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Leviathan
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English-bred Leviathan was the overwhelmingly dominant stallion in America in the decade between the mid-1830s and mid-1840s. Other than Diomed, he was the first truly good imported sire since the Revolutionary War, and played a substantial role in establishing Tennessee as the bloodstock breeding center of the south and west, prior to the Civil War. After that conflict, Leviathan's influence was limited to the descendants of those daughters that were broodmares in Kentucky and further north before the war began. Some famous and revered American horses descended in tail-female from Leviathan mares, including Domino, Himyar, Hamburg, Black Gold, Old Rosebud, Alydar and T.V. Lark, to name a few.
He was born in 1823 at John Painter's Dean's Hill stud in Staffordshire, where his sire, Muley, may have stood at stud for several years after his previous owner, Lord Suffield, died in 1821, and prior to his purchase by a Westmoreland squire in 1826. Leviathan's dam was an unnamed mare (1809, out of a mare by Anvil) by Windle , that had been bred by Sir Thomas Stanley and had been a broodmare in the Painter stud for a half-dozen years. The Painter brothers had a small, but well-respected stud; both Faugh-a-Ballagh and Gladiator were stallions there in the 1840s, and Chevalier d'Industrie in the early 1860s.
Leviathan's sire, Muley, won two races in four starts at age five, his only season on the turf, and at the time of Leviathan's birth, had gotten some useful runners; a few born in 1821 would prove better than useful, but that was not known when the Windle mare was put to Muley. Between the years 1822 and 1826, Muley saw few mares, many of them half-breds. In 1826, after Leviathan and some other Muley offspring born in the early '20s proved to be good winners, he was purchased by Alexander Nowell, and supported by well-bred mares at the Underley stud in Westmoreland, he became the sire of three classic winners and other good runners.
Leviathan's dam's sire, Windle, by the good northern stayer and stallion Beningbrough, was better known for his speed than his stamina. He had won a few races, including a produce sweepstakes at Catterick Bridge, over two miles, at age three for his owner-breeder Sir William Gerard, who had named him after a Gerard estate. As a stallion he got some winners, the best of which were probably Leofric and the gelded Don Rodrigo, winner of a Silver Cup at Newcastle-on-Tyne and other races.
First named Mezereon, Leviathan grew to 16 hands; his name change probably reflected his looks to Thomas Giffard, who purchased him after his juvenile season. His stud advertisement, after his arrival in Tennessee, described him: "His shoulder-blades are longer, more capacious...than in any other large horse; and, in fact I have seen no horse 15 hands high, whose back is shorter...the sweep in the hind-quarter ... is incomparably greater than in any other horse that has been offered to the citizens of Tennessee...He has fine withers, great depth of brisket, great depth of flank, great frame; great length and substance in the bones and muscles of all his quarters, with the very best adaptation of all the parts; and though some object to the too great length of his neck, I am satisfied that seeming defect arises from the great obliquity of his shoulders...the whole assemblage of parts gives him, if not the most beautiful, at least the most grand and majestic appearance." He was a "deep chestnut with a peculiar shade of deep red or mahogany interspersed, his only mark a narrow blaze...with the finest hazel or light brown eye." His offspring, a Tennessee horseman later said, mostly resembled him, "...remarkable for size and stride, but if among them you found a beauty, you had to look to the dam."
Leviathan on the Turf
Running for Painter as "Mezereon," Leviathan raced twice as a juvenile. At Burton-on-Trent he won his first outing, a 3/4 mile sweepstakes for juveniles, beating Claudia, by Paulowitz, and three other youngsters. At Wolverhampton he was second to Little Bo-peep, by Paulowitz, with the Orville filly Louisa third. After this season he was purchased by Thomas Giffard, a wealthy Staffordshire landowner whose seat at Chillington was very close to Dean's Hill. That year Giffard also had his home-bred Pantaloon, a colt born the year after Leviathan, running, and both horses would race at some of the same meetings, although never against each other.
Now running as Leviathan, for Giffard, at age three (1826) he won nine races in nine starts. He began in May at Chester, where he won the Dee Stakes for three-year-olds (a little over a mile), beating Tiresias, Balloon, Fanny Davies, and four others. The next day he won a sweepstakes for three-year-olds, beating the only other runner, Cestus. He did not run again until August, at Wolverhampton, where he won the Wrottesley Stakes (about a mile), beating Granby, the only other runner. At Burton-on-Trent in a sweepstakes over a mile, he met Little Bo-peep again, and this time beat her. At the same meeting, in the Bradby Stakes (approximately 2 miles, for 3 and 4 year olds), he beat Sir Thomas Stanley's Dr. Faustus and Arachne, both by Filho-da-Puta. In September he was at Warwick, where he took a walk-over for the St. Leger Stakes, none of the nine subscribers showing up to challenge him, and a sweepstakes worth £30. Next he was at Lichfield, where he beat Cestus again in the Staffordshire Stakes. His final race that season, held at the end of September, was at Shrewsbury, where he he beat Sancredo in the St. Leger Stakes there.
In 1827, age four, Leviathan also ran nine times, winning six --including four Gold Cups -- and placing second three times. He started again in Chester, but this time was second to Dr. Faustus in the two-mile Stand Cup (formerly the Chester Gold Cup), with five other good ones in the field, including Arachne, Euxton, and Chester Cup winner Brutandorf. Also at Chester he won a sweepstakes over two miles, beating Flexible. He went on to Ludlow, where he was beaten in a 1-1/2 mile sweepstakes by Paul Pry, but two days later he won the Ludlow Gold Cup, three miles, beating Cain, Paul Pry, and Palatine. At Derby in July, he won the 3 mile Derby Gold Cup, beating Chesterfield, the only other runner. Next he was at Wolverhampton, where, carrying 3 extra pounds, he was second to Euxton in the 3 mile Darlington Cup, with Euphrates third. At Burton-on-Trent he ran again in Bradby Stakes (1-1/2 miles), and was beaten by Paul Pry; in this race he bolted, ruining his chances of winning. He went on to Warwick, where he won the Gold Cup, the only 4 mile race he ever contested, beating Euxton, Dervise and Granby in seven minutes flat. His final race that season was the 3 mile Gold Cup at Lichfield, where he took a walk-over. Towards the end of the season, probably before Warwick, Giffard sold Leviathan to King George IV for 2,000 guineas, although the horse finished the season running in Giffard's name.
Leviathan was the first of a succession of good runners purchased for the royal racing stables with the cherished intent of winning the Gold Cup at Ascot, a favored venue that had increased in status when, in 1825, the king instituted the Royal Procession of carriages, royalty, Lords-in Waiting, and liveried outriders that traipsed up the course to the Royal Stand (readers are asked to recall the Ascot scene in the musical My Fair Lady..."Every Duke and Earl and Squire is Here, Everyone who should be Here is Here..."). George IV would later purchase St. Leger winner The Colonel (secured for 4,000 guineas), the Cup winner Fleur-de-Lis (bought for 1,500 guineas at about the same time as Leviathan), and the 1829 Ascot Gold Cup winner Zinganee, all at high prices, in an unsuccessful attempt to secure the race for himself. His racing manager, Delmé Radcliffe would write the Keeper of the Privy Purse, "some purchases have certainly occurred at enormous prices ... but when His Majesty commands me positively to buy a horse, I must obey."
But Leviathan arrived at the king's Newmarket training stables too lame to train, and he was sent to Windsor to recuperate, in the hope that time off and treatment would restore him to soundness; an offer to purchase him from the Duke of Grafton was refused. Leviathan came out a year later, in 1829, and withstood training long enough to start for Ascot's Wokingham Stakes, but did not place and was permanently retired from the turf. The Colonel ran, unsuccessfully, in the royal colors for the Gold Cup that year.
Leviathan in the Stud
Leviathan was sold on to George Stanhope (6th) Earl Chesterfield, another avid turfite who would purchase the great runner Priam (a close relative of Leviathan's, being out of Cressida, a sister to Muley's dam, Eleanor) in 1830 as a four-year-old for a huge sum, and from him breed a series of wonderful fillies -- Oaks winners Miss Letty, Industry (from Arachnae, a mare that faced Leviathan more than once), and the brilliant Crucifix. The Earl spent a fortune on racehorses and other pleasures, and by the end of the '20s was perpetually in debt. Leviathan spent one season, 1830, in the Chesterfield stud at Bretby Park.
Leviathan was purchased that year by James Jackson (see Glencoe), of Alabama, through the agency of Weatherby's. Jackson's racing and breeding confederate, Col. George Elliott, of Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee, sent his son-in-law, Maj. George A. Wyllie to England, to supervise the horse's care while at Bretby, and to travel with him to the U.S. after the season was finished. In July of 1830, Wyllie and Leviathan boarded the packet ship William Byrnes at Liverpool, and arrived, "after a tedious and rough passage of 51 days," in New York on August 30. After rest and recuperation at Wyllie's Virginia home, Leviathan travelled 575 miles to Elliott's farm, Wall Spring, arriving on November 15. The exact nature of the partnership between Elliott -- already a leading breeder of thoroughbreds in Tennessee, who had stood the succesful stallions Top Gallant, Pacolet and Napoleon -- and Jackson is not known. Jackson was always mentioned as the owner of Leviathan in contemporary American sporting literature, and sent many a mare from Alabama to Gallatin to be covered by Leviathan, and many Leviathan daughters, owned by Jackson, were later bred to Glencoe (imported 1836 by Jackson). When Jackson died in 1840, Leviathan, unlike Glencoe, was not among the several dispersal sales of Jackson's bloodstock. He remained in Elliott's possession, and he died at Gallatin in 1846.
Leviathan got several winners from his single season in England. His daughter Le Bayadere (1831, from Dahlia, by Phantom), won two races at Newmarket as a juvenile; Alexis (1831, from a Soothsayer mare) won Ascot's Fern Hill Stakes at age three; Mammoth (1831, from a Figaro mare) won Ascot's Banquet Stakes. All three were bred and raced by Chesterfield. While at Bretby he also got several half-bred foals; one of these, an unnamed grey gelding, won a two mile farmer's plate at Warwick at age five, beating four other horses.
Leviathan was the first imported stallion in America to "go west," e.g. stand in Tennessee, since the Revolutionary War, and his success was phenomenal. He led the sire's list in the United States five times -- 1837-39, 1843, and, posthumously, in 1848; and was second on the list five times (1840, 1841, 1844, 1846, 1849). In the south and west, he supplanted the native-born Sir Archy line, which included Sir Archy's sons, Sir Charles and Bertrand, and out-bred the American Eclipse son Medoc. As Glencoe did for Lexington in the 1860s -- provide an excellent collection of daughters on which Lexington got his best horses -- so Leviathan did for Glencoe in the 1850s.
When Leviathan first arrived in Tennessee, Jackson and Elliott had to scramble to get him a full book his first year, not only fighting a prejudice against non-native bred blood and a disdain for the high $75 stud fee, but also the belief of many that a horse that won only one four-mile race could not get four-mile winners. Nonetheless, he served 102 mares his first season -- mares were sent from both Carolinas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Kentucky to augment his Tennessee book -- and got 91 foals. Many, that were to grow as large as he, were "stringy" as babies, which prompted some ridicule. That soon changed, and winners from those mares outside of Tennessee spread his fame throughout what was then called the southwest, and did much to extend the reputation of Sumner County as a superior source of bloodstock throughout the U.S.
In addition, Leviathan paved the way for his near-relative, imported Priam -- Chesterfield, whose debt problems had only worsened, sold Priam to American bloodstock speculators for $15,000 in 1836 -- who would lead the American sire's list four times in the 1840s from his base at Belle Meade Stock Farm, also in Tennessee, and for Jackson's imp. Glencoe, who also stood in Tennesee for several years, and then in Kentucky, and led the sires list eight times. By 1835 Leviathan's owners could claim $10,000 annual income from his $75 stud fee; from 1839 through his death his fee was $150, and his book limited to a much smaller number of mares.
By the early 1840s correspondence to the American Turf Register brought these observations:
Leviathan was, by his blood, form and racing qualities, as well calculated to cross on the best mares of Tennessee as any horse in England or America; accordingly we find that his colts have had almost unprecedented success at all distances, from Nashville to Orleans...
and:
Leviathan's get, since the day his first colts came out at two years old, have been the most successful at all distances of any in this country; with such a character for speed as to induce, with many, a belief that they could not go the distance; but those have paid to learn they can run at all distances.
And run they could. As James Douglas Anderson stated, in Making the American Thoroughbred:
His standing in the U.S. as a whole does not signify the point of popularity he finally attained in Tennessee; a rough estimate that he had more winning stock on the turf in Tennessee and farther south than any other half-dozen or more horses would not be far wrong. Throughout the entire country he was regarded as "the modern Sir Archy." If you don't know the story of Leviathan you don't know the history of Tennessee.
From 1835, when his first crop began racing, through 1853, Leviathan got the winners of 450 races. In 1838 he had thirty-four winners of seventy races (in 140 heats); they won more than the get of any other horse between the years 1829 and 1855 -- more than $100,000. But tabulating amounts won was not how the sire's list was determined, until after the Civil War; prior to that it was races won by offspring, and Leviathan's colts and fillies won a lot of races all over the south. Listing all Leviathan's winners would be tedious, so only the best are covered here.
When Leviathan arrived in Tennessee, racing in America was centered on four-mile heats, period: there was no Derby, as we understand it today, or anything like it. The four-mile race was the pinnacle to aim for, but there were many shorter races -- three mile heats being popular -- and, for high-class three-year-olds, usually two mile heats; all-aged, maiden and produce stakes and juvenile races were often offered as mile heats, and a few courses offered 1 or 1-1/2 mile dashes, but they were an afterthought. Handicap racing was almost unheard of, except for the famous match races, where every little detail and advantage were worked out in advance; other than that, everything was weight-for-age. In addition, the goal for course development was a flat surface, without the rises and dips in the famous English courses --- accuracy was everything to the pre-War turfites, and time was the measure; none of this "two miles and a distance" used to describe famous courses and races in England. Two miles was two miles, and time for every heat was meticulously recorded. There were constant discussions in the Turf Register on the "actual" times posted by some runners, when some enthusiasts would calculate in the seconds lost before the start of a race in determining whether a distance record had been broken.
By the time Leviathan died, four-mile racing had dropped significantly, and the three mile race was in decline. The new stayer was the two-mile expert, and many more races were held as mile heats, and mile and longer dashes were much more frequently offered. For Leviathan, it didn't matter. His offspring won at all ages, at all distances, from one mile dashes to four mile heat races.
Further, while Leviathan stood in Tennesee, there was a period of tremendous growth in the development of the turf in the United States, and new courses were opening yearly, both in the north and the south. It was more typical to see horses bred and born within a few adjacent counties race against each other than it was to see horses from different states contest, with the exception of established tracks with rich purses, near larger population centers, like the Metairie in New Orleans and Charleston, South Carolina. These local events were organized by racing clubs that offered the Jockey Club purses so many Leviathan offspring won, and Proprietors' purses, which were open to non-club members. Unlike England, there were great distances to cover, by foot, to reach major venues, so typically -- except for some border areas -- only the very best northern horses met those of the south and of what was then called the west (Kentucky and Tennessee), in special, well-publicized and long-planned match races, where huge purses were put up by the supporters of the horses to race, and where thousands of dollars in side-bets changed hands. And these were not the private events of the wealthy and the aristocracy-- by the time Leviathan reached U.S. shores, there were already plenty of "little" people breeding and racing horses, and matches, especially between regions, were the most popular entertainment available, with crowds frequently exceeding ten thousand spectators and extensive coverage by the press.
Some of Leviathan's Notable Runners
ANGORA (1832, out of Patty Puff, by Pacolet) was in Leviathan's first crop, bred near Gallatin by "General" Robert Desha, who had moved to Tennessee in 1782 from Pennsylvania, via Kentucky. She was a 15.2 hand solid chestnut, with the typical Leviathan shoulder, and long neck. ANGORA was, along with LINNET, Betsey Malone and John Dawson, considered among the best -- the elite four- milers of the mid 1830s. She had already won Nashville's Logan Stakes, a $500 sweepstakes for three year olds (3 miles, beating five others in two heats) at Nashville, and other races when her owner issued a challenge in late December, 1835, to any horse for a match, $5,000 per side, in the sporting press.
After some public dickering over location and terms, the challenge was taken up by Capt. Sidney Burbridge of Frankfort, Kentucky, then head of the Kentucky's breeders society, who put forth the five year old Rodolph, by Archy-out-of-Transport, a winner of six races to that time. The match, held at Louisville's (Kentucky) Oakland Course in September 1836, assumed, as many such matches did, larger import, in the minds of many becoming a battle of racing supremacy between "the western states," of Tennessee and Kentucky. It was estimated that ten thousand people were at the course the day of the race (Louisville had a total population of 15,000), and thousands of dollars changed hands in bets. ANGORA lost the race, held in the rain and mud, well-distanced in the end.
After the race ANGORA was purchased by Col. A.L. Bingaman -- who successfully raced so many Leviathan offspring -- who took her to Natchez, Mississippi for an undisclosed, but likely high sum, since it was reported before the race Desha had refused $50,000 for her. Not much was heard of Rodolph after, but ANGORA went on to win a series of races in Mississippi and Louisiana, including ten in succession in which she did not lose a heat. Her redemption did not end there, however. In March of 1837 at New Orleans she met six horses, some of which were bred in Virginia, and four of which were Sir Archy grandsons; this was another huge event, drawing over ten thousand spectators; in this race ANGORA won the two mile race, again in the mud, in two heats. A correspondent to the American Turf Register noted, "She was surely a most splendid racer, and justly contributed to the fame of her sire." In 1838, she won the $500 Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats) at Port Gibson, Missouri, a $1000 purse, 2 mile heats, at New Orleans, and received a forfeit (of 500 bales of cotton) in a match over two miles at Natchez. Her last race, against LINNET, was a $10,000 sweepstake at Natchez, which she lost; her jockey fell off.
ANGORA is recorded as producing two colts by Pacific in the American Stud book, one of which was gelded. The memory of her is left to the records of the American Turf Register.
ANGORA had a sister, almost as famous, named CELERITY (1837); she was about 15 hands in height, with "great length, deep, strong and well inclined shoulders, well-formed ribs, and powerful and muscular thighs." Racing for Bingaman, she won several good races in fast times, ending with the New Orleans Plate of 1840, worth $400, 2 mile heats (in a rare handicap), and won the first two heats, beating four others. A correspondent to the American Turf Register said, "There is scarce a doubt that she is the fastest nag on the Western Turf, and if her legs are not too short, she will be an ugly customer at any distance. I never saw a race nag that was so short in the legs." She later bred eight foals, before dying in 1850, many of which were winners. A branch of her family survived the Civil War, and its descendants included Dorimar (1937, by Man o' War), a winner of the Saratoga Cup, among other races, and more recently, the half-brothers Good Counsel (1968, by Hail to Reason, Widener Handicap), and Capitol South (1981, by Roberto, Hopeful Stakes).
LILAC (1832, out of Maria Shepherd by Sir Archy), was another good one in Leviathan's first crop: "She can run a mile in 1:42. Certainly one of the fastest horses on earth," was how she was described. She was bred by Balie Peyton, a successful and well-known breeder in Sumner County and beyond, best-known today as the owner of the famous race mare Trifle. He sold LILAC for $3,000 to General J.A. Mabry, for whom she won a lot of good races, including a $200 purse of mile heats at Nashville in 1835, beating three in two heats; a $100 purse of mile heats at Winchester Tennesee in 1836, beating three in the first two heats, and a $260 purse over two miles, winning both heats easily. In 1838 she won a $600 purse at New Orleans. Later she was sold back to Peyton for $3,400, as a broodmare. She bred six recorded foals, five of them colts and one of unknown sex; there might have been others, but the records were lost by the time the American Stud Book was compiled. LILAC'S brother TISHAMINGO (1833), "as fast as a high pressure," won the $600 Proprietor's Purse at New Orleans (mile heats, best three of five, beating four) and other races.
LINNET (1832, from Object, by Marshal Ney), was another super-star in Leviathan's first crop, whose exploits were frequently remarked upon as a superior four-miler. She lost one race -- her first -- a mile dash she lost by a reported 15 inches. After that she won three races for her nominal breeder, James Jackson (she was born in Tennessee), and then was sold for $3,000 to Davison and Wells, for whom she won three races, including a $200 purse in two mile heats, beating four others, at Nashville in October of 1835; the Jockey Club Purse worth $4,000, plus an inside stake of $2,500, two mile heats, at the St. Francisville (Louisiana) Jockey Club in April, 1836, and, at the same meet, a $600 Jockey Club Purse, plus an inside stake of $2,500, in mile heats (best three of five), winning the first three heats, beating Red Maria by Bertrand. After this T.J. Wells bought out his partner for $6,000; Wells was the principal owner of racing horses in Louisiana. He subsequently reportedly refused a $12,000 offer for her. Wells had a lavish mansion, Wellswood, at Alexandria (Louisiana), which included a mile training track, and a decided preference for Leviathan blood, which he secured from Tennessee.
LINNET went on to win $20,000 in seven races through 1837, including receiving a $5,000 forfeit for a cancelled match race against Coahoma (by Mercury), but, reportedly "out of sorts," she lost a four mile Purse at Natchez in March, 1837 to "the Crack of the South," Fanny Wright (by Bertrand). In 1838 she won the first Jockey Club Purse (4 miles) at the new Metairie Course in New Orleans, worth $2,000 in 7:56, beating Fanny Wright and other horses; at Natchez she won a $10,000 sweepstakes beating ANGORA, whose jockey fell off during the running, giving LINNET the victory; a three mile heats race at St. Francisville (Louisiana), and the $500 Jockey Club Purse (2 mile heats) at Mount Pleasant, Tennessee.
LINNET bred three foals: Miswaka (1841, by Dick Chinn), Alpha (no date, by Dick Chinn), and Bob Ridley (1850, by imp. Emu), the latter a good runner. Her tail-female line did not breed on beyond a few generations, at least as is known, but her sister, THRUSH (1837), who does not appear to have raced, was sold to Kentucky where her line survived the Civil War, and sent a branch forward through her imp. Sovereign daughter, Avis (1855): Kentucky Oaks winner Wing Ting (1904, by Star Shoot) and her half-sister, Clark Handicap winner Hyperion (1903, by Mazagan), and Latonia Stakes winner Rolled Stocking (1924, by Pennant) were descendants of hers, as was the good California runner and sire Imbros (1960, by Polynesian).
LINNET'S dam, Object, was purchased by John Duncan of Alabama at one of the dispersal sales after Jackson's death in 1840, although she stayed in Tennessee, and for Duncan she bred sisters to LINNET: SWALLOW (1839) and ORIOLE (1840) that were both good winners in Alabama. SWALLOW'S wins at age four included a Jockey Club Purse (2 mile heats) and the Haynesville Plate (mile heats) at Haynesville, Alabama, and a $200 purse (2 mile heats) at Montgomery. She died in 1844 in an accident, the specifics of which were not reported. ORIOLE won a sweepstakes for three-year-olds (mile heats) at Haynesville, and a sweepstakes for three year olds at Montgomery (mile heats); she had a filly (1851) and a colt (1852), both by Black Prince, for Duncan, recorded in the stud book, but there is no record of them beyond that.
Pigeon (by Pacolet) was the second dam of LINNET and her sisters; she also produced two half-sisters, by Leviathan, to their dam, Object: WAX LIGHT (1832) and GASLIGHT (1836). WAX LIGHT was another good one from Leviathan's first crop, winner of a number of races, including a $300 purse (2 mile heats) at the Nashville Jockey Club meeting in 1836, beating three, and the $750 Jockey Club Purse at Gallatin (4 mile heats) in 1836. GASLIGHT established a sucessful tail-female branch of this family: Dixie Handicap winner Vandalite (1871, by Vandal); Ladies' Handicap winer Hiawasse (1879, by Saxon); Withers Stakes winner Ferncliffe (1877, by Leamington); Tremont Stakes winner Oregon (1886, by Onandaga); Brooklyn Handicap winner Judge Morrow (1887, by Vagabond), and other good runners after the turn of the 20th century came from her line, as did the excellent filly Deceit (1968, by Prince John, Acorn Stakes), and more recently the 1983 CCA Oaks winner High Schemes (1980) and Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Very Subtle (1984).
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS (1832, out of a Pacolet mare) was another good early Leviathan daughter, raced by General J.A. Mabry. In the fall of 1835 she won a $500 match in mile heats, beating Kinlock, by Havoc. In 1836 she won a $250 purse at Nashville, mile heats, best three out of five, winning all three heats, beating two others, and at the same meeting won a $200 purse, three mile heats, beating two; that year she also walked-over for a mile heats race at Winchester Tennesee. Through daughter Geroine (by Gerow), she was influential in both trotting horse and Morgan pedigrees.
ZELINA (1832, from a Stockholder mare) was yet another excellent racing daughter of Leviathan's. She passed through several hands, finally ending up with Henry Tayloe of Alabama. In three years on the turf, 1836-38, she won three four-mile heat races, five three-mile heat races, two two-mile heat races, and four one-mile heat races, with $13,000 in winnings. Her four mile races in 1838 included an $800 Proprietor's purse at Selma, Alabama (beating Frances Tarrell easily), and a $2,000 Purse at New Orleans (beating the famous Wagner), both for Tayloe, and that same year her three-mile wins included a $700 purse at Montgomery Alabama (beating four), a $400 Purse at Columbus, Mississippi, and a $1200 purse and a $1000 purse at New Orleans (beating Pressure, by Trumpator). Her seventh win in 1838 was a two mile purse at New Orleans, where she beat LINNET for a $1000 purse in a not-unexpectedly fast race with times of 4:07 and 4:09.
ZELINA'S four recorded foals included Count Moiles (1843, by Priam), a winner at Nashville as a juvenile; Deception (1843, by Wagner), a gelded colt by Wagner (no date given), and an unnamed filly (1847, by Ambassador). It appears her line did not survive beyond a few generations.
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Wacousta
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WACOUSTA (1832, out of Lady Lightfoot, by Oscar), bred by Hugh and John Kirkman of Nashville, Tennessee, was in one of Leviathan's first crops. A liver chestnut with a small white stripe, he stood 15.3 hands and reflected his Muley heritage with a long back, beautifully laid-back shoulder, and heavy muscular development. He had a good turn of speed and proved to be a game horse, frequently coming back from losing a heat to winning the race. After racing for Hugh Kirkman and Henry Dickson of Nashville, he stood at stud at the Kirman brothers' farm near Nashville, and later at Thomas Bullock's at Middleton, in Rutherford County, Tennessee, where he was a useful stallion. |
WACOUSTA first raced at age three in May, 1835, where he won a sweepstakes at Nashville for three year olds in four one-mile heats, beating six others, including ALICE RIGGS (1832), by Leviathan, who was second. He did not run again until September, 1836, where he was second to OTHELLO (1832), by Leviathan, in the Jockey Club Purse at Gallatin, Tennesee (3 mile heats), beating the good colt Balie Peyton and the filly Matilda Rush. Two weeks later at Nashville he won a $700 Jockey Club purse over four miles (heats) at Nashville, beating five others, with Leviathan's son OTHELLO also in the field. At Florence, Alabama, he won the Jockey Club Purse of $300 (two mile heats), beating Osceola, by Eclipse, and at Huntsville, Alabama in November, he won the $600 Jockey Club Purse, beating Little Red, by Bertrand, and OTHELLO.
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OTHELLO (1832) was another Leviathan son, a notch better than WACOUSTA. He was bred and raced by Maj. Samuel Ragland of Madison County, Alabama, from the Sir Archy daughter Sally Burton, who also produced QUEEN OF DIAMONDS (1833) and QUAKER GIRL (1834) to the cover of Leviathan; these horses were born at Elliott's stud in Gallatin, Tennessee. OTHELLO'S wins included a race at Gallatin in September of 1836, but a month later he could only run third and last to WACOUSTA and Fanny Bell in the $700 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats) at Nashville. In 1837, back at Gallatin, he won the $600 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats), and a month later at Nashville, won the four mile Jockey Club purse there. At the end of the month he was in Alabama, winning the $700 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats) at Huntsville, beating three others in two heats, and at Tuscumbia was second in the $450 Jockey Club Purse to Mary Wynn. In 1838, at the Nashville Jockey Club in August he won the $700 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats), beating Victoria in two heats, and then he was back in Alabama, where at Tuscumbia he won the $500 Jockey Club Purse, beating Cotton Plant, and at Huntsville was second to Gander in $800 Jockey Club Purse (4 miles), won in three heats, with OTHELLO taking the first heat.
OTHELLO retired to Ragland's stud in Alabama, and proved to be, along with PETE WHETSTONE, one of Leviathan's better sire sons -- "better" should be considered advisedly. He got twelve winners between 1844 and 1855.* One, his son Iago, won the 1844 $600 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats) at New Orleans in two heats with the good times of 7:45 and 7:58; another colt of his, unnamed at age four (1840, from Polly Bellew by Timoleon) won a sweepstakes for four year olds (2 mile heats) at Nashville in 1844. Another son, the gelded Argo (1845, from an Eclipse mare) won three one-mile races (heats) in 1850 at Mobile and Montgomery Alabama. Another gelded son, Corbia (1847), won a $1200 stakes race at Mobile in three heats, beating three others. Yet another gelded son, Jumping Mullet (1844, from Piony by Count Badger) won two $300 purses over two miles at Montgomery Alabama. Several of his daughters established long-lived tail-female lines that are still producing today; one, Adeline Lewis (1860, out of Sally Priam), had one filly (1862), by Commodore, that, according to the American Stud Book, was "Captured by Federal army and taken to Ohio," where she continued the family line.
OTHELLO'S sister, QUEEN OF DIAMONDS (1833) won three races in 1836 and '37: a $200 sweepstakes for three year olds (mile heats) at Nashville in 1836; a race at Gallatin in September 1837, and a purse at Nashville in October of 1837 (three mile heats). Also in 1837, she was twice second to the Eclipse filly Victoria in three mile races (heats), at Franklin, Tennessee and Tuscumbia, Alabama. She later produced Lalla Rookh (1839, by imp. Glencoe), the dam of the good runner and stallion Bill Cheatham (1854, by Albion); a sister to Bill Cheatham, Sally Roper, was a tail-female ancestress of Montreson (1901, by Ornament), a winner of the United States Hotel Stakes and the Carlton Stakes. Another OTHELLO sister, QUAKER GIRL (1834) became third dam of Cottrill (1866, by Daniel Boone) a winner of Belmont Park's Champagne Stakes, and Bonaventure (1871, by Harry of the West), winner of Aqueduct's Ladies Handicap. Bonaventure was second dam of 1890 Kentucky Oaks winner English Lady, and third dam of King's Courier (1897) that, in England, won the Jockey Club Cup and the Doncaster Cup.
THE PONEY (1834, from a Stockholder mare) was bred by Jesse Cage of Gallatin, Tennessee, raced for James Jackson, and was later purchased for $3,000 by T.J. Wells. He ran at ages three through six, winning more than $12,000 . In 1837 at Gallatin, he won a $700 purse (3 mile heats), beating four others. In 1838 he took four races, including a $500 purse at Nashville (3 mile heats), and a $300 Proprietor's purse at the same meeting (3 miles), taking a walk-over in the latter for his new owner, Wells. He also won a $600 Proprietor's Purse (mile heats) at New Orleans, beating three others in five weary heats, where he won the last three heats. In 1839 he walked-over for a $300 Proprietor's Purse at Nashville, and at Franklin, Tennessee he won a $2000 Proprietor's Purse (2 mile heats) beating three others. In March of 1839 he won a huge $10,000 purse in a match race at the Bascombe Course at Mobile (Alabama), four mile heats, beating Melzare, by Bertrand. At the same meeting, four days later, he won the $1000 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats), beating four others in two heats. In October he was second to PETE WHETSTONE in the $600 Jockey Club Purse at Columbus, Mississippi. At the Metairie in New Orleans in December of that year, clearly not in condition, he was fourth and distanced in the $2000 Jockey Club Purse (4 miles), won by the great race mare Maria Black. In 1840, his last season, he won a $500 purse at Opelousas, Louisiana (3 mile heats). He was reportedly a celebrated stallion, but if so -- and not a single winner was recorded as by him through 1855 -- his stock all but disappeared from the stud book by the time it was compiled after the Civil War. THE PONEY'S dam produced seven other foals to the cover of Leviathan: LESLIE (1837), bred by Cage and sold to partners Head and Smith of Florida, at age three won the $200 Jockey Club Purse at Talahassee, Florida (4 mile heats), and took a walk-over for a $700 purse (4 miles) at Marianna Florida.
SARAH BLADEN (1834, from Morgiana, by Pacolet and out of Black Sophia, the dam of BEESWING) was one of Leviathan's best-known and admired winners, "the best daughter of Leviathan ever to look through a bridle." She ran from 1836 through 1842, when she was finally retired, and in many ways, she got better as she aged, but her excellence was predicted by Elliott and Jackson when she was just two. In 1836 there were a series of public confrontations, via the press, regarding the value of the progeny of Lap-Dog, an Epsom Derby winner imported by James Jackson and standing in Tennessee, and imported Lutzborough, owned by Virginia interests, but standing at Franklin, Tennessee; it was provoked by Lutzborough interests, and was probably aimed at Leviathan from the start. The result of the succession of challenges and advertisements was an agreement that the get of Lutzborough and Leviathan (Lap-Dog was quite forgotten) would meet in two years time, May, 1838, at Nashville, Tennessee, each side to nominate in 1836 three youngsters as possible runners from which one would be chosen. SARAH BLADEN was one of the Leviathan entries, and Picton was one nominated by Lutzborough interests. For the next two years the progress of these two -- Picton in the "east," Virginia, and SARAH BLADEN in the "west," was carefully charted by the sporting press.
Up to the time of the famous match, SARAH won just three races: in October of 1836 she won a sweepstakes for two-year-olds (1 mile dash), in a canter at Nashville. In 1837 she won two races: one was a walk-over for a sweepstakes at the Hartsville Jockey Club (Sumner Co., Tenn.), and the second was the Congressional Stakes for three-year-olds (2 mile heats), where she won the first two heats, beating two others. Next up was the famous "Get of" match at Nashville, in May of 1838. By this time, SARAH had been sold to John R. Head of Manchester, Mississippi for $8,000, reportedly the highest price ever paid for a horse in training to that time, and shortly after resold to Thurston and Prior of Natches for $5,500; Thurston was the trainer for A.L. Bingaman, a big supporter of Leviathan bloodstock. Picton, in the intervening months, had won some races, including a four mile race in New York.
After arriving at Nashville for the big match race, Picton bowed a tendon, and after all the build-up, the huge amounts of betting, and the enormous crowd that came to see the race, another Lutzborough who had been brought to Nashville, Leila, was substituted for Picton. SARAH easily put her away in a canter, in the mud. After this, Bingaman took SARAH to New Orleans, where she won $1,000 in a Jockey Club Purse, 2 mile heats, but lost for the first time two weeks later, running second to Wagner in December over the Eclipse Course at New Orleans in the Jockey Club Purse there (4 mile heats). In three seasons she had won five races worth $11,500.
That was not the end of SARAH BLADEN'S career, however. In 1839 she beat Sir Ariss in deep mud in the $1200 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats) at the Pharsalia course at Natchez, and at New Orleans she won the $1200 Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats), beating four others, and a few weeks later won the $1000 Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats), beating Cotton Plant in two heats, one run in 6:45. In 1840, at New Orleans in March she beat Stephen in two heats for a $700 Purse (3 mile heats) over the Eclipse Course, and at the Metairie walked-over for the $800 Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats); in April at New Orleans she won the $1500 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats) over the Louisiana Course, beating Baywood and Grey Medoc, both good horses; at Natchez (Mississippi) in November, she won the Pharsalia Plate, worth $300 and a $400 Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats), beating one other. In December she was back on the Metairie Course at New Orleans, where she won the $1200 Jockey Club Purse, beating Grey Medoc in two heats, and over the Eclipse Course late in the month she won the $1000 Jockey Club purse (4 mile heats), beating her sole opponent in two heats.
In 1841 SARAH won a sweepstakes handicap over the Louisiana Course at New Orleans in March, winning the first two heats and beating three others, and won a Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats) in two heats at 7:45 and 7:40, the latter one of the fastest on record to that time. Then her string of victories was disrupted, when she was beaten by Luda, a rising star, in the $1000 Jockey Club purse over the Louisiana Course at New Orleans. In March of 1842 she won a purse (2 mile heats) in 3:46 at New Orleans, the fastest time, but one, on record. A week later she met Jim Bell in New Orleans (4 mile heats) and was defeated in 7:37 and 7:40, fast times that pretty much ruined both horses. According to a correspondent to the Turf Register, she "let down badly," and subsequently suffered an accident and was taken out of training. She has only two foals recorded in the American Stud Book, a colt by imp. Jorden (1849), and a bay filly (no date) by Bingaman's stallion, Ruffin; the filly bred on, with a few offspring in each generation until they disappear from the stud book after 1866.
SARAH'S dam, Morgiana, produced a number of other foals to the cover of Leviathan. Of these, BOYD MCNAIRY (1836) was the best: an iron grey colt "above medium height, with long arms and powerful hocks and quarters." Racing for his breeder, George Elliott, won a race at Gallatin in May of 1839, and a few weeks later took the Proprietor's Purse of $250 (2 mile heats) at Nashville. In the fall, in a spillover from the Lutzborough-Leviathan match won by sister SARAH, he ran against Picton and Osceola (by Pacific) in the $1000 Jockey Club Purse at Nashville. This was an exciting race and was supposed to re-settle the Lutzborough-Leviathan spat, but in the end it was the Pacific son, Osceola, that took two of the three heats, with BOYD MCNAIRY taking the second heat in 8:04, and Picton never in contention in any of the heats. BOYD MCNAIRY was later a stallion at E. Bacon's stud in New Design, Kentucky, and he got quite a few homebred foals there from some good mares, but there is no record of any winners by him through the 1850s.
Two of Morgiana's Leviathan daughters, sisters to SARAH and BOYD, both of which went to Kentucky and so had progeny with a chance of surviving the Civil War, bred on: GREY NORMA (1845), whose tail-female descendants included 1889 Preakness Stakes winner Buddhist (by Hindoo), and the stallion Proctor Knott (1886, winner of the Futurity), and ANN CHASE (1846), who won a $1200 stakes race at Nashville (two mile heats, beating four) at age three and a $300 purse at Nashville at age four (3 mile heats, beating two). ANN CHASE was third dam through two different grandaughters, of Kentucky Oaks winners Vinaigrette (1872, by Vandal) and Longitude (1877, by Longfellow). The imp. Candlemas son, Irish Lad (1900, Brooklyn Handicap, Metropolitan Handicap, Saratoga Special and other races) and his half-brother Vulcain (1897, the Great American Stakes), and the inbred Bill Letcher (1887, Latonia Derby) were also members of this female line through ANN CHASE.
Yet another great Leviathan daughter, BEESWING (1835), was out of Black Sophia ("One of the best brood mares in America," as stated in the American Stud Book), by Top Gallant; Black Sophia was also dam of Morgiana, who produced SARAH BLADEN and her siblings. BEESWING was a 15-3/4 hands tall chestnut with "a small, clean, bony head, well-arched neck, shoulders wide but very deep and running well back, good and well-rounded barrel, short couple, but with tremendous reach below, and powerful, roomy quarters." Her action was "...beautiful, running low and level, close to the ground." Sold at age two to Balie Peyton and Jo Guild for $2,000, Peyton's interest in her was later purchased by the Wells brothers of Louisiana, and most of her races were in Louisiana and Alabama. She ran through May of 1840, winning at all distances, after which she was purchased for $5,000 by Dr. Bat Smith of Selma, Alabama, and resold to Col. Joshua Averitt of Autuaga County, Alabama and she may very well have bred some foals for him, but Alabama was devastated by the Civil War, and the American Stud Book records no produce.
BEESWING (first running as Catherine Barry) won eight races in 1838 and '39. At age three, 1838, her wins included a $5,000 sweepstakes (4 mile heats) and the $1500 Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats) at New Orleans; a $200 purse (2 mile heats) and a $300 sweepstakes (mile heats) at Columbus, Mississippi, a $150 purse at Franklin, Tennessee (2 mile heats, beat three), and a $500 sweepstakes at Nashville (mile heats, best 3 of 5, won the first three heats). Her wins at age four included a sweepstakes for three year olds at the Metairie in New Orleans, where she beat three others, including the fast Altorf in two heats, a $700 Jockey Club Purse at the Bascombe course in Mobile, where it was muddy and raining, where she distanced her only opponent, and the $600 Jockey Club Purse at Clinton Alabama (4 mile heats), where she beat three others in two heats. Her total earnings for those two years was $14,000. In 1840 she won a $1,000 sweepstakes (4 mile heats) at Mobile, beating Altdorf and Fanny Strong -- the first time she had to run three heats to win, and went on to the Metairie at New Orleans in May, where she ran in the Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats) against Grey Medoc; she won the first heat in 7:38, a half-second behind the fastest race to that time (the famous American Eclipse-Henry match at Union Course, Long Island, in May 1823, run in 7:37-1/2), but she broke down after the running, and Grey Medoc won the race by default. Although Wells had her leg pin-fired, she was not sound enough to run again, and so ended her career on a brilliant, but sad, note: the Metairie race was the first defeat, such as it was, of her career. In October of 1840 she was purchased from Dr. Smith by Col. Joshua Averitt, who intended to return her to racing, and to that end, fired her other leg, but she could not withstand training, and by January, 1842, the Turf Register noted she had been turned out, and the following year it was reported she had been permanently retired.
LAVINIA (1835, from Parasol by Napoleon), was bred by Col. Robert Smith of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Her dam, Parasol, was out of George Elliott's famous broodmare Black Sophia, the dam of BEESWING and second dam of SARAH BLADEN. Parasol had two other recorded foals by Leviathan -- HELEN DAVIS (1834) and MECKY SMITH [Maria Williams] (1836), both winners. Smith did not spare his runners, and LAVINIA had a full schedule, beginning at Natchez, Mississippi, in March of 1838 when she ran against A.L. Bingaman's colt, CAPTAIN MCHEATH (by Leviathan) in a $500 match over a mile; both were two-year-olds, as reckoned then, the calendar year for thoroughbreds prior to the Civil War starting in May, rather than January. She lost that match, but five days later, also at Natchez, she won a $1,000 sweepstakes for juveniles, mile heats, beating CAPTAIN MCHEATH and one other, although, in fact, CAPTAIN MCHEATH won the race but was disqualified on a technicality: his jockey had blanketed him between heats, which the club rules prohibited, and the "indefatigable" Smith successfully protested.
LAVINIA ran twelve more times in 1838, as a three-year-old, all but one of them mile heats or dashes, and won seven, including a forfeit. When she lost, she lost badly, in every instance last in the field. Her wins included the $1000 sweepstakes at Natchez, a $250 sweepstakes at St. Francisville, Louisiana, and a $300 Jockey Club Purse (mile heats, best three of five, beat three others) and a $100 Proprietor's Purse (one mile, dash, beat three others) at Mobile, Alabama. She also won at Murfreesboro and Nashville. Smith sold LAVINIA, and another Leviathan filly, LIZZY DIGGS, also a winner, to B.M. Grissett of Autuaga Co., Alabama for $6,000, a pretty hefty sum for a miler and a modest winner. Renamed "Gertrude," LAVINIA then ran mostly in Alabama and Georgia, but, although she won a $300 purse at Montgomery (mile heats, best three of five), beating two others, after that she was stepped up to run in mostly two-mile heat races, where the best she could do was second. She later produced two recorded foals, although there likely were others, a filly by Melzare that later bred a colt by Wagner, and a filly (1843) by Wagner, with no recorded produce in the stud book.
PETE WHETSTONE (1835, from a Stockholder mare out of the Ledbetter mare by Sir Archy), ran for the partnership of Head and Smith: Smith was the same Col. Robert Smith who bred and raced LAVINIA. Like LAVINIA, he was not spared from racing as a youngster throughout the south. The Turf Register commented on the outset of his three-year-old season: "Pete Whetstone has been put too hard to service for a two-year-old and it will surprise me if he ever figures successfully again." But he did prove durable, and won at all distances. He later became one of Leviathan's more successful sire sons, with nine recorded winners between 1843 and 1852. One of these was Maid of Munster (1845, from a mare by Rattler) that won three mile heat races in the deep south, at Marshall Texas and Shreveport Louisiana, at age four.*
PETE WHETSTONE'S 1838 season of twelve starts, included six wins. At Natchez, Mississippi, he won a $400 Jockey Club Purse (two mile heats, beating two) and the Proprietor's Purse over a mile (best three of five, in six heats, beating three, including the good imported filly Brittania, by Muley). At New Orleans he was third and last in the Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats, worth $3,000) to the famous Wagner, with the good and more experienced Leviathan filly EXTIO (1832, winner that year of a $5,000 sweepstakes at Natchez in four mile heats and of a $600 purse at Alexandria, Louisiana, three mile heats) second. At New Orleans he was fifth, well-distanced, in a Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats), won by Pressure. Back in Tennessee at Murfreesboro he took a walk-over for a sweepstakes (mile heats). He then went to Columbus, Mississippi, where at the Hyde Park Course he won the $3,000 sweepstakes over four miles, and the $600 Jockey Club Purse (four miles), beating THE PONEY and two others. At Vicksburg, Mississippi he won a $150 purse (mile heats). In Greensboro, Alabama in October, he was second to Pactolus in the four mile $800 Jockey Club Purse, with one other in the race. In November, at Mobile, he was third and last in the Proprietor's Purse (mile heats), and in a Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats), he was last in the first heat and was withdrawn, having "strained his left fetlock." He did not run again, and was retired to stud.
FLIGHT (1837, from Charlotte Hamilton, by Sir Charles) was bred and raced by the Tennessee breeder G.W. Parker, and trained first by William Mitchell, and then by Col. Tom Watson. Her dam bred five other foals by Leviathan, most of them winners. Her wins included the Barry Sweepstakes for three-year-olds (2 mile heats) in September of 1840, where she was racing against CELERITY and Lady Sherbrooke, by imp. Priam; CELERITY won the first heat, but in the second, she fell, and Lady Sherbrooke was also brought down in the process, leaving FLIGHT the unexpected winner of $8,000. In October she was second, and last, in the $4000 Proprietor's Purse at New Orleans, won by SISTER TO FLETA (1837, by Leviathan). In 1841 she won the $500 Association Purse (worth $1310, at Nashville, Tennessee in May (3 mile heats), beating five other horses.
FLIGHT was sold to John C. Guild, a Tennessee politician and horse breeder, and then passed into the hands of John Hughes of Louisiana and Missouri. The stud book records six foals to her credit. Her first foal, for Guild, was Oliver (1844, by Wagner), a good winner. Another son, Mahomet (1848, by imp. Sovereign), was a celebrated runner, and later sire of a great race mare, Minnehaha, who equaled the one mile record of 1:45, set by Prioress, in April of 1858 at the Metairie; Mahomet's daughter, Magnetta (1860) was third dam of the good Sir Modred colt, Tournament (1887).
FLIGHT'S daughter, Hegira (1846, by imp. Ambassador), running for Hughes, smashed the two mile record in November of 1850 at the Metairie, running the Trial Stakes in 3:34-1/2, and later won a mile heats race over the Bingaman Course at New Orleans in 1:48-1/2, ranking her in the top ten of superior milers of the period. Hegira was sold to Major B.G. Thomas of Lexington, Kentucky, where she became a foundation broodmare in his stud, producing Hira (1864, by Lexington), later the dam of Himyar (1875), the sire of Domino and Plaudit (1895), progenitors of the two most influential American sire lines of the 20th century. Another FLIGHT daughter, Mecca (1847, by imp. Ambassador), won a big $1600 stakes race for two year olds at New Orleans in 1850 (mile heats, beating three), and a $100 purse in mile heats, also at New Orleans.
FLIGHT'S sister, BETSEY COODY (1841), was another good runner for Bingaman whose wins included the $350 Association Purse (2 mile heats) over the Eclipse Course at New Orleans in December of 1844, beating three others in two straight heats. Only two foals are ascribed to her in the stud book, Billy Atwood (1853, by imp. Sovereign), and a filly (1857) by Voucher; if the latter had any produce, they are not recorded in the stud book.
FANDANGO (1836) and COTILLION (1837) were both out of Jackson's imported mare, Galopade (also spelled Gallopade, 1828), by the Cup horse Catton. Galopade, through her Leviathan and Glencoe daughters, had a profound influence on American bloodstock. FANDANGO, raced by T.J. Wells and James Jackson in some sort of partnership, and trained by Col. Thomas Watson, was a speedy filly whose wins included the Champage Stakes (for juveniles, mile heats) over the Bascombe Course at Mobile, Alabama, beating two others, and a $300 Jockey Club purse ( mile heats, best three of five) at the same meeting; a sweepstakes for two-year-olds (mile heats), at the Metairie, New Orleans, and a purse (2 mile heats) at Florence, Alabama, where she won the first two heats, beating two others. Most of FANDANGO'S tail female line descended through Judith (1842, by Glencoe). Judith was the fourth dam of Mannie Gray (1874, by Enquirer), the dam of the great American runner and stallion, Domino (1891, by Himyar (descended tail-female from FLIGHT, making Domino in-bred to Leviathan), and his productive sisters from which many famous American horses descend in tail-female, including Hamburg (1895), Twilight Tear (1941), and Affirmed (1975).
COTILLION, "a very blood-like looking filly," was sold in one of Jackson's posthumous dispersal sales, "in training and believed equal to anything of [her] year," on October 2, 1840, to William R. Barrow of St. Francisville, Louisiana, for $2300. It appears her only race was a sweepstakes for three-year-olds at Tuscumbia, Alabama (mile heats), in which she was fourth and last. She produced three good broodmare daughters: the useful Teddy son, Aethelstan (1922), descended from her daughter La Polka (1865, by Lexington), in addition to other winners in Europe. COTILLION'S daughter, Gallopade Jr. (18--, by Glencoe), had successful tail-female descendants that included the great runner Discovery (1931), Crozier (1958), and the excellent Canadian broodmare No Class (1974). COTILLION'S third daughter, Dance (1853, by Glencoe) became a broodmare at R.A. Alexander's Woodburn Farm in Kentucky.
Leviathan was also bred to Galopade's excellent racing and broodmare daughter, Reel (1838, by Glencoe), the dam of Prioress, Starke, Fanny Wells and War Dance, all noted names in American turf history. Reel's sons by Leviathan, LINCOLN (1844), STAFFORD (1845) and CAPT ELGEE (1846) were all winners. The latter was dam's sire, through two different daughters, of Kentucky Derby winner Lord Murphy (1876, by Pat Malloy) and Kentucky Oaks winner Liatunah (1876, by John Morgan) and her half-sister Balance All (1875, by imp. Bonnie Scotland), also a winner.
JOHN R. GRYMES (1837, out of Fanny Jarman [Alice Grey], by Mercury) was bred and raced by A.L. Bingaman. He won one race at age three, in 1840, and in 1841 took four good races. At New Orleans he won the $500 Proprietor's Purse over the Eclipse Course in two heats (3 miles), beating three, and over the Louisiana Course he won the Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats), beating two in two heats and a $600 purse (3 mile heats), beating one other in two heats. At Natchez he took a walk-over for a $600 purse (3 mile heats). He got a few winners in the mid-1840s, including Sally Ward (1843, from Lisbon Maid, by Napoleon), a key mare in American Family A - 4, from which descended many good runners, including Epsom Derby winner Durbar, Kentucky Derby winners Clyde van Dusen, Kauai King, Swaps, and Iron Leige, and a great many more.
TOM MARSHALL (1838), a brother to JOHN R. GRYMES, who sometimes raced in Bingaman's name, but was owned by his trainer, Benjamin Pryor, won two races in 1841: a $100 purse over the Pharsalia Course at Natchez (mile heats), and a sweepstakes (mile heats) over the Louisiana Course at New Orleans, beating three. Pryor sold him to John Armstrong, trainer for the Louisiana owner T.J. Wells for $500, and in 1843 he won a $200 purse (2 mile heats) at St. Louis. SUNBEAM (1839), a sister to TOM and JOHN, won a Proprietor's Purse worth $200 (mile heats, best three of five) at the Metarie, New Orleans, in 1844.
JEANNETTAU (1840, from a Stockholder mare, Family A-21) was raced by A.L. Bingaman, and although her breeder is not noted in the stud book, it is likely it was Bingaman. Her wins included two good races at St. Louis in December of 1844, when, after placing second to FEATHERS by Leviathan in a sweepstakes for three-year-olds (mile heats, with three others in the field), she won both the $500 Association Purse (3 mile heats) over the Eclipse Course, beating four other good ones, and a week later the $500 Proprietor's Purse (3 mile heats) over the Metairie Course, again beating four others. She was purchased by Richard Ten Broeck, whose horses she had beat at New Orleans.
JEANNETTAU had two foals listed in the stud book, bred by Ten Broeck: Arrow (1849, by Boston), and a chestnut filly (1854) by imp. Glencoe. Arrow, who was gelded, was a well-known runner whose wins included three of four races in 1853, including mile heats (best three of five) twice at the Metairie and at Natchez he won the $500 Pharsalia Association Purse (3 mile heats). In 1854 his wins included the big Jockey Club Purse at the Metarie (4 miles), beating two, and the Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats), beating Little Flea. In 1855 he beat the famous Reel son, LeComte, in the Jockey Club Purse (3 mile heats) at the Metairie.
JEANNETTAU'S Glencoe filly was sold to A. Keene Richards, owner of the Blue Grass Stud in Kentucky, where she went right into the stud. Her first foal was Optimist (1857, by Lexington). He and his sister (1858, by Lexington) were taken to Ten Broeck's recently established stables in England, along with other good American runners -- Umpire, Prioress, Starke, and LeComte (LeComte and Prioress were purchased by Ten Broeck from his rival, General Wells). Another horse Ten Broeck took to England was Satellite (1856, by Albion, out of a LEVIATHAN MARE), who won the Lord Stamford Plate at Newmarket in 1860, and second to Buccaneer in the Trial Stakes at Ascot (one mile).
Optimist won the rich Ascot Stakes for Ten Broeck, and was third in the Goodwood Cup, won by his stable-mate, Starke. A week after Goodwood Optimist won the Brighton Stakes in a canter. He was sold in England, and was a modest and underutilized stallion there, but he got Mars (1867), from Woman in Red by Wild Dayrell. Woman in Red was sent to France, carrying Mars in-utero. He won the Continental Derby at Gand and some other good races and was later the sire of the excellent cross-channel winner, Jongleur (Prix du Jockey Club, Cambridgeshire Stakes, etc.) and Promethee, a winner of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains.
JEANNETTAU'S Glencoe daughter bred six more foals -- her last was an 1874 bay filly, Opponent. Opponent, was purchased by Pierre Lorillard and taken to his Rancocas Stud in New Jersey. Bred at age three, the first foal she dropped there was Wyoming (1879, by War Dance); he won Belmont's Nursery Stakes as a juvenile. Opponent bred five more foals, including Idilco (1885, by imp. Mortemer), who went to France, where she produced Illinois, a winner of the Prix LaGrange. Her daughter Dido bred Prix Greffulhe winner Diderot (1911, by Maintenon), and another daughter, Frederica, was the dam of Manfred (1908, by Maintenon), a winner of the Prix la Rochette and Prix Morny. The latter's tail-female line is still extant.
ANN HAYES (1840, from a mare by Pacific) was a "fine little mare...said to be almost another Miss Foote. She is worthy to succeed Sarah Bladen as a daughter of Leviathan...has run mile heats 'in the forties,' two mile heats in 3:43-1/2 and 3:42-1/2 and four miles in 7:36-1/2 and 7:42." Raced by H.L. French, her big wins included the Jockey Club Purse (2 mile heats) at Oakley, Mississippi in October of 1843, beating two others. Sold to Linneaus Coch, for him she won the $400 Proprietor's Purse (2 mile heats), beating four others at the Metairie, New Orleans, in March of 1844 -- "she was too fast and too stout for the other horses" -- and, three days later she won the $1,000 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats), winning both heats in near-record time: 7:36-1/2 and 7:42. There is no record of any produce from ANN HAYES in the stud book.
The gelded BLACK SATIN (1843, from Sally Kirby by Stockholder) was a good Tennessee runner: his wins included three stakes and purses over three miles at Nashville and Memphis, and two $500 purses over four miles at Nashville. His brother, unnamed (1847) won a $100 purse at age three at Nashville (mile heats). His elder sister, PRINCESS ANN (1838) established a tail-female line of American race winners that included The Swallow (1868, by Ruric), a winner of Canada's Queen's Plate, Kentucky Derby winner Alan-a-Dale (1899, by Halma), and Duke of Middleburg (1896, by Cayuga), whose wins included the Carter Handicap; her branch of the family is extant today (Family A-16).
MARY BOWEN (1843, from a Stockholder mare) won two purses in two-mile heats at New Orleans and five mile-heat races at Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Natchez in 1848, and two mile-heat races at Baton Rouge and New Orleans in 1849; ELVIRA MILLS (1846, from a Glencoe mare), bred and raced by James Jackson, won a $600 purse at Baton Rouge (two mile heats) and a $100 purse at the same meeting, beating two (three mile heats). There is no record of any produce from either of these good running mares in the stud book.
Other good Leviathan runners included David McDaniel's VASHTI (1835, from Slazy, by Muckle John), whose wins included the $1,000 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats) at Raleigh North Carolina (beating three), a $300 purse at Warrenton North Carolina, and a $300 Purse at Nashville, North Carolina (3 mile heats), and in the north, a four-mile heats race at the Union Course in 1839 a few days before she broke down in a three-mile race; VASHTI'S sister, ELLEN THOMAS (1836), whose wins included a $300 purse over the Kendall Course at Baltimore (2 mile heats), $1000 at Washington D.C. (4 mile heats, beating three); CRAZY BILL (1832, from a Sir William mare), winner of a $500 Jockey Club purse (2 mile heats) and a $300 Ladies Purse (2 mile dash) at Mobile Alabama; SCIPIO (1834, from the grand racemare Kitty Clover, by Sir Charles), who took the $600 Jockey Club Purse at Huntsville, Alabama (3 mile heats), the $500 Jockey Club Purse at Nashville (3 mile heats), and a $440 purse at Mount Pleasant (3 mile heats); QUEEN OF TRUMPS (1835, from Fanny Maria by Pacolet), whose wins included a sweepstakes (2 mile heats, beating four) and the $600 Jockey Club Purse (4 mile heats) at Gallatin Tennessee, and the $200 Proprietor's Purse at Nashville (2 miles, beating PETE WHETSTONE); MARTHA MALONE (1836, from Tachechana by Bertrand), winner of the $500 Jockey Club Purse (2 mile heats) at New Orleans, and a sweepstakes for three-year-olds (4 mile heats), at the Metairie in New Orleans, among other races.
In addition to the Leviathan mares previously mentioned, some additional daughters that were good producers or may be of interest as tail-female sources are noted below.
Balie Peyton's LEVIATHAN MARE (1842, out of Anna Marie by Truffle) that was the dam of Ten Broeck's colt Satellite, that ran in England, established a prosperous tail-female line that is still extant. She was second dam of Saratoga Cup winner Muggins (1863), and her tail-female descendant, Ruddy Light (1921, by Honeywood), a winner of the Clipsetta Stakes, produced two good broodmare daughters -- Chiclelight and Light Lark. Chiclelight (1926 by Chicle) established a branch of the family that included the great Alydar (1975) and his half-sisters Our Mims (1974) and Sugar and Spice (1977), Preakness Stakes winner Codex (1977), and Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Forward Pass (1965). Light Lark (1937, by Blue Larkspur) was third dam of the good stayer and stallion T.V. Lark (1967, by Indian Hemp).
LAURA (1846, from a Stockholder mare out of a Pacolet mare, third dam Nell Saunders) wound up in the Woodburn Stud of A.J. Alexander in Kentucky. There she produced nine foals, including the good Lexington colt Harry of the West (1862), later a useful stallion, and his sister, Lily Ward (1858), and half-sister Lerna (1868, by Asteroid). Lily Ward's descendants included Ascender (1880), a Carter Handicap winner. Lerna's tail-female descendants included her grandaughter, Latonia Oaks winner Ida Pickwick (1888, by Mr. Pickwick); Go Between (1901, by Meddler), who won the Saratoga Cup and Suburban Handicap; the grand gelding Old Rosebud (1911, by Uncle), winner of the Kentucky Derby, U.S. Hotel Stakes, Flash Stakes and other races, and his half-sister Lady Rosebud (1916, by Ormondale), a winner of the Demoiselle Stakes; and more recently Lyphard's Special (1980), winner of the September Stakes, Godetia (1976), whose wins included the Irish Oaks and One Thousand Guineas, and Apalachee Prince (1985), a winner of the Prix Kergorlay and Prix de l'Esperance in France.
MADAME HOUSE (1849, out of Geneva, by Medoc) produced two daughters that bred on. Her descendants included Demoiselle Stakes winner Ethereal (1923, by Campfire) and the Louisiana Derby and Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold (1921, by Black Toney).
Eli Odom's LEVIATHAN MARE (from a mare by Pacolet) bred Lucy Fowler (1857, by imp. Albion). At H.P. McGrath's McGrathiana Stud in Lexington, Kentucky, Lucy Fowler produced Tom Bowling (1870, by Lexington), whose wins included the Dixie Handicap, the Jerome Handicap, the Flash Stakes, and the Travers Stakes, and Calvin (1872, by Tipperary), a winner of the Belmont Stakes.
A number of other Leviathan daughters produced winners and bred on in tail-female. Their descendants pepper the winning lists of important American races (some discontinued or reduced in stature) such as the Tremont Stakes, the Gazelle Stakes, the Louisiana Derby, the California Derby, the Toboggan Handicap, the U.S. Hotel Stakes, the Jerome Handicap, and others.
Leviathan's sons were another story. Overall, his sons were not anywhere near the quality of his daughters on the turf. No more than a dozen are listed as getting any winners in the years up to 1855. OTHELLO, his most successful sire son, got some good runners, but most of them were gelded. In the antebellum South, Leviathan's sons faced the competition of imported English stallions and the converse, breeders who adhered to proven Sir Archy and American Eclipse blood. In addition, Leviathan's sons were, to some extent, victims of their sire's success; with the south and west full of retired successful Leviathan daughters, there was a limited pool of good mares for his sons, few of which went north. Whatever grandsons issued from Leviathan's sons were swept up in the war: Anderson, in Making of the American Thoroughbred noted that in 1888, of the 88 principal stallions standing in the U.S., imported and native-bred, only three could trace to Leviathan via any route -- son or daughter -- compared to 47 that could trace one or more times to Sir Archy, 18 to American Eclipse and 35 (of the native-bred) to Glencoe. All three of these stallions stood in the north (Glencoe had most of his success as a stallion in the border state Kentucky). Anderson concluded the ravages of the Civil War were responsible for this huge disparity; not only the direct loss of bloodstock, stolen, run-off, or killed, but the impoverishment and ruination of the stud farms, breeders and race courses. Before the war, the south and west were ascendant in racing and breeding in the U.S.; after, almost all of this activity shifted to Kentucky and further north. Almost all those private racing clubs in North Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee -- where Leviathan progeny were dominant winners before the war -- vanished, never to return. Well before the end of the nineteenth century Leviathan's influence was limited to the descendants of his daughters.
--Patricia Erigero
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*These numbers seem extremely low, and they are, but the fact is that throughout this period, from the time Leviathan's stock first ran, September 1834-September 1835, the sires list came to be dominated by imported stallions, of which Leviathan was the first good one, of an increasing wave since the years just after the Revolutionary War period, to enter the stud in America. Some native-bred stallions, especially in the north, managed to hold their own through the early 1840s (such as the aging Bertrand (a son of Sir Archy), Medoc (a son of American Eclipse), and American Eclipse (a son of Duroc by imp. Diomed), but by 1844 mare owners with any means were rushing to imports like Leviathan, Glencoe, and Priam, because they were outcrosses to their American-bred mares, and because they were overwhelmingly producing winners. From 1846 until Lexington entered the stud in 1856, only the native-breds Boston (son of Timoleon, by Sir Archy) and Wagner (a son of Sir Charles by Sir Archy), and to a lesser extent Grey Eagle (by Woodpecker, a son of Bertrand) and Grey Medoc (by Medoc) -- all of which were competing for mares on their merits as racehorses and on the determined adherence by some breeders to native blood -- could come close to matching the numbers of the winning get of imported stallions; most native-bred stallions were lucky to get one recorded winner annually. Of course, Boston changed all that with his son, Lexington, born in 1850, whose offspring debuted on the turf just before the onset of the Civil War. While Lexington, located in a border state (Kentucky), was affected by the war, the impact on the imported ( and native-bred) stallions and their sons standing further south was completely devastating.
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