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  Medley
graphic


Medley  
 
Grey colt 1776.
By Gimcrack - Arminda by Snap
Godolphin Arabian sire line.

Family # 3.




Gimcrack His sire, Gimcrack
 

Imported *Medley was the most significant American stallion during the last quarter of the 1700s, reigning between the eras of *Fearnought and *Diomed. He was a horse of extraordinary beauty and class who passed on his best qualities to his offspring with great consistency.

*Medley was a grey colt foaled in 1776 and bred in England by Lord Grosvenor, although the General Stud Book shows him as the property of "Mr. Medley." His sire was the tough little Gimcrack, also a grey, and a very popular horse in his racing days. Medley's dam, Arminda, was a full sister to Papillon, sired by Snap out of Miss Cleveland (by Regulus), next dam Midge (by a son of Bay Bolton), next dam by Bartlet's Childers, next dam "a Sister to the Two True Blues" by Honeywood's Arabian-next dam the "Dam of the Two True Blues" by the Byerley Turk, founder of Family #3.

*Medley was owned during his racing career by "the wild" Sir John Lade. The grey horse was a very successful runner over four seasons of racing in the early 1780s, winning 11 plates, including two matches. He became the property of Richard Tattersalls who, after his racing career was over, sold him for about $500 to the firm of Hart and McDonald of Louisa, Virginia. *Medley's journey to America came in the company of half a dozen other stallions purchased as an investment to be resold upon their arrival in America. They were part of the steady flow of English stallions that had begun immediately following the 1783 repeal of the Non-Importation Act of 1771, which had forbade stallions from being imported into Virginia during that time of political strife.

*Medley and his companion stallions arrived in 1784 in Virginia on Captain McNabb's good ship "Theodorick." Malcolm Hart, a partner in this venture, was apparently taken by Medley and decided to keep the elegant grey for himself, standing him at his stable at Hanover Court House in Virginia and so *Medley became known as "Hart's Medley". Hart maintained ownership but moved the stallion to a new location within the Old Dominion every season for eight years, although eventually, he sold fifty percent of the horse to James Wilkinson. Not long after, *Medley colicked and died at Wilkinson's Millbrook Plantation in Southampton County, Virginia along the banks of the Mechanic River. The year was 1792 and *Medley was only 16-years-old.

In his eight seasons at stud, however, *Medley had cut quite a swath. Like his sire Gimcrack, he was a small grey horse, standing just a half inch over 14 hands, but unlike Gimcrack, *Medley showed remarkable quality, with exceptional legs, balance, strength, and good looks. Much of the latter was attributed to his dam's sire Snap. *Medley's offspring followed suit, highlighted by the fact that many of them were also grey, and generally small like himself. *Medley's progeny also had tremendous stamina, good legs, bold eyes, and a physical beauty that was proclaimed to demonstrate their "exceptional purity of blood". One of *Medley's best patrons was John Tayloe III of the famed Mount Airy stud who noted that *Medley's stock "is decidedly the best we have had. His colts were the best racers of their day, although they were generally small; but their limbs were remarkably fine, and they were distinguished for their ability to carry weight." *Medley, it was said, "like Sir Archy, could get a winner on any sort of a thoroughbred mare - and some times on mares that were not thoroughbred."

Among *Medley's many winners, the best as a racer and a sire was Tayloe's Bellair II, a grey colt foaled in 1786, bred and owned Tayloe, although the records have failed to record the identity of his dam. A tremendous runner, "champion of the Virginia turf," his only defeat came at the hands of another son of *Medley named Gimcrack. At stud Bellair's lasting influence comes mainly through his daughter, The Pryor Mare, whose dam, a daughter of *Medley (making The Pryor Mare inbred 2x2 to *Medley), was the founder of the American Family A3. Another daughter of Bellair produced the great racemare Haynie's Maria (by Diomed). A third is a key link in the A15 family. Bellair also sired Northumberland, who had a few daughters who appear in pedigrees. Bellair is in the pedigree of Fair Play, who has two other strains of Medley, and Enquirer, broodmare sire of Domino, who had other strains of Medley as well.

Besides Bellair, *Medley sired a score of other top class sons. Tayloe's Quicksilver was a good sire, and a daughter of his is a key link in the A13 family tracing to Picayune. Tayloe's Grey Diomed sired three important daughters, Belle Maria (the dam of Robin Grey, in the pedigree of Lexington's dam), and the second dams of Princess Ann and Fanny Wright. GreyDiomed's daughter, Amanda, was a good four mile racehorse and dam of Duroc, an erratic racer, who sired American Eclipse. Page's Boxer sired Mendoza. Hoskin's Melzar sired Maria (also in the dam line of Lexington) and Minerva. Barry's Grey Medley was a foundation sire in early Tennessee breeding. Randolph's Gimcrack (who had defeated Tayloe's Bellair) sired the second dam of Directress. Craig's Alfred sired Hart's Maria (out of The Pryor Mare by Tayloe's Bellair). Young Medley and Lamplighter were also good sons of *Medley.

*Medley's daughters were equally effective. A close second to Bellair in quality on the track and at stud was *Medley's daughter, Tayloe's Calypso. Medley also sired mares who founded three American families, A3, A4, and A36. Medley Mare #1, out of "a thoroughbred mare belonging to T. D. Owings of Virginia", was the founder of A3. Dam of the previously mentioned The Pryor Mare, from her sprang American greats including Spendthrift, Wildidle, Sweep On, Hyder Ali, and many others. Medley Mare #2, Calypso, an own sister to Bellair II, was defeated only once in her racing carrer. She is the founder of A4. She produced a mare by Stirling, dam of the famous Fanny Maria, from which descend an extremely broad-reaching family including Wanda, Durbar II, Swaps, Iron Liege, Kauai King, and modern representatives Gulch, Althea and Green Desert, the latter two being a daughter and grandson respectively of the 1983 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year, Courtly Dee. The A36 family is not as distinguished, but produced Kentucky Derby winner Judge Himes. Yet another important daughter was Johnson's Old Medley Mare, dam of the great racemares Vanity and Reality, both sired by Sir Archy.

And so *Medley's line flourished through both his many capable sons and daughters. Best of all, *Medley nicked particularly well with the successor to his crown as Leading Sire in America, the great *Diomed.

--Anne Peters



*MEDLEY (GB), Grey colt, 1776. Family 3.
Gimcrack
gr. 1760
Cripple
gr. 1750
Godolphin Arabian
br/b. 1724
--
--
Godolphin Blossom
gr. 17--
Crab
Blossom's dam
Miss Elliot
gr. 1756
Grisewood's Partner
gr. 1730
Partner
mare by Hutton's Grey Barb
Caelia
gr. 1742
Partner
Grey Brocklesby
Arminda
b. 1768
Snap
br. 1750
Snip
br. 1736
Flying Childers
sister to Soreheels
sister to Slipby
br. 1740
Fox
Gipsy
Miss Cleveland
1758
Regulus
b. 1739
Godolphin Arabian
Grey Robinson
Midge
b. 1742
son of Bay Bolton
mare by Bartlett's Childers


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