horewood, by The Saddler), a winning juvenile and at age three winner of the Two Thousand Guineas and the Great Yorkshire Stakes, and second in the Epsom Derby. In 1857 Pitsford was imported by John and Thomas Mylne and one of the Tindals of New South Wales into Australia, where he got several classic winners. Crossed with half-bred mares, he had an influence on early Australian bloodstock through the Colonial female lines, with many stakes winners springing from them and setting a foundation for Australian racehorses. Another EPIRUS son, Warhawk (1848, out of Valentine, by Voltaire), also went to Australia, where he was a successful stallion in Victoria, getting two VRC Derby winners and two VRC Oaks Stakes winners, and two VRC St. Leger Stakes winners.
Other EPIRUS winners included the sprinters Citadel (1848, Ascot's Norfolk Stakes) and Ephesus (1848, from Enterprise, by Defence), whose wins included Ascot's 7 furlong Royal Hunt Cup; and the stayers Little Harry (1849, from Fradulent, by Venison), who took the two-mile Ascot Stakes, and Epaminondas (1851, from a Plenipotentiary mare), a winner of the 2-1/2 mile Chester Gold Cup.
EPIRUS grandchildren through his daughters were all over the map in aptitude, from outright sprinters to solid, high-class stayers, to two winners of the Grand National Steeplechase, and including Cosmopolite, a distillation of all abilities as a successful winner of high-class sprints, distance races, and later, a good steeplechase winner. Successful EPIRUS broodmare daughters included Antonia (1851, from Ward of Cheap, by Colwick). She was sold to France, where she produced the fine stayer and good stallion Trocadero (1864, by Monarque), that won great races in France, Germany and England, including the Grosser Preis von Baden, Ascot's Queen Alexandra Stakes (2 miles), and in France, the Grand Prix de l'Imperatrice (twice, Prix Rainbow, 5,000 meters), Grand Prix de l'Empereur (Prix Gladiateur, 6,200 meters), and the Grand Prix de Deauville (La Coupe, 2,400 meters). Antonia was also the dam of Gabrielle de Estrees (1858), who beat the colts in the Prix du Jockey Club, won the Grand Prix de l'Imperatrice, and placed in some good races in England.
Other EPIRUS broodmare daughters included Julia (1848, from Monstrosity by Plenipotentiary). Her son, Cosmopolite (1855), was in the first French-bred crop by Lanercost (as was the ELIS grandson, Gouvieux). Cosmopolite, gelded early, was an incredibly versatile winner over all distances in both England and France, and later had a successful steeplechasing career. Another EPIRUS daughter, Aunt Phillis (1850, from Lady of Pendragon, by Pantaloon), became the dam of Great Eastern Handicap winner The Farmer's Son (1855); she was sent to France carrying the Alarm filly Alerte (1859), a winner in France and England. In France Aunt Phillis was bred to the imported The Cossack, producing Alcibiade (1860), sent to England to run and claimed out of a selling race -- at age five he became the youngest winner of the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree. Another EPIRUS daughter, Constance (1848, from Little Finch, by Hornsea) was the dam of the filly Casse Tete (1865, by Trumpeter, and so in-bred to Langar), that also won the Grand National Steeplechase (in 1872). EPIRUS' English daughter Triangle (1849, a sister to PYRRHUS THE FIRST) bred four good juvenile winners, including the Chesterfield Stakes winner Touch-Me-Not.
Epirus died in 1855.
EPIDAURUS (1836), the fourth Langar-Olympia son, that was purchased by Bowes as a weanling, won a few races, including Doncaster's Three-Year-Old Stakes by two lengths (beating The Corsair and Derby winner Bloomsbury), but did not measure up to any of his brothers on the turf or in the breeding shed. He was sold to Germany as a stallion, but does not appear to have bred any good racehorses, although he is seen as a dam's sire of some winners.
The Langar-Olympia filly, LATITUDE (1835), first a broodmare for Lord George Bentinck, and then for Lord Clifden, was a prolific and successful producer. Her son Loadstone (1845, by Touchstone), a high-class juvenile, won the Anglesey Stakes in Ireland and Newmarket's Criterion Stakes as a juvenile, and later took Goodwood's Stewards' Cup; he was sold to France in 1854, where his daughter, La Magicienne produced two good winners, Prix de Diane and Prix Gladiateur winner Mondaine, and Matamor, a winner of the Prix de Longchamp (Prix Hoquart) and Prix Biennal (Prix Jean Prat). Loadstone's brother, Alembic (1851), won Goodwood's Ham Stakes as a juvenile, the Triennial (3 year olds) at Newmarket, and some other races. Half-brother Schism (1856, by Touchstone's son Surplice) won a number of races, including the Great Handicap at Newmarket Houghton, Bath's Somersetshire Stakes, and the Ascot Gold Vase (2 miles), and, reflecting the versatility of some Langars, also ran second in the 1859 Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot (7 furlongs); his brother Ignatus (1857) was also a winner. LATITUDE'S son Magnes (1849, by Touchstone) was a non-winner, but is seen in some pedigrees through daughter Matrimony. LATITUDE'S daughter Simony (1852, by Surplice) bred on, with winning descendants in the 1890s. Another LATITUDE daughter, Altitude (1850, by another Touchstone son, Cotherstone), produced Silver Star (by Kingston), who was imported into the U.S., where her tail-female line did pretty well: she was third dam of Bessie June, a winner of 28 races over four seasons, including The Belles, the Ocean View Stakes, and other good races, beating such high class runners as Firenzi.
Vulture and Mr. Wags
Langar's daughter VULTURE (1833, from Kite, by Bustard and out of Olympia), was frequently referred to as the fastest horse of her time. Bred by S.L. Allanson, she ran for him at ages two and three, winning all but two races (a two-year-old stakes and ELIS'S Doncaster St. Leger, where she was unplaced). Her wins in those years included Wolverhampton's Chillington Stakes (for juveniles), sweepstakes for three-year-old fillies at Chester and Liverpool Craven (walk-over), Newton's St. Helen's Purse, beating five, Liverpool July's Wilton Stakes, and the Gold Plate at Heaton Park, all at distances under a mile, which was her strength. She was sold to Col. (later General) Jonathan Peel (see Ion), who raced her through age six; in 1837 she took three races, and in 1838, age five, she won three races at Newmarket for Peel, including a famous 1,000 guineas match (with huge amounts wagered) against Lord George Bentinck's Grey Momus at Newmarket Houghton, which she won by half a length. At age six she took in two forfeits, and won a race at Epsom. In all she won fifteen races.
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Vulture
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VULTURE produced a colt, The Scavenger, by Peel's stallion, Slane, in 1840, and then was sent to Touchstone, to whom she produced Orlando (1841), who got her speed and beauty, and whose wins included the scandal-ridden 1844 Epsom Derby. Orlando was a stallion for Peel until he dispersed his horses in 1851, and spent his entire stud life at Hampton Court, where he was a popular stallion and leading sire in Great Britain three times, with a significant impact on thoroughbred bloodlines. Not long after Orlando's birth VULTURE was kicked by another of Peel's good broodmares, Hester (dam of the top juvenile Chatham and of The Nabob, a good stallion in France), and was put down due to her injury.
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Col. Peel also owned MR. WAGS (1833, out of Parthenessa, by Cervantes, sometimes "Mr. Waggs" or "Master Waggs"), purchased from Lord Fitzwilliam as a yearling, and he went into training, along with VULTURE --when Peel bought her -- with Peel's private Newmarket-based trainer William Cooper, who also trained Slane, among other horses owned by Peel and his kinsman General Yates. The colt always ran in top company, and won some races in an extended career, but never broke through to become a first class runner, often sacrificed to other Peel horses in races. Like some other Langars, was best under a mile and a quarter. Sold to France, he became a dominant stallion.
In 1835, age two, MR. WAGS was third in Newmarket's Criterion Stakes to ELIS and Slane, for whom he was serving as a rabbit. At age three he dead-heated with ELIS in a sweepstakes at Newmarket Houghton, with the owners dividing the stakes, and took a 200 sovereign sweepstakes at the same meeting, resulting in 1-1/2 wins for him that season. In 1838 he won two handicap sweepstakes at Newmarket, in one beating eight over the Two-Year-Old course; at Doncaster he was second to the great Bee's Wing in the Fitzwilliam Stakes (four ran), and at the same meeting was third, over a mile in the Cleveland Stakes, won by Lord Chesterfield's unnamed half-bred colt by Priam, with Eaglet second (both receiving gobs of weight from MR. WAGS). At Warwick he failed to place in the Leamington Stakes. Peel was probably happy to sell MR. WAGS to Alexandre Aumont, who had begun buying horses in England to race and breed in France. In 1839 he ran at Boulogne in France for Aumont. He was second in the Gold Cup Stakes there (1-1/2 miles), winning the first heat, but losing the next two to fellow English-bred Beggarman (who had been sold to fellow Frenchman, the Duc d'Orleans); three ran. At the same meeting he won the Ladies Plate in two heats, beating one other. In England, Aumont ran him in the Goodwood Cup, where he was unplaced, and the Canterbury Queen's Plate (2 mile heats), which he lost to the Sultan daughter, Romana (only two ran).
MR. WAGS was installed at Aumont's Haras de Victot, where he was a highly successful stallion, mostly of superior fillies. His first really good runner was Predestinée, (1842, out of Destiny, by Centaur). As a juvenile she won the Criterium de Chantilly and then the Prix du Comte in Paris, the latter the richest race for juveniles in France at the time. The next year she did not do well in the spring, but then picked up two races at Pin, and then went on a roll, winning the Grand Saint-Léger, giving away weight, and a Prix d'Arrondissement and a Prix Principal at Paris. Sold to Prince Marc de Beauvau, at age five she was the champion older runner, winning the Prix Royal (worth 6,000 francs), the Grand Prix Royal (14,000 francs), and races at Chantilly, Versailles, and Rouen. It's probable that her winnings that year, 1847, made MR. WAGS the leading sire in France. She later produced Prix du Cadran winner Pretendant.
MR. WAGS' next good filly was La Clôture (1847, from Clorinde, by Holbein). She was a powerhouse winner for Aumont, taking seven races worth 25,000 francs, at Versailles, Dieppe, Boulogne and Brussels at age three, and nine races worth 32,000 francs at age four, including the Prix du Cadran, the Prix Municipal at Gand, and the Prix de la Ville at Brussels. She broke down running in the Grand Prix National in the fall of that year.
In 1848 MR. WAGS' star filly, Hervine (half-sister to the great Monarque, from the Prix du Jockey Club winner Poetess, a superior broodmare by Royal Oak) was born. She was France's champion runner in both 1851 and 1852, and that, combined with La Clôture's wins -- and those of other MR. WAGS offspring -- almost certainly made MR. WAGS the leading sire in France in both those years. Hervine's wins at three included the Prix de Diane, Prix du Printemps, the Prix de la Ville de Caen, a special 5,000 franc race at Versailles, and several other races. At four in 1852 her wins included the Grand Prix de l'Empeurer (Prix Gladiateur) and the Prix du Cadran, among other races and was again the best of her year. In 1853 she went to England to run, placing second in the Goodwood Cup to another French filly, Jouvence. The next year she took the Prix de l'Empeurer and the Prix Municipal at Gand, and other races, but in the fall, schooling for a run at the Cambridgeshire in England, she broke down and was retired.
The French state stud tried to purchase Hervine as a broodmare, but was refused by Aumont. She bred Palestro, a winner later sold to Germany as a stallion, and five daughters that were good broodmares, including Minerve (1866), the dam of Prix de Diane winner Serpolette and Prix Daru winner Rubens; Favorite (1863), dam of Cambridgeshire Stakes winner Peut-Etre, and most notably Mon Etoile (1857, by Fitz-Gladiator), another great race filly that won Longchamp's Grand Criterium as a juvenile, and at ages four and five the Grand Prix de l'Imperatrice (Prix Rainbow), Grand Prix de l'Empeurer (Prix Gladiateur), and Grosser Preis von Baden. Mon Etoile bred several winners, and her tail-female line continued through the twentieth century: the great Sea Sick (1905, by Elf), was one of her descendants.
Other good French horses by MR. WAGS included Nancy (1851, from Nativa by Royal Oak), a winner of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and the Derby Continental at Gand, and her brother, Nat (1853), who also took the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, the Poule de Produits (Prix Daru), and Prix du Cadran; Fontaine (1850), another winner of the Poule de Produits, and Eclaireur (1856), who won the Prix du Printemps at Paris and the Grand Handicap at Caen.
Other Langar Winners
Langer got numerous winners in England throughout the 1830s and early '40s, too many to cover here. In 1836 he had more winners (24) of more races (52) than the leading sire, Sultan (20 winners of 51 races), but his progeny had earned less than half the amount of Sultan's (this was Bay Middleton's Derby year, who by himself accounted for the difference in stallion earnings). Still, the statistics placed him second on the sires list. Of his colts, besides those already mentioned, the more notable were probably:
JUPITER (1832, from Proserpine, by Rhadamanthus) ran three years for his breeder, T. Johnson; his wins included the 1835 Liverpool St. Leger and the 1836 Newcastle Cup. He was later a stallion near Haydock Park.
JORDAN (1833, out of Matilda, by Comus) won five races in 1836 and '37 in the north, including the Northallerton Gold Cup, and his near-relative RORY O'MORE (1836, out of a mare by Whisker from Matilda), "a smartish brown horse with queer legs," winner of the Epsom Cup and the Queen's Plate at Hampton, among other races.
MONTREAL (1836, from Legend, by Merlin), bred and raced by the Duke of Grafton, "defeated some of the fastest horses of his year, and also ran well at age four." He won six of his thirteen starts, including the Newmarket St. Leger, and the valuable Newmarket Stakes at Newmarket First Spring. He was favored for the 1839 Epsom Derby (won by Bloomsbury), but was never in the race. In 1840 he ran second, by a head, to St. Francis in the Ascot Gold Cup. He later stood at Barrows' at Newmarket for 10 guineas.
GALANTHUS (1839, out of Cast Steel, by Whisker), another colt that ran best at 1-1/4 miles or less, won the Great Yorkshire Handicap and Doncaster's Scarborough Stakes at age three, and at four took Chester's Westminster Plate, but could only run third in the Chester Gold Cup.
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Drummer
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DRUMMER (1840, from Hornet, by Partisan) was foaled in France, owned and raced by trainer Thomas Carter, until his sale to Baron Nathan de Rothschild in 1845. He was quite a sensation in France, winning the Poule des Produits and the Prix de la Societe at Versailles, and second to his stablemate, Governor, in the Prix d'Arrondissement in Paris. At age four he won most of the big races, including the Prix de Pavillons at Paris, the Prix de l'Administration des Haras and Prix Nemours at Chantilly, the Prix Royal and the Grand Prix Royal (Prix Gladiateur). The next year, running for Rothschild, he won the Prix d'Orleans and the Prix Special at Paris, and the Grand Prix de la Ville at Brussels and was taken to Goodwood to run in the Cup, where he did not place. In 1846 he took the Prix d'Orléans at Paris and the Prix Nemours at Chantilly.
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Pride of place for Langar's fillies must belong to VULTURE, a high-class speedster and dam of Orlando, already discussed. But he got other winning fillies and broodmare daughters of value. The more significant of these, not already noted, are:
PROGRESS (1833, out of a Blacklock mare), ran for trainer John Scott, winning Nottingham's Sherwood Stakes and its Town Plate at age three. She was sister to PILGRIM (1832), a really good juvenile that had won the important two-year-old stakes at both York and Doncaster, beating big fields, and was favored for the St. Leger in the spring of 1835 when he was found dying in his box, having hit his head, which was swollen.
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Langar's Derby winning grandson Attila
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PROGRESS was the dam of Attila (1839, by Colwick), "one of the most beautifully moulded horses that painter ever glanced at." Attila was unbeaten as a juvenile, taking the Pottery's Champagne Stakes, the Doncaster Champagne Stakes, the Doncaster Two-Year-Old Stakes, and Newmarket's Clearwell Stakes. The next year he won a sweepstakes at Newmarket and then the Epsom Derby. After that he took two walk-overs -- Doncaster's Gascoigne Stakes and the Port Stakes at Newmarket -- but failed to win the Doncaster St. Leger (unplaced), the Doncaster (third) and Ascot (unplaced) Gold Cups, the Royal Hunt Cup (placed second), or Goodwood's Drawing Room Stakes (unplaced).
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Attila got the French horses Saint Germain (1847), winner of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and the Prix du Jockey Club, and Prix de Diane winner Fleur de Marie (1847), and several other winners. Although statistics have not been compiled for leading sires in France that early, Attila was probably leading sire in that country in 1850, but he died in 1846, age seven, before the 1847 crop even hit the ground.
MISS CAROLINE (1833, from Caroline, by Filho-da-Putah) won a small race at Ludlow at age three; she was then sold to France, where, in 1853 she dropped Lion (1853, in imported Ion's first French crop). Lion, called a "brilliant cripple," who was hard to keep sound, won the Prix du Jockey Club after a dead-heat, and the Prix Spécial at Paris; he was figured the best of his year when he placed to some great runners in other races. At age four he was barely beaten by Monarque in the Prix de Haras, and two weeks later it looked like he would beat Monarque in the second heat of the Prix de l'Administration at Chantilly when his pastern gave way, and he was shot on the spot.
Langar's daughter ZEBETTA (1833, out of a Clinker mare), won a number of races, including, at age three, the York St. Leger, and at Doncaster, a free handicap (one mile), the Cleveland Stakes (one mile), and the Scarborough Stakes (one mile). She later produced a winner in Blackdrop (1840), but her female line died out quickly. Another good Langar filly that had some foals, but whose line did not continue, was MISS CAMARINE (1832, from a Juniper mare): at age two she won Malton's Craven Stakes and the Worcestershire Stakes at Worcester, and at age four her wins included the Gold Cup at Leicester.
Sir Charles Monck's GARLAND (1835, out of Cast Steel by Whisker, and so sister to GALANTHUS) won a race at Stockton and the Richmond Gold Cup at age three, and a race at Stockton again at age four. She went into Monck's stud where she was bred to a series of high-class stallions, resulting in Vanish (1843, by Velocipede), a winner of Doncaster's Two Year Old Stakes and later dam of Park Hill Stakes winner Hepatica; Doncaster Champagne Stakes winner Vindex (1850, by Touchstone) and his sister Chester Cup winner Vanity (1854, by Touchstone); Vandal (1852, by Van Tromp), whose wins included the Great Ebor Handicap, and other winners. A number of her daughters established winning female lines, including Vertumna (1859, by Stockwell), dam of the speedy Skirmisher sons Ryshworth (1866) and Ripponden (1868), and second dam of Prix du Jockey Club winner and good French stallion Upas (1883); Gallinule, the tough racemare Hammerkop, and Derby winner Spion Kop descend from Vertumna.
VENUS (1832, from Vesta, by Governor) won sweepstakes at Manchester and Newcastle-on-Tyne as a juvenile, and the next year won at Manchester and again at Newcastle-on-Tyne. She produced Eryx (1844), a winner of the two-mile Northumberland Plate, and two daughters that continued her female line. Grand National Steeplechase winner Jack Horner (1917) and the Irish classic winner and stallion Embargo (1923) descended from her.
Lord Jersey's LANGAR MARE (1839, from a Phantom mare) was half-sister to Two Thousand Guineas winner Ibrahim (by Sultan) and the Oaks winner The Princess (by Slane). She was the dam of Dagobert (1850, by Ion), a good juvenile winner of Newmarket's Chesterfield Stakes and the Grand Stand Stakes at Nottingham, and of a daughter, Varsovinia (1852, by Ion) that produced One Thousand Guineas winner Nemesis (1858). This female line continued well into the twentieth century and included the champion Australian multiple classic winner Reading (1936).
--Patricia Erigero
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