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Wild Dayrell
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There was a lot of romance and drama surrounding Wild Dayrell, from before he was born to the events leading up to his Derby triumph. A moderately good stallion, he revitalized the Sir Paul branch of the Sir Peter Teazle sire line by getting several sons that bred good or useful sire sons in Europe, England and Australia.
His dam, Ellen Middleton (1846), by the great racehorse Bay Middleton, and from Myrrha (1831), by Malek, was bred by G. S. Foljambe, "better known in the chase than on the turf," Master of the Sandbeck Hunt [Yorkshire] for over twenty years, and active in the organization of hunter flat racing at Doncaster. Malek had been a useful stallion, and Myrrha became the dam of several good horses, including Midlothian (1842, by Bay Middleton), Malcolm (1843, by The Doctor), and Queen of the May (1845, by Sir Hercules). Ellen Middleton was slightly turned-out in front, a fault she transmitted to Wild Dayrell, and was a tall mare, on the leg, a frame her famous son also inherited. The Druid said she "...was perhaps, with the exception of being a trifle straight in the hocks, as fine a brood mare as we ever saw."
She was purchased as a yearling by Lord Zetland (owner of the great Voltigeur), and named after a character in a novel written by Lady Georgiana Fullerton. In the famous Aske spots, she was a pretty good juvenile, second to Farthingale in the Prince of Wales's Stakes for juveniles at York, beating a good field that included Raby, Garrick, Imperatrix and Legerdemain; second to The Flying Dutchman in Doncaster's Champagne Stakes, with three others in the field; and winner of York's Filly Sapling Stakes by three lengths, beating two others. At age three she won the Yorkshire Oaks by a head, and also a small race at Richmond, but was nowhere in the Richmond Cup, won by Raby, who was also by Malek. Like Zetland's other good runners, she was blown away in trials against Voltigeur, just before his purchase by the earl.
After racing, Ellen Middleton was advertised for sale in The Sporting Life. The ad was spotted by John Rickaby, hunting groom for Francis L. Popham in Wiltshire. At the time Popham owned just one thoroughbred mare, Lady Flora (1845, by Muley Moloch, out of Adleine by Soothsayer). In 1850 Lady Flora had produced her first foal, Lady of Littlecote, by an arabian stallion, Caliph. Popham lived at the family seat, Littlecote Hall, a Tudor-era brick country house about two miles from Hungerford and even closer to the small village Chilton Foliat, on the border of Berkshire and Wiltshire. Rickaby, excited by the Bay Middleton and Myrrha breeding, got Popham's permission to make further inquiry, and he wrote to Bobby Hill, Lord Zetland's stable manager and trainer. In June, Rickaby secured Ellen Middleton for Popham for £50, sight unseen.
The next challenge was to find a suitable thoroughbred stallion for their treasure, that just might yield a racehorse. The next spring Rickaby was sent "...on a voyage of discovery among the stud farms. Harkaway, Ratcatcher and The Libel were not to his fancy; Enfield could only offer Red Deer and the Earl of Richmond; at last he came upon quite a seam of wealth at Barrow's of Newmarket in Birdcatcher, Don John, John o'Gaunt and Ion, and clenched matters with the latter, which was the last one brought out."
Ion, who had won two races in his career, but placed second in both the Derby and the St. Leger, was there for what would be his last season in England. His owner, General Jonathan Peel, had been appointed War Minister in the Derby cabinet, and was selling off his bloodstock; in August of 1851 Ion and the rest went under the block, and Ion was purchased by the French Government and dispatched across the channel. But that spring Lady Flora and Ellen Middleton were both sent to Ion at Newmarket, and returned home a month later; Ellen Middleton had not caught and was returned immediately for another cover.
Since it is so seldom in sporting literature that the birth of a Derby winner is recounted, The Druid's version, later confirmed by Rickaby to another sporting writer is provided here. Any small-time breeder with hopes for a champion foal will be able to relate.
"The arrival of the first blood colt produced the sensation which those little matters will produce in quiet country homes, and they sat up with Ellen for at least a fortnight before the event.
When a colt appeared between 12 and 1 a.m., the butler was rung up and rushed on to the scene with his nightcap on his head, and a bottle of wine in his hand; and as it was necessary to remove the little stranger into a warmer box, he got a wheelbarrow, and insisted upon 'wheeling the winner of the Derby once in my life.' There was nothing to that speech, but when Rickaby got home to his cottage about five that April morning, he assured his wife there must be something remarkable for good or evil about the colt, as he had just seen the strange sight of a wild duck and a wild drake actually sitting on a quickset hedge, close by the high road. That morning was indeed a remarkable one in Littlecote annals. It hailed the first blood colt Mr. Popham had ever possessed, and the first that Rickaby ever trained, and the latter never was at Epsom in his life till he fulfilled his threat of 'bringing the money away."
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The Story of Wild Darrell
There are many variations of his "romantic and terrible" story, and even literary revisions of it, in poems and novels (notably in Sir Walter Scott's poem Rokeby). The main points of agreement are that a midwife was collected in the middle of the night, blindfolded, and taken -- by carriage or horseback -- to a mansion, where she attended the birth of a child. After delivery, a man entered the bedchamber, and took up the infant and either dashed its head in, or threw it in the fire, despite the pleading of the mother. The midwife was blindfolded again, paid, and threatened to keep her mouth shut, which she did for a while, and then her conscience got the better of her -- either the next day or a month later -- and she contacted the authorities, determining it had to be Littlecote where she had witnessed the crime. After that there was a trial -- or at least an investigation -- but Wild Darrell was never convicted, either because he had a relative serving as judge, or because he bribed the judge, or because there was insufficient evidence, or because -- although never in the stories -- he was innocent. In any case Darrell was never the same, and died soon after from a fall from a horse that may have been spooked by the ghost of a baby in flames; the site where this happened was known as "Wild Darrell's Leap," and his ghost was also among those that haunted the area in general and Littlecote, in particular.
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The colt was named Wild Dayrell, after Will (or "Wild") Darrell (Dayrell), a scion of the family that owned Littlecote in Queen Elizabeth I's reign. Wild Darrell's horrifying story was a well-known and treasured part in the annals of Littlecote long before Francis Popham's birth in 1809. His ancestor, Sir John Popham, the Lord Chief Justice of England and a noted juror, purchased the house from the Walsinghams, who had inherited from the Darrells a few years earlier, and it was rich in history, even without the ghosts. Charles II was received at Littlecote by the Chief Justice's grandson, and created Francis Popham a Knight of Bath. In 1830 the inheritance and Littlecote moved laterally to a nephew, Lieutenant-General Edward W. Leybourne, who assumed the surname Popham. Francis L. Popham was his second son, who spent most of his time "in the pursuit of field sports, and those occupations peculiar to his position in life."
Ellen bred nine more foals for Popham, but of the rest, only The Primate (1863, by St. Albans), was even remotely useful: "he had every attribute of speed and stoutness, but neither kindness nor severity could induce him to do his best." He won one race at age two, and was second in the Northumberland Plate at age three; in the stud he could claim the dam's sire position in the pedigree of the dual classic winning filly Miss Jummy. Ellen's thoroughbred companion, Lady Flora produced a bay filly to Ion's cover, named Creusa.
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After all the excitement and duck augery over the birth of Wild Dayrell, Popham got cold feet; neither he nor Rickaby knew anything about training a racehorse, and so both Wild Dayrell and Creusa were advertised for sale as yearlings. Several trainers expressed interest, but it was John Kent, who trained the Duke of Richmond's horses at Goodwood -- and had won the 1852 Chesterfield Stakes with Ion's son Dagobert -- who purchased the pair at £500 for Richmond's son, Lord Henry Lennox. But a year later the gout-ridden Duke dispersed his racing stable and stud, as did Lennox, and a raft of English broodmares -- among them Richmond's Oaks winner Refraction -- were sold directly to Auguste Lupin of France to become the foundation of his great stud there. Most of the rest, including Creusa and Wild Dayrell -- who had not shown much in a trial at Goodwood -- were sent to Tattersall's for sale. Popham, in Scotland at the time of the sale, arranged a partnership with his neighbor and hunting buddy, William, 4th Earl Craven, and Rickaby was sent to recover the youngsters, paying 250 guineas for Wild Dayrell, and 25 guineas for the filly.
Wild Dayrell grew to a little over 16.1 hands in height, with "immense power, bone, muscle and tendon." He had a long, swinging stride and many considered him to be the most beautiful horse of his day. Here is one description: "I do not hestitate to state that I never beheld the superior of 'Wild Dayrell,' as far as his outline and general formation -- (although there are others with more muscular development and greater power)...If he could be improved upon (and I believe no horse ever was foaled that could not be), it might be as to the formation of his hocks and hindquarters, as to strength and position, in proportion to his frame: but animals of his great length and general outline are seldom so well 'turned under,' in that respect, as those compact and moderate-sized horses."
The Druid described him as "A magnificent topped horse, but an inch too long in the leg for beauty, and rather light below the knee, and tapered so decidedly from his arm to the ground, besides turning out his toes, that his owner may thank the splendid mossy texture of the Weathercock Hill in Ashdown Park, that he kept on his legs so long." Fortunately for those who would like to assess his looks for themselves, his part-owner, Lord Craven, was an early photography enthusiast, and recorded Wild Dayrell in that medium (above, with Rickaby and his sons, at Ashdown), one of the earliest known photos of an English racehorse.
Rickaby assumed training duties for the youngsters. A two mile course was marked out in the park at Littlecote, and Rickaby would lead gallops on a gelding, Zegra, with his young sons trailing behind on Wild Dayrell and Creusa. A visitor to Littlecote in January of 1854 saw Wild Dayrell near the beginning of his training program:
"...walking across the park, our host, who bred a few horses, pointed out with great pride a very fine dark brown colt, then a two-year-old. This was none other than the afterwards famous Derby winner Wild Dayrell (he won in 1855) by Ion, his dam Ellen Middleton. His trainer, Rickaby, was Popham's hunting-groom, and that morning rode a hack in rear of his charge. Another groom was on an old hunter in front of the big two-year-old, who had a small boy on his back, with a man walking by his side leading him in a caveason, which Mr. Popham told him to take off, as he was anxious for us to see the young one's action. The old hunter jumped off to lead him; but the two-year-old, being very fresh, gave a buck and a kick and sent the boy flying, and, though we had a first-class opportunity of judging his action, poor Popham, who was of a very excitable temperament, experienced a mauvais quart d'heure; for it was some little time before the colt could be caught. However, he seemed none the worse, and for a big baby of a horse he moved wonderfully well."
Wild Dayrell on the Turf
In May, Wild Dayrell, Creusa, and their entourage moved to Lord Craven's Ashdown Park in Berkshire. Rickaby trained him, and Ralph Etwall, another hunting companion, from Hampshire, whose brother would breed Derby winner Andover, assumed Wild Dayrell's general management. They schooled the colts at Ashdown and on the nearby downs.
Wild Dayrell started in the fall of his juvenile year, winning his only race that season, a sweepstakes for two year olds at Newmarket First October, beating two others, Para, and Hazel. His big, strapping appearance and easy win brought him into early notice as a possible Derby contender.
Over the winter his owners purchased the fast older horse Lord Albemarle (1850, by The Emperor) to use in trials for Wild Dayrell. It was apparent Popham and Craven had a talented horse when he trounced Lord Albemarle. In March Popham bought another horse, Jack Sheppard (1852, by Iago) for £1,600, to serve as Wild Dayrell's trial horse. Jack Sheppard had shown pretty good form, running second by a length to Van Winkle in Doncaster's Trial Stakes, and second to the older Scherz in Warwick's Trial Stakes in March. At Chester in early May, Popham ran Jack in the Marquis of Westminster's Purse at Chester, a handicap sweep that he won by 1/2 length, beating Orinoco and three others, so he was fit and ready for Wild Dayrell's trial, held at Ashburn ten days before the Derby. Gamelad was also hired for the trial, from the Osborne stable in Yorkshire.
The day of the trial Popham, Etwall, Lord Craven's son, and various others traipsed up Weathercock Hill to view the run on the downs. Zegra and Gamelad, the latter with John Osborne's teenage son, Robert in the saddle and carrying 7 st.-3 lbs., were put away early, and the two three-year-olds "went a splitting pace for a mile, where Jack fairly stood still." Wild Dayrell, with 8 st.-10 lbs., came in alone, with the rest trailing 100 yards behind. Jack Charlton, who rode Jack, told Etwall, "I thought King Tom's trial a good one last year, but I never rode against such a horse as this before," and Osborne said "Wild Dayrell nearly lost us." Gamelad, sent back to Ashgill, would later run Saucebox, the winner of the St. Leger, to half a length at even weights and to a neck at 5 lbs., making, in handicapping terms, Wild Dayrell 2 st. better than Saucebox, whom he was destined not to meet.
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Wild Dayrell with Rickaby at his head and Sherwood up
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Wild Dayrell's rider in his exercise, trials and the Derby was Robert Sherwood, a twenty-year-old born at Epsom, whose father, Ralph, had trained the one-time racer, Derby winner Amato. Young Sherwood rode Auguste Lupin's Jouvence, trained by his father at Epsom, to wins in the Prix du Jockey Club and Prix de Diane in 1853, but he was not well-known in England at the time of Wild Dayrell's derby. He later went on to train for Robert Jardine and other English merchants in Hong Kong and then returned to England, opening a stable at Exeter House in Newmarket where he schooled St. Gatien (dead-heat for the Derby), Oaks winner L'Abbesse de Jouarre, and some other good ones. His son, also Robert, became a trainer of some note, as well.
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Although held at 6 a.m., the trial was not a particular secret, and word got out. A lot of public money poured into the betting for the Derby based on rumors of Wild Dayrell's potential, but, ominously, the odds did not shorten on him, and then word came to the owners that certain persons were advised that Wild Dayrell would not start for the race.
Forewarned, Popham dismissed a suspect stable lad and placed a 24 hour guard on the colt. Then, Wild Dayrell's travelling cart collapsed -- a linchpin had been removed from the wheel. Popham, already on the highest alert, had taken the precaution of loading a bullock into the cart for a test run, and when the cart fell, the poor creature broke its leg, a victim of the sabotage meant for Wild Dayrell. There was purportedly one additional attempt to stop Wild Dayrell, by directly bribing Popham not to run him. When all this failed, the betting ring invested in fixing the Derby moved their money to Wild Dayrell, and almost overnight, the odds plunged to even. Popham himself reportedly made £10,000 when his colt won the race, but, after all the stressful drama, he later stated he never wanted to own another Derby horse.
Wild Dayrell won the Derby by two lengths, beating the moderate Kingstown and Two Thousand Guineas winner Lord of the Isles, with the rest of the twelve-horse field trailing behind. The betting ring had been foiled by an unfashionably-bred colt with only one previous start, owned by country squires, trained by a former hunting groom, and ridden by a relative newcomer jockey. Most of the best of that year were not in the race -- De Clare had broken down a week before, Oulston was unable to start, and Rifleman and Fandango were not in the race. The ground for that year's Derby was especially hard, and in the Epsom paddock Wild Dayrell ran into the hedge before he could be pulled up. He came out of the race with a "doubtful" near foreleg, swollen between knee and fetlock, probably a tendon, and "...for the first time in his life, he was put into bandages."
He went on to Goodwood, but the other leg filled, and he did not run in the Cup. He was barely sound enough to prep for and run at York, but he took the Ebor St. Leger, beating Oulston, the only other runner, by two lengths; Oulston, who later won high class races -- including the Ascot Gold Vase, Stockbridge's Steward's Cup, and Goodwood's Drawing-room Stakes -- was unfit at the time, but then, Wild Dayrell was hardly better off. At Doncaster, in the Doncaster Cup, his third race of the season, Wild Dayrell's bad leg gave way in the running, and he did not place; the race was won by Rataplan, who beat the good race filly Ellermire by six lengths, with Acrobat and two others behind.
Wild Dayrell in the Stud
Wild Dayrell was retired to Popham's stud at Littlecote, near the village of Chilton Foliat, at a fee of 30 guineas, where he remained "an especial pet" for the rest of his life. He died, "of apoplexy," probably a heart attack, in his stall at Littlecote a few hours after finishing a hearty breakfast on November 27, 1870, age eighteen. Jack Sheppard raced a couple of more times for Popham, and then was sold; Lord Albemarle was also sold, and Zegra went into Lord Craven's hunting stable, where he served as Craven's hack.
Wild Dayrell got one classic winner, the One Thousand Guineas winner HURRICANE, an English and Hungarian champion sire son, BUCCANEER, and several other sons that continued the Sir Paul sire line branch in England and Australia. BUCCANEER'S sons continued the line in France, Germany and Hungary. Wild Dayrell and his sons also got hunters and some good hurdlers and steeplechasers in England, France, and Australasia. He was usually in the top twenty list of leading stallions, and was twice fourth on the list: in 1865, behind Stockwell, Monarque, and Newminster, and in 1866, behind Stockwell, Newminster, and King Tom.
He was fashionable for a while, but he mostly got stayers, although his speed carried down to more than a few of his offspring, such as BUCCANEER and his sister BECKY SHARPE, MOLLY CAREW, and most of the foals from the mare Midia. Most of his foals won something, but those that were successful as juveniles often failed to train on. His offspring, said one turf writer, were "sound and firm," often a mouse-brown color, with "handsome heads and rather high on the leg." The general consensus at the time of his death was that he was a failure at stud, but his sire line persisted longer than that of many considered more successful while he was alive.
Wild Dayrell and Cruiser's Dam
BUCCANEER (1857) was bred at Lord Dorchester's Murrell Green Farm in Winchfield, Hampshire. He was out of the Little Red Rover mare that assumed some note after her son Cruiser's (1852, by Venison) heroic transformation from rogue to the most famous horse of his day; in later editions of the General Stud Book she was referred to as "Cruiser's dam," and after BUCCANEER raced, as "Buccaneer's dam." This mare also produced The Chase (1849, by Venison) and The Golden Horn (1855, by Harkaway), both of which were later bred to Wild Dayrell in an attempt to create another BUCCANEER, and three other foals by Wild Dayrell -- CHIFFONNIÈRE (1858), BECKY SHARPE (1861), and LADY AUDLEY (1863).
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Buccaneer
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BUCCANEER was sold to Isaac Newton Wallop, 5th earl of Portsmouth, whose seat was Hurstbourne Park in Hampshire, and was sent to Captain Henry Wolcott at Beckhampton for training. BUCCANEER ran nineteen times in four seasons, winning eleven races. His wins as a juvenile, which included a Two Year Old Stakes at Stockbridge, Newmarket's July Stakes, and Goodwood's Molecomb Stakes made him a favorite for the Derby, but a troubling splint kept him out of the Guineas and in the Derby -- won by Thormanby, with HORROR third -- he was nowhere. His other wins included Goodwood's Drawing Room Stakes, Doncaster's Don Stakes, Ascot's Royal Hunt Cup, Trial Stakes, and Craven Stakes. He was best up to a mile, and quite speedy.
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BUCCANEER spent a season at Hurstbourne, and then was purchased as a stallion by James Sawrey-Cookson, who had a stud at Neasham Hall in County Durham, four miles from Darlington. He was a well-known breeder of many good horses, including Kettledrum and Dundee (first and second in the 1861 Epsom Derby), and four Oaks winners, and for many years he owned the stallion Sweetmeat. While Cookson was fond of BUCCANEER, he was not able to attract sufficent mares to satisfy his owner in two seasons at stud. After the 1865 season, when his first crop from Hurstbourne were just yearlings, Cookson sold him to the Hungarian national stud -- government stud agents had been in England throughout the early '60s buying up English stallions, including 1851 Derby winner Teddington. Even for an anxious stallion owner tempted by good foreign offers, the sale was a bit premature -- the 1865 crop, his second, was excellent, and the 1866 crop, his last in England, also high in quality, prompting the usual outcry about his being sold abroad and an unsuccessful offer to buy him back.
BUCCANEER's English winners included Paul Jones (1865, Chester Cup), See-Saw (1865, Cambridgeshire Stakes, Royal Hunt Cup), Formosa (1865, winner of the One Thousand Guineas, Two Thousand Guineas (dead-heat), Epsom Oaks, and Doncaster St. Leger), and Brigantine (1866, Epsom Oaks and Ascot Gold Cup). With these, and other winners, he was at the top of the sire's list in England in 1868, although long gone. In Hungary he got numerous classic winners in Germany, Hungary, and Austria, and one son, Kisbér, who was taken to England to race and won the Epsom Derby. See Saw got two Grand Prix de Paris winners that were later good sires in France; Kisbér became a leading sire in Germany; Flibustier (the best of his year in Germany) was a champion sire in Germany whose line continued through his grandson, Fels (1903). BUCCANEER'S daughters and grandaughters, both English and Hungarian, were also effective in the breeding shed, and come down to the present through many paths.
BECKY SHARPE (1861), a full sister to BUCCANEER that was bred and raced by Lord Portsmouth, was a speedy juvenile. She won the Ascot Triennial for juveniles, beating seven good youngsters, and was third to Scottish Chief and Crytheia by two lengths in Newmarket's Chesterfield Stakes, with eight others in the field, and third in a sweepstakes for two year olds at Newmarket October; she ran twice at age three, but the best she could do was fourth of six in a handicap sweep at Stockbridge over five furlongs. She did not breed on. Her half-sister, The Chase (1849, by Venison), had been bred by Lord Dorchester and won a race at Ascot, but passed through several hands, eventually ending up in Wales. When BUCCANEER appeared on the turf, Lord Portsmouth, "anxious to get hold of a strain of the blood," tracked her down and purchased her from her farmer owner for £10. Brought back to Hurstbourne and bred to Wild Dayrell, she produced ROBIN HOOD (1863), whose best race was Newmarket's July Stakes as a juvenile; he went on at age three to place third in Ascot's Prince of Wales's Stakes and the Grand Duke Michael Stakes at Newmarket.
In Dorchester's stud, the Little Red Rover mare's daughter, Golden Horn, was bred to Wild Dayrell four years in succession, producing SEA KING (1860), WILD MOOR (1864), HUE AND CRY (1865), and WILD OATS (1866). Racing for Lord Strathmore, at age three SEA KING won a sweepstakes at Newmarket and the second year of the 1-1/2 mile Stockbridge Biennial, beating a good field of seven others; at age four he won the 3 mile Queen's Purse at Salisbury. WILD MOOR, owned by the Duke of Hamilton, ran in the highest company, placing in the Ascot Biennial and the St. James's Palace Stakes. HUE AND CRY became the dam of Fugitive, a winner of the Esher Stakes and three other races at age five. HUE AND CRY'S daughters, all by Rosicrucian, continued the tail-female line to the present, that included Derby winner Volodyovski (1898) and Prix de Diane winner Doniazade (1918), and Gimcrack Stakes winner Windy City (1949), that became a good stallion in the U.S.
Of Golden Horn's foals, WILD OATS (1866) was the most significant. He won the Prendergast Stakes, and dead-heated with Pero Gomez in Newmarket's Criterion Stakes. In the Cobham Stud he not surprisingly got good juveniles, including Evasion (1877, from Eva, by Breadalbane), winner of Doncaster's Champagne Stakes, and Juventus (1881, from Apology by Adventurer), winner of the Gimcrack Stakes. A daughter, Britomartis (1880), won the Yorkshire Oaks. The gelded Wild Monarch (1871), bred when Wild Oats spent the 1870 season in France before going to Ireland, won the Grand Steeplechase de Paris twice, and a daughter, Lady Miltown, produced Scottish Grand National winner, The Peer (1879).
At the 1881 Cobham sale, William Kite of Kelso, Australia, purchased Maltese Cross, in foal to WILD OATS, and in 1882 she dropped Gozo at his Dockaine stud in New South Wales. Gozo, who stood at John Smith's Tucka Tucka stud in Yetman, New South Wales, was a superior stallion in Australia, near the top of the sire's lists for over a decade, including first in 1898-99 and second in 1900-01 and 1901-02. He got two brothers, Gaulus and The Grafter, that won the Melbourne Cup in 1897 and 1898 respectively, and a third Melbourne Cup winner in the mare Acrasia (1897, Colonial Family C - 15), who beat a field of thirty-three in very fast time. The Grafter was taken to England, where he won the City and Suburban Handicap. Although he got some flyers, most of Gozo's offspring, male and female, won at 12 furlongs and longer, and included winners of the QTC Brisbane Cup (16 furlongs), the VRC St. Leger Stakes, the AJC Randwick Plate, and the AJC Sydney Cup. Unfortunately, his sons were not among the few colonial-bred stallions that could stand up to fashionable imported horses, and his branch of the sire line died out, but his daughters made lasting contributions to Australian bloodstock.
CHIFFONNIÈRE (1858), out of the Little Red Rover mare, bred by Lord Dorchester, was purchased and raced by American Richard Ten Broeck, who disposed of her to William Blenkiron before returning to the States. At the Middle Park Stud she produced some useful daughters that bred on, with good winners in Germany and France through the early twentieth century.
Another Little Red Rover mare daughter, LADY AUDLEY (1863), bred by Lord Portsmouth, produced a good runner in Touchet (1874, by Lord Lyon), and her tail-female line also bred on into the early twentieth century.
Midia's "Wild Weather" Foals
BUCCANEER'S crop-mate, AVALANCHE (1857) was from the Scutari mare, Midia (1846), that, to the cover of Wild Dayrell, also produced HURRICANE (1859), TORNADO (1860), TYPHOON (1861), and BOREAS (later LYMINGTON, 1865). Bred by Captain John Oliver, who "begged" trainer Tom Parr to take her "for her forfeits," AVALANCHE became a wonderful distance horse, winning seven Royal Plates, and about £5,000 in bets and stakes. Parr had established himself at the venerable Benhams manor at Letcombe Regis in Berkshire in 1851, after some years of riding for "saddles and bridles," gradually gaining a great reputation as a trainer and owner, and was leading owner in 1856 in England: his other horses included Fisherman, Weathergage, M.D., and Saucebox, and he leased Rataplan. Parr used AVALANCHE as a hack, until, riding her out for a shoot, he discovered she was handy and fast over ploughed ground, and then her race training on Sparholt Down began. She was substituted for Parr's injured charge, Rattlebone (by the famous Cruiser), in the Newmarket Biennial (which she won two years in succession), and after that did very well for Parr, placing second to Butterfly in the Epsom Oaks, and winning many Queen's Plates. She was sold to Belgium for a great deal of money, but there is no record of any useful produce from her.
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Hurricane
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Mida's next Wild Dayrell foal was an unnamed filly (1858), and a year later she dropped HURRICANE (1859). HURRICANE was purchased by Evelyn Boscawen, 6th Viscount Falmouth, who had begun racing just a couple of years earlier. At his then newly-established stud at Mereworth, Falmouth would breed nineteen classic winners, including Queen Bertha and her progeny. HURRICANE was the first classic winner he owned, although he did not breed her. She was sent to John Scott at Malton for schooling, winning the Aske Produce Stakes and a Triennial Produce Stakes. At age three she won the One Thousand Guineas, but could only run third to Feu-de-Joie and Imperatrice in the Epsom Oaks, and third to Carisbrook and Neptunus in Ascot's Prince of Wales's Stakes, and could not place in The Marquis' Doncaster St. Leger, but at Newmarket in the fall she won a 500 guineas match over 1-1/2 miles against Feu-de-Joie. She came out for the Ascot Gold cup at age four, and ran third to the truly good horses Tim Whiffler and Buckstone.
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Retired to Mereworth, HURRICANE bred Atlantic (1871, by Thormanby), a winner of the Two Thousand Guineas, the Ascot Derby and other races, and in France, the sire of the famous Le Sancy, France's equivalent to St. Simon. A number of HURRICANE daughters bred on, including York's Convivial Stakes winner Cataclysm (in the image as a foal, by Lord Lyon), who was sold to Hungary where she bred Rajta Rajta (1885), winner of the Österreichisches Derby and other races. The female line continued to the present through HURRICANE'S daughters, Clearwell and Prendergast Stakes winner Atlantis (1867, by Thormanby) and Newmarket Oaks winner Whirlwind (1876, by Kingcraft). The eight-time leading sire in New Zealand, St. Leger (1881, by Doncaster) was a son of Atlantis; the wonderful New Zealand filly Gladsome (1900), two Melbourne Cup winners, the good Argentinian racers Pimiento (1899) and Forli (1963) descend in tail-female from HURRICANE.
Midia's next Wild Dayrell foal was TORNADO (1860), purchased by American Richard Ten Broeck. She won five races in two merciless seasons, including the Newmarket Triennial twice, and was sold at age three to Austria-Hungary. Then came TYPHOON (1861), another of the "tempestuous" fillies from the Midia-Wild Dayrell cross, dropped after Midia was sold to Lord Portsmouth. TYPHOON'S English-bred daughter, Cyclone (1873, by Parmesan), was sold to the U.S., where she produced Withers Stakes winner King Eric (1887) and Cynosure (1886), winner of the Brooklyn Derby. Sold to Australia in 1873, TYPHOON established a tail-female line there that included AJC Metropolitan Stakes winner Nobleman and Perth Cup winner Australian (both by The Australian Peer); Boy Syce (1916), a dual-classic winner in Queensland; Stylis (1941), a winner of the Auckland Cup; and the dual Victorian classic winner Biplane (1914). A branch of her family went to New Zealand early on, and included New Zealand Oaks winner Princess Mellay (1866).
The last Midia-Wild Dayrell foal was BOREAS (later called LYMINGTON), bred by Portsmouth and born in 1865. He won five races, including the Derby Trial Stakes and the Liverpool St. Leger.
Sons to Australia
Several Wild Dayrell sons, in addition to his grandson, Gozo, were sent to Australia, with varying success as stallions.
HORROR (1857), out of Sally, by Ithuriel, was bred by J. Eyke and purchased by Captain Christie, who was raised at Quenly Hall, Leicestershire, where his father, John, kept a well-known hunter stud. Christie, who had served in the Crimea and retired to the life of an amateur sportsman, partnered with the Stanton-based trainer Tom Wadlow, specializing in buying, developing, and racing sprinters, the best of which was Lady Clifden (by Lord Clifden). HORROR, an exception to Christie's "flyers," was third for him in Thormanby's Epsom Derby, and at Ascot won the two mile Ascot Gold Vase and the Royal Stand Plate. He was sold to William Blenkiron and went into his extensive Middle Park Stud at Eltham, Kent, at a fee of 10 guineas, where he proved useless as a stallion and was put up for sale in January of 1864. Purchased by Tattersall, he was imported to Victoria, Australia, in 1866, and not successful there, was sold to Tasmania.
HORROR died in 1878, having left nothing of note, however two Wild Dayrell sons, TREGEAGLE and TALK O' THE HILL, both born in 1865, were sent to Australia several years later and had much better success as stallions there. They were purchased by South Australian William Gerrard's stud groom, Tom Jordan, who had secured Ace of Clubs (by Stockwell) in England for Gerrard in 1866, to replace South Australian (by Cotherstone, imported in 1850), that had died. But Ace of Clubs -- who made a significant contribution to Australian bloodstock through The Ace, Ace of Trumps and other good racehorses and stallions -- died after only three years at stud, and Jordan was dispatched to England once again to replenish Gerrard's Rapid Bay Stud stallion roster. In addition to TREGEAGLE and TALK O' THE HILL, Jordan selected Union Jack (by Ivan, a son of Van Tromp). The stallions arrived at the Rapid Bay stud in 1869, located on a vast amount of acreage that extended from the hills to the sea at Cape Jervis. They were installed in Gerrard's model stables, described in the 1870s as "...a palace compared with the domicile of the men folk, the former being a very substantial stone structure, while the other was built of logs and mortar." Both horses were successful stallions in their isolated South Australian location, but might have been greater had the nacent South Australian racing industry not suffered from lack of support for more than a decade, into the 1870s, when the third South Australian Jockey Club finally established a good racecourse.
TREGEAGLE (1865), from the Kingston daughter, Silverhair (also dam of Derby and St. Leger winner Silvio and Ascot Biennial and Criterion Stakes winner Garterly Bell), was bred by Lord Falmouth at Mereworth, where Silverhair spent her entire stud career. Named after a notorious, crooked Cornish magistrate, he "looked a Wild Dayrell all over, with his rather 'jumped up' shelly frame," and inherited the silvery Kingston coat through his dam. Running for Falmouth, and trained by William Boyce, as a juvenile he won Ascot's Biennial, beating See Saw (by BUCCANEER), second, and five others, including Formosa (by BUCCANEER), that would win four classic races the next year. He also took the Bentinck Memorial at Goodwood, beating The Parson and Formosa, but was badly beaten by the filly Quality in York's Convivial Stakes. His record as a speedy juvenile probably impressed Jordan, but it is likely the additional plus of the Kingston and Silverhair blood drew him to the colt -- by that time, Kingston, a Kingston son out of Silverhair's dam, England's Beauty, sent to New South Wales in 1861, was already making a reputation as a young sire of winners in Victoria.
After his return from England, Jordan established a training stable at Edwardstown, near Morphettville (the first race meeting there was held in September, 1875). He schooled Gerrard's horses and those of another local sportsman, Gabriel Bennett, and several TREGEAGLE offspring won there. Bennett's Impudence (1872, by TREGEAGLE, from Modesty), trained by Jordan, took the first running of the 16 furlong Adelaide Cup in 1876, and also won the Queen's Guineas at that meeting. He also trained Lockleys (by TREGEAGLE, from Zillah), winner of the Adelaide Racing Club's Birthday Cup over 16 furlongs.
Another TREGEAGLE daughter, Device (1874, from Signet), started by Jordan, won a small race over five furlongs as a juvenile and then was sold, "a wreck," "for an old song" to trainer Eden Savile, who was established at Payneham, near Morphetville. Summarily dismissed as a useless, jittery sprinter when she arrived in his barn, Savile carefully schooled her from a hack, gave her turn-outs, swam her in the ocean (of which she "was fond"), and partnered her with "her own little boy" and a cat. Her first race for Savile was the SAJC St. Leger Stakes over 14-1/2 furlongs, which she won by several lengths. Then she won the Accession Handicap over 1-1/2 miles at the ARC, facing a big field, and, the same day, took the 3 mile w.f.a. Queen's Guineas, beating the Melbourne stayer Glenormiston, one of the best in Australia at the time. Unfortunately, the subject of this charming tale left no racing produce of any importance.
TREGEAGLE'S daughter, the grey Lady Kintore (1884, from Solitarie), won the ARC City Handicap over 7 furlongs. TREGEAGLE'S daughter, Princess Alice, produced Rufus (1881, by King of the Ring), a winner of the VRC Derby. Another TREGEAGLE daughter, Burlesque, produced Comedian (1888, by Swiveller), winner of the Launceston Cup and the VRC Bagon Handicap. TREGEAGLE'S daughter Katipo (1879, from the grand colonial mare Pungawherewhere) is a key mare in Colonial Family C-26, from which many good stakes winner descend into the present, including Arena (1995, by Danehill), winner of the VRC Derby and the second best three-year-old of his generation in Australia.
TREGEAGLE'S son, Turquoise (1879, from Topaz) was sent to New Zealand, where he won the 16 furlong Taranaki Cup and the Auckland Racing Club's 14 furlong Easter Handicap; Turquoise's brother, Precious Stone, won the VATC Toorak Handicap in Australia. Other winners by TREGEAGLE included Ironmaster (1879, SAJC Goodwood Handicap), Quintin Matsys (1879, from Pride, MVRC Moonee Valley Cup), and Metal (1881, from Stock Rose, the 24 furlong WATC Queen's Plate). In addition, TREGEAGLE was known for getting superior jumpers and cross-country horses.
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Wild Dayrell's Australian grandson, Tubal Cain
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TREGEAGLE got one good thoroughbred sire son, Tubal Cain (1873, brother to Lockleys). He was sold when Gerrard, discouraged by the lack of racing and reeling from financial loss from over a decade's worth of breeding bloodstock in South Australia, disposed of his entire stud in 1880. Tubal Cain was purchased by Samuel Gardiner and installed at his famous Bundoora Park Stud in Victoria. A "horse of great substance," he died just a few years later, in 1883, from a ruptured bowel. Tubal Cain's best runner was Coriolanus (1878), a winner of the 16 furlong Tattersall's Club Cup and the 24 furlong VRC Champion Stakes.
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Tubal Cain's son, Emir Bey, bred at Bundoora Park Stud, and described as a 16 hand horse with "immense bone and substance," was sold to and raced in New Zealand, winning the Dunedin Maiden Plate and Member's Handicap, the Ashburton R.C. Handicap, the Heathcote Ladies Bracelet, the Canterbury Easter Handicap, the Poverty Bay Spring Handicap and Forced Handicap, and other races. He went to stud in Alexander McLeans' Waikohu Station at Te Karaka, where he was marketed as a racehorse stallion, but also as a sire of cross-country horses, "weight-carrying hacks," and carriage horses. Tubal Cain's son, Precious Stone got some runners, including the brothers Lapstone (TRC Hobart Cup), and Carbonate (WATC All Aged Stakes), and another son, Two of Hearts (1880, from Ace of Hearts) got some serious stayers in Western Australia, including Wandering Willie, winner of the Perth Cup twice and the WATC Queen's Plate over 24 furlongs twice. However, the Tubal Cain sons were the end of the line for TREGEAGLE'S branch of the sire line, but Tubal Cain's daughters carried on.
Tubal Cain's broodmare daughters included Argolis (later named Ouida, 1879, Colonial Family C-11), dam of New Zealand Derby winner Skirmisher; her full sister, Commerce (1880) sent Colonial Family C-11 forward through the twentieth century. Another Tubal Cain broodmare daughter was Ringarooma (out of Darebin's dam, Lurline), dam of the gelded Lieutenant Bill, winner of the Caulfield Cup.
TALK O' THE HILL (1865), was out of Ayacanora (1854, by Birdcatcher), a daughter of the famous Pocahontas. Ayacanora won the Hopeful and Newmarket's Column Stakes, and then went into Queen Victoria's stud at Hampton Court, where she was bred to the best stallions of the day. She produced Chattanooga (1862, by Orlando), a winner of the Criterion Stakes and sire of Wellingtonia, but most of her offspring, though useful in the breeding shed, were not high class runners. TALK O' THE HILL was "a total failure as a racehorse," but Jordan had been instructed by Gerrard to find a stallion that could get hunters to ride in the Adelaide hills, and TALK O' THE HILL was a "magnificent individual, said to be the biggest horse that ever crossed the equator." He stood a full 17 hands, barefoot, with a girth of 7'-2-1/2", with "bone in proportion to his size." It was he, and not the better racehorses, HORROR and TREGEAGLE, that had the most impact of the Wild Dayrell sons sent to Australia. TALK O' THE HILL got many good racehorses that went to Victoria to win, but his best sire son was the unraced Neckersgat. When Gerrard dispersed his stud in 1880, Tom Jordan purchased TALK O' THE HILL, who remained at his Edwardstown stable until his death in December of 1883, lying down and dying in his box, like his sire, of a heart attack.
TALK O' THE HILL'S winners included Gaslight (1871), winner of the VRC Oaks; Hero (1871), who took the VRC Essenden Stakes; Samuel Gardiner's Aldinga (1873), winner of the Adelaide Cup (which he reached from Melbourne by steamer) and the 16 furlong TTC Launceston Cup; Don Carlos (1875), whose wins included the ARC City Handicap (12 furlongs), Lavinia (1878), a winner of the VRC Maribyrnong Plate, and Norma (1882), who won the ARC City Handicap. His handsome son, Pride of the Hills (1873, from Black Gipsy), was one of those superior Wild Dayrell line stayers, whose wins included the SAJC Derby, the 24 furlong VRC Champion Stakes, the 12 furlong AJC Autumn Stakes, the 16 furlong VRC Town Plate, and the 16 furlong AJC Cumberland Stakes. Pride of the Hills was later a modest sire of stayers.
TALK O' THE HILL'S son Rapid Bay (1872, from imported Miss Giraffe, by King Tom), won the VRC Melbourne Stakes and All-Aged Stakes, and the AJC Doncaster Handicap for his owner, Sir Thomas Elder of Morphettville. By all accounts he was a handsome animal, "a beautiful and bloodlike bay with ... just enough white in his face to light up as intelligent a head as ever was put upon a horse." He died two years after retirement to stud, of a heart attack. He left behind the filly Vaucluse (1879) a winner of the VRC Oaks, and a number of good broodmare daughters. |
Wild Dayrell's Australian grandson, Neckersgat
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Neckersgat (1873), a full brother to Rapid Bay, was a big, awkward-looking chestnut colt that looked nothing like his racy brother. He injured himself before racing, and, with his looks and no qualifications, he was shipped off to a Queensland sheep station to sire saddle horses. When Rapid Bay died, Elder had Neckersgat brought back to South Australia, over 1200 miles, and installed in Rapid Bay's stall. He got over twenty winners of significant races, and was among the leading sires for a decade, placing third in 1893-94, and sixth in 1899-1900, not a bad feat for a South Australian stallion.
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Neckersgat's good ones included Dunlop (1882, from imported Etta), winner of the 1887 Melbourne Cup carrying 115 pounds in 3:28-1/2, a world's record for two miles at the time; he was later a moderate stallion. Neckersgat's other winners included the stayer Portsea (1888), winner of the VRC Australian Cup, the VRC Champion Stakes, the VRC Essendon Stakes, and other good races; Tarquin (1894), who took the WATC Derby, the WATC Perth Stakes, the Adeladie cup and other good races; Maddelina (1883), a flyer that won the VRC All Aged Stakes and the Caulfield guineas, among other races, and Newstead, another fast one that took the VRC Maribyrnong Plate and Flying Stakes, and other races. Several of his sons got winners, but none carried on the sire line. His daughters produced a number of stakes winners, and included Lady Mostyn, a winner of the VRC Maribyrnong Plate (5 furlongs), and dam of Lady Wallace (by Wallace), winner of the AJC Derby and Oaks and the VRC Derby and Oaks. Another daughter, Sedition (1882), a winner of the VRC Newmarket Handicap (6 furlongs) was a key mare in Colonial Family C - 21.
More Wild Dayrell Sons in England and France
DUSK (1859), from the Lanercost daughter, Circassian Maid, was bred by the Irish peer Arthur Hill, 4th Marquess Downshire, and raced by Tom Parr. An indisputable stayer, he won a race at age two, and six races as a three-year-old, including the Stamford Cup and Biennial, and Queen's Plates at Ascot, Goodwood, Salisbury and Chester, placing second in Ascot's Royal Stand Plate to the great Tim Whiffler, and third in Bath's Somersetshire Stakes. He did not run after age three. Through daughter, Una, he was dam's sire of Esher, "a fine big upstanding horse with all the Blair Athol power and a degree of quality he plainly inherited from the beautiful Wild Dayrell." Imported into the U.S. and standing at the Kentucky stud of J.N. Camden, Jr., Esher got many winners, including Suburban Handicap winner Alcedo, California Oaks winner Esherine, the good runners Judith Campbell and Moharib. DUSK'S sister, CONTRACTION (1861) produced two daughters in Ireland that established nice tail-female lines: the good Diamond Jubilee offspring, Queen's Advocate (1904) and Elizabetta (1906), Irish Oaks winners Sabine Queen and Queen of Peace, the excellent Pallas Athene (1914), that won in Austria-Hungary, and Irish Two Thousand Guineas winner Arctic Storm (1959) were among the winners descending from CONTRACTION. Another sister, WILD GIRL (1866) also bred on.
INVESTMENT (1859), a bay colt out of Vest, by Cotherstone, raced by James Merry and trained by Mat Dawson at Merry's Russley stables, won Chester's Stewards' Cup in 1862, beating a good field, and a few days later was second to Tim Whiffler in the Chester Cup. GLADSTONE (1860, from Valour by Birdcatcher), who also belonged to James Merry, won Ascot's eight furlong St. James's Palace Stakes at age three.
THE RAKE (1864), out of England's Beauty, by Birdcatcher, was bred at William Blenkiron's Middle Park Stud, and sold to a Mr. Pardoe, and then to Felix Pryor (owner of Friponnier and Cardinal York, among other good horses), who was trainer Joseph Dawson's first client when he moved from Ilsey in Berkshire to Newmarket. By most accounts THE RAKE was a handsome colt. As a juvenile, he won at Northampton "when half-prepared," and at Newmarket Second October easily won the Middle Park Stakes for juveniles by three lengths, beating the outstanding filly Achievements (from whom he received 5 lbs.), Knight of the Garter, The Palmer, and eleven other youngsters, and setting himself up as a front-running contender for the Derby.
Over the winter THE RAKE developed a bog spavin during work, and various eminent veterinarians were called in to deal with it. Then, less than week before the Derby, he broke a blood vessel in training, a few days after another contender, Hermit, who was not favored, had done the same. Jockey Henry Custance, who had been released by Hermit's owner, after the horse bled, to ride the seeming favorite, THE RAKE, was now engaged to ride another bleeder. A few days before the race Custance rode him in a get-acquainted gallop, after which he told Dawson, "Well, of all the Derby horses I have ridden, this is the worst." Dawson assured him that THE RAKE was lazy, and a pair of spurs would make him "a different horse," but on the day of the race "many took exception to the grossness of his [THE RAKE'S] condition, occasioned by the absolute necessity for rest consequent to his untimely mishap." Hermit's connections decided to race him, after all, and Custance had to watch Hermit gallop past him on the way to victory when THE RAKE ran out of gas at Tattenham Corner, running in unplaced.
THE RAKE got some winners, but, poorly patronized at Newmarket, he was sent north to stud, and was never seen in the lists of the top twenty sires in the U.K.; he ended his days at Heather Stud Farm at Landsdown, near Bath, standing at a fee of 15 guineas, with old Rosicrucian as his stablemate. His best runners were Scamp (1871, from Lady Sophie by King Tom), who won the two mile Goodwood Stakes; Constantine (1874, from Fair Agnes by Voltigeur, also the dam of WILD AGGIE), who took the Gimcrack Stakes; Roscius (1876, from Tragedy by Glenmasson), winner of Lincoln's Brocklesby Stakes; and the grey Pepper and Salt (1882, from Oxford Mixture, by Oxford), winner of Ascot's 13 furlong Prince of Wales's Stakes. His best producing daughter was Enigma, the dam of the good three-year-old filly Florence (1880, by Wisdom), winner of the Cambridgeshire Stakes, the Manchester Cup, and the Grosser Preis von Baden.
THE RAKE'S son Pepper and Salt was purchased by the Duke of Westminster, who intended to use him as a sire of carriage horses at his Eaton Stud, but he was offered to thoroughbred mares at a fee of 100 guineas. At Eaton he got Cayenne (1892), a winner of the Criterion Stakes, and his brother, Grey Leg (1891), both out of Quetta, by the Duke's stallion, Bend Or. Grey Leg, a handsome, sturdy animal that looked nothing like Wild Dayrell, was a pretty good racehorse, with twelve wins -- and seven places -- in twenty-eight starts, including Newmarket's Champion Stakes, Epsom's 1-1/4 mile City and Suburban Handicap, and Ascot's Biennial and All-Aged Stakes. In the stud he got Grey Goblin (1901), winner of the Liverpool Spring Cup, Grey Plume (1901, from Gantlet by Galopin), winner of Ascot's 8 furlong Trial Stakes (Queen Anne Stakes), and Senseless (1905), who won the Victoria Cup at Hurst Park and other minor races. Two sons, Bass Rock and Quelpart, became stallions in South Africa. Several of Grey Leg's daughters bred on, with tail-female descendants that included Prince Rose, Airborne, Rheingold, Pall Mall, and other good ones.
Grey Plume, imported into France by the comte de Berteux, got Verwood (1910, from Kildonan by Ladas), sold when age three at the dispersal auction after the count's death in 1913 to Edmond Blanc for 95,000 francs (Berteaux's estate bought back Grey Plume for 80,000 francs). Verwood, who had been beaten by a head by Isard II in the Grand Prix de Deauville, was a useful stallion in France, and the last of any note in THE RAKE'S branch of the sire line. Verwood's offspring included two classic winners -- Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Le Traquet (1918) and Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Mackwiller (1923, later dam of the 1935 One Thousand Guineas winner Mesa, by Kircubbin) -- and Prix Monarque winner Guerriere II and Fürstenberg-Rennen winner Castel Sardo.
Wild Dayrell's son ALLBROOK (1866), bred at the Sledmere Stud in Yorkshire, was from Elizabeth, by Daniel O'Rourke. He was a sprinter whose wins included a 100 guineas match against Lady Beaconsfield over Newmarket's Two Year Old Course (5 furlongs-140 yards) and the 6 furlong Heathcote Plate at Epsom, beating seven others. At that same Epsom meeting in 1870, he was second to Cast Off in the 4 furlong Stamford Plate, beating Belladrum and twelve others in the field. A Wild Dayrell colt born the previous year, WILD BLOOD (1865), from Lucy, by Storm, went in the opposite direction; by age four he was winning two mile hurdle races at Cheltenham and elsewhere, as was HARLLINGTON (1864, from Calot, by Touchstone), whose wins over fences included the two mile West Drayton Open Hurdle.
GUY DAYRELL (1867), out of Reginella, by King Tom, was bred by Lord Falmouth and sold to Sir Charles Legard. At age two he won three races in nine starts: the Two Year Old Stakes at Epsom Spring, the Two Year Old Plate at Newmarket July, and the Stockbridge Cup. beating the older classic winner Formosa and four others. His only other big win was the one mile Lincolnshire Handicap when he was age five. At the Comte de Berteux's Haras de Cheffreville he got a number of foals, but they did not score in any of the principal races in France. His main contribution to the breed was his daughter, Katia (1883, from Keepsake, by Gladiateur), the dam of Prix de Diane winner Kasbah (1892, by Vigilant), who was in turn the dam of the talented Kizil Kourgan, winner of the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, the Prix Lupin, the Prix de Diane, and the Grand Prix de Paris, in the latter beating the great English filly Sceptre. Kizil Kourgan was later the dam of Ksar, who won many races, including the Prix du Jockey Club and the Arc de Triomphe, twice, and was a leading sire in France. GUY DAYRELL'S daughter Sarigue (1881, from Ringdove, by Lord Clifden) became the dam of Derby Belge winner Sambo (1888).
More Racing Daughters
J. Clark, who had a small stud at Marlborough, Wiltshire, a few miles from Hungerford, made use of Wild Dayrell several times with his half-bred mares. His famous Defence mare (Half-Bred Family HB-8), that had won and placed in some small local races produced the beloved Marlbourgh Buck (1848, by Venison), that ran second to Teddington in the Epsom Derby and his brother, Elcot (1849), winner of the Woodcote Stakes and other races, and later a successful hunter sire. In 1858 she dropped ELCOT LASS (later called Dauntless), by Wild Dayrell, a winner of one race. The Hind, a sister to Marlborough Buck was bred to Wild Dayrell, producing SPRINGBOK (1859), who won a hunter's plate, and her brother, IBEX (1860), whose wins on the flat and over fences included the Middlesex Grand Open and the Surrey Open Steeplechase. Another daughter of the Defence mare, Naomi (1851, by Harkaway), produced two Wild Dayrell foals, CONSTANCY (1860), who won three races, including the Salisbury Stakes as a juvenile, and WHITE GAUNTLET (1863), a winner of a small race.
MARGERY (1859, out of Delia, by Dick, also dam of the good horse Cock-a-Hoop), who raced for Tom Parr and a succession of other owners, was a very good winner of country races on the flat and over fences: At age four she won four races, including the Worthing Handicap over a mile, and the South-Eastern Purse over 3/4 miles at Tunbridge, and at age five she won a 1-1/2 mile hurdle race at Barham Downs carrying 10 st-13 lbs. and the Country Cup sweepstakes at Maidstone, over four flights of hurdles in mile heats, as well as three races on the flat at Reigate, Worthing, and Tunbridge. Her last owner, Henry Marsh, for whom she won most of her races, retired her to his Sussex stud, and she later produced Rapture (1869, by Diophantus), whose wins for Marsh included the Glasgow Plate over 7 furlongs at Epsom, and the West Drayton Handicap over a mile. Rapture was later sold to the U.S., where he got some winners.
SATANELLA (1859), bred by Lord Downshire, from Malvoisie, a mare by Bay Middleton that was bred by Lord George Bentinck. SATANELLA was not successful in England, but taken to Ireland by the English invader James Cockin (won both the first and second runnings of the Irish Derby with Selim (1866) and Golden Plover (1867)), she won the Corinthian Stakes at the Curragh, beating three others in three 1-1/2 mile heats. She went to Lord Drogheda's Moore Abbey stud in Co. Kildare, Ireland, where she was a prolific producer. Her best foal was her bay son Philammon (1874, by Solon), a good stayer: at age three he won the Stand Plate at the Curragh and was second in the Irish Derby; at age four he won the Stewards' Plate at the Curragh, the Racing Handicap at Baldoyle, and the Lord Lieutenant's Plate and the Queen's Plate at the Curragh. He took three races at age five, four at age six, including second in the Chester Cup and Liverpool Autumn Cup, and at age seven he won the Liverpool Spring Cup and the Esher Cup at Sandown. SATANELLA also produced Sisyphus (1875, by Outcast), winner of the 4 mile Royal Whip at the Curragh and the 1-1/2 mile Dublin Plate at Baldoyle at age three, and Pelagia (1870, by Solon), winner of the Madrid Handicap at age two, and later dam herself of a Madrid Handicap winner, Prometheus (1879, by Remorse). SATANELLA'S tail-female line bred on in tail-female to the early twentieth century, then died out.
THE FLOWER SAFETY (1860, from Nettle, by Sweetmeat), was bred by Popham, who had purchased her dam -- a promising filly that fell over the chains at the start of the Oaks -- for 430 guineas at the dispersal sale of the horses of the notorious poisoner, William Palmer. She passed through several hands, running ten times at mostly little meets at age three, and winning three: the five-furlong Corporation Purse at Hereford, beating nine others, and at Warwick the 3/4 mile Scurry Handicap, beating two others, and the five furlong Racing Stakes, beating five two and three year olds. She also placed second in the Trial Stakes at Manchester against a slightly higher-class field. Her daughter, Thistle (1875, by Scottish Chief) became the dam of the English Triple Crown winner Common (1888), Ascot New Stakes winner Goldfinch (1889, by Ormonde) -- both later useful stallions -- and the excellent filly Throstle (1891, by Petrarch), winner of the Doncaster St. Leger, the Coronation Stakes and the Nassau Stakes, among other races. THE FLOWER SAFETY'S tail female line bred on through the mid-twentieth century.
MOLLY CAREW (1861, from Alma, by Flatcatcher) was the best of her crop. Running for F. Rowlands as a juvenile she won the Althorpe Park Stakes at Northampton beating sixteen others, the Two Year Old Stakes at Epsom beating twelve (with the French-bred wonder, Fille de l'Air, third), the Grange Park Stakes for juveniles at Winchester beating six, and placed second Fille de l'Air in Epsom's Woodcote Stakes in a field of fifteen, and to Light, by a head, in Bath's Weston Stakes in a field of eighteen. She did not train on well, running fourth in a field of nineteen the Epsom Oaks at age three, won by Fille de l'Air, and unplaced thereafter. Purchased for the Middle Park Stud broodmare band, she was then picked up by the Cobham Stud, and there bred two daughters to the cover of Macaroni that continued her tail-female line, with representatives in Australia, England, Italy, and Chile.
EFFIE (1861, from Phemy, by Touchstone) was another promising Wild Dayrell youngster raced by James Merry that did not train beyond her juvenile year. She won the Castle Park Stakes, beating five others, including Union Jack; was second to "Sister to Wing" in Epsom's Two Year Old Stakes, beating Ackworth and three others, and fourth in Goodwood's Findon Stakes, won by Paris, but she beat future classic winner Tomato, The Doctor, and other good ones in the running. Her tail-female descendants went to Germany, where her grandaughter, Coraline , met the Wild Dayrell blood again in being bred to Kisbér, producing Polly, the dam of two classic winners in Poland.
CANTATA (1862), from Oaks winner Catherine Hayes, by Lanercost won the rich Buckenham Post Stakes at Newmarket October as a juvenile for owner James Merry. She was sold to Germany, where she produced Hymenaeus (1869, by Lord Clifden), who dead-heated for the Deutsches Derby, and Zweitracht (1870, by Camerino), winner of the Preis der Diana and the Fürstenberg-Rennen.
WILD AGNES (1862, from Little Agnes, by The Cure), from the famous Agnes family, was bred by John Osborne at Tupgill, who had had "a strong attachment" for Wild Dayrell blood ever since his son, Robert, had ridden against him in that spectacular pre-Derby trial. Osborne was known for bringing out "ripe two-year-olds" and "as an artist for keeping them on their legs when they were brought out." She won all her juvenile races with the exception of the Convivial at York, her biggest win the Gimcrack Stakes at Doncaster. In the fall, Osborne could not resist the £2,000 offered for her by bookmaker-owner Henry Padwick, and she went to John Kent, who was then training at Dick Drewitt's yard in Lewes, and about mid-way through her three-year-old season she passed into the hands of the Duke of Hamilton. At age three, another Wild Dayrell juvenile that lost a bit of shine after one season, she could not reach the Cookson-bred Regalia in the Epsom Oaks, and came in second by four lengths, with some other really good fillies, such as Siberia and, Araucaria, and White Duck in the field. After her sale to the Duke, she ran third in Ascot's Royal Hunt Cup, beaten by Jasper and Romulus, with twenty-six others in the field.
The Duke sent WILD AGNES to his stud in France in 1868, in foal to Saunterer, and brought her back to England in February of 1875. Her Saunterer filly, Little Agnes (1869) was an outstanding race mare, winning the Grand Poule des Produits, the Prix de l'Empereur, the Prix Lupin, Prix Morny, Prix de Diane, and the Fürstenberg-Rennen. Her English-bred son, Wild Tommy (1873, by King Tom), a big horse and a roarer, was not quite top-class, but was second to Petrarch in the St. Leger and Newmarket's Autumn Handicap, and won some races. WILD AGNES daughters, notably Fair Agnes (1871, by Dollar), bred on in tail-female, to contribute to the Agnes family lustre: the excellent Dorina (1923, by La Farina; winner of Prix de Diane, Grand Criterium, etc.), and the grand Persimmon colt Zinfandel (1900; Jockey Club Gold Cup, Ascot Gold Vase, Coronation Cup, etc.), and the dual-classic winner Crepello (1954, by Donatello) were among her tail-female descendants.
Closely related to WILD AGNES was Wild Dayrell's daughter, WILD AGGIE (1870) who was out of Fair Agnes (by Voltigeur), a half-sister to WILD AGNES. WILD AGGIE produced Park Hill Stakes winner Experiment (1877, by Friponnier), and several daughters that bred on: Two Thousand Guineas winner Handicapper (1898, by Matchmaker), the Deutches Derby winners Schwarzgold (1937, by Alchimist) and Stürmvogel (1932, by Oleander), Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sagace (1980), Epsom Derby winner Slip Anchor (1982), and Preis der Diana winner Sabera and her son, Deutches Derby winner Stuyvesant (1983, by Prismos) all descend in tail-female from WILD AGGIE.
ISCHIA (1863), was a half-sister to the excellent race filly Siberia, out of the Duke of Beaufort's Figtree, by Envoy. Her wins included York's Convivial Stakes (beating Strathconan and Vespasian and two others) at age two, and at age three the Gratwicke Stakes, the Post sweepstakes at Goodwood, and the Newmarket Oaks, and she ran third to Tormentor and Mirella in the Epsom Oaks. She went into the Duke's stud, but did not produce anything of note.
ROMPING GIRL (1864, from Gay, by Melbourne), was, said one turf writer "one of the gamest mares in England." She won five races for her owner-breeder-trainer, John Osborne. Ridden by Osborne, she dead-heated with the grand filly Achievement for second in the Oaks, behind Hippia. The next week at Newton, she beat Mendicant, and then won the Newcastle Cup, beating Strathconan, and was second to Friponnier (winner that year of the Grand Duke Michael Stakes ) at Doncaster. Osborne sold her to Lord Westmorland, and in the fall she was third in the Cesarewitch to Julius and Westwick, in a field of twenty-six. The next year she won the Great Yorkshire Stakes at Doncaster. In Henry Chaplin's stud, she later bred Friar Tuck (1872, by Hermit), a winner of three races at age three, and her female line bred on for a few generations.
MISS DAYRELL (1866), out of Duty, by Rifleman, was a speedster. Her wins at age three included a handicap sweepstakes at Newmarket October over the Two Year Old Course (5 furlongs-140 yards), beating four others, the Shobden Cup, beating eight others, including Plaudit, and the Guy Cup (5 furlongs) at Warwick, with thirteen in the field. Several of her daughters bred on, producing stakes winners, including Bumptious (1888 by Brag), a very fast, big horse that won twelve races, including the Queen's Stand Plate at Ascot, and the Fern Hill Stakes.
NIGHTJAR (1866), out of Swallow, by Cotherstone, a winner of a six furlong handicap plate at Bromley, became the dam of Herald (1872, by Laneret), a winner of forty-two races, including Goodwood's 6 furlong Stewards' Cup at age four. Her daughter by Pero Gomez, Serenata, produced Cyrano, a winner of the Grand Criterium d'Ostende and the Grand Prix Bruxelles.
More Broodmare Daughters
Wild Dayrell's daughter, WOMAN IN RED (first called Jessie Brown, 1857, from Agnes Wickfield by Birdcatcher), was bred by Ralph Etwall's (Wild Dayrell's racing manager) brother, William, and sold to W.G. Craven. In January of 1867 she was sold to France, in foal to the American-bred Optimist (out of Jeannettau by Leviathan); her foal from that breeding, Mars (1867), won the Prix du Printemps, the Prix Satory and the Continental Derby at Gand. As a stallion in France, Mars got the outstanding cross-channel racehorse Jongleur (1874), winner in England of Newmarket's Criterion Stakes and in France of Longchamp's Grand Criterium at age two; of the Prix de l'Empereur (Prix Morny), Prix du Jockey Club and Prix Royal Oak in France and of the Cambridgeshire Stakes in England at age three, and of the Prix Jean Prat and Prix d'Ispahan in France at age four. Mars also got Promethée (1878), a winner of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, and other good winners.
WOMAN IN RED then produced two good colts to the cover of the French stallion Orphelin. The first, another superior French runner, Revigny (1869), won the Grand Criterium as a juvenile, the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and the Prix du Jockey Club at age three, and the Prix du Cadran (4200 meters), Prix Kergorlay at Deauville (3000 meters), and the Prix Biennal (Prix Jean Prat, 3200 meters) at age four. His brother, Montargis (1870) won the Cambridgeshire Stakes in England at age three, and the Prix Kergorlay at age four. Both colts got winners when stallions, notably Montargis, whose daughter Yvandre won the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches in 1884, but neither was a blockbuster sire.
THE ROE (1858, from Chamois by Venison) became the dam of Standard Bearer (1866, by Trumpeter), a winner, and The Cob (1883, by Lord Ronald), born at the Duke of Beaufort's stud when she was age 24. The Cob was a lazy horse that had to be ridden through and past the post; he won the Salisbury Cup and Beaufort Handicap at age three, and would have won the Cesarewitch, but was beaten by the inferior Stoneclink just before the post when his jockey thought the race was won and dropped his hands. He went on to win Epsom's 2-1/2 mile Great Metropolitan Handicap and a Queen's Plate at age four.
THE TWIN (1861, from Trochee, by Venison), a surviving twin, did not race and was first bred at age three. Her son, Anton (1868, by Atherstone), won Goodwood's Stewards Cup in 1871.
Many other Wild Dayrell daughters bred on, with tail-female descendants that had an influence on the breed, for example, an unnamed WILD DAYRELL MARE (1861), out of Lady Lurewell by Hornsea, produced Black Corrie (1879, by Sterling), the second dam of Bay Ronald and his half-sister Black Cherry, dam of dual classic winner Cherry Lass (1902, by Isinglass) and her good siblings. This line of Lady Lurewell has been extremely prolific and successful, full of classic winners, Grand National Steeplechase winners, and important stallions. The WILD DAYRELL MARE'S sister, FASCINATION (1862) was tail-female ancestress of stakes winners through the present, including the excellent French runner Predicateur (1909, by Le Roi Soleil), and the half-siblings Sabette (1950, Alabama Stakes) and Nashua (1952, Belmont and Preakness Stakes, etc.).
--Patricia Erigero |
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