Family B-25: Alfred Mare

This north country family traces back to a mare by Alfred, a son of Matchem. She was half-sister to Wonderful, by Young Matchem, both bred by Mr. Emmerson of Stokesley, Cleveland; Wonderful won eight races, including two King's Plates.

The Alfred mare was listed in Volume II of the GSB, with the appended note (shown below in the descent chart). Over a dozen foals were listed out of her, including Nonpareil (b.c. 1806) by Oberon, a decent north country flat racer, and Makeshift, a winner of a sweep for "horses not thoroughbred at Malton in 1810. However, she was subsequently struck from the GSB, the editors determing that her grandam, a mare by Baboon, could not be proved to be of pure descent: George Baker, of Elmore Hall, Durham, the owner of the famous half-bred Jenny Horner in this family, appended a note in his stud book that the Baboon mare was out of a cart horse mare, and most likely shared this information with the compilers of the stud book. In addition, Baker noted that there was "no certainty" that Young Syphon was thoroughbred. Baker was the son-in-law of Cuthbert Routh ( died 1752), who had a stud at Dimsdale and later at Snape, near Bedale, in Yorkshire, a breeder of a number of famous running horses whose stud book was later published by Prior's father, C.M. Prior; Ms. Prior had access to Baker's stud books, and through them was able to link the two famous runners and stallions, The Lawyer and Snowstorm in the tail-female line.

The Young Syphon mare's offspring were all probably bred by William Shipley of Northallerton, and included Jack Horner, who won three match races; Lady Horner, a winner for "horses not thoroughbred" at York at age three, and placed in the Cocktail Stakes at Richmond, in a race for half-breds at Durham, and in a race at Northallerton; and Jenny Horner, a famous "cocktail" owned and ridden by George Baker. She was winner of a two mile heats race at Penrith at age three, of races for half-breds at Morpeth and Penrith at age four, of a two mile heats race at Dumfries, and the Hunters' Stakes at Northallerton and Lambton Park. She also ran second in a King's Plate at age five, and at age six, a match of 200 guineas at York over 3 miles at age 7, and four other races, including three at age 9.

The branch of this family descending from Slammerkin, leading to The Lawyer, was largely developed in the Sledmere (Yorkshire) stud of the Sykes family, where Richard Sykes (1706-61) bred hunters, followed by Sir Mark Masterman-Sykes, who founded the racehorse stud, carried on by Sir Tatton Sykes, who inherited in 1823 and expanded it to 320 head of stock, many of which useless on the turf. Sir Tatton's eldest son, also Sir Tatton dispersed the large stud of his father in 1863, with the exception of a few mares, and rebuilt the stud with high-class horses, from which a number of classic winners and influential breeding stock emerged -- Doncaster (1873, Derby), Mimi (1891, Oaks), Disraeli (1898, 2,000 Guineas, Spearmint (1906, Derby) were just some of the great winners bred at Sledmere, but in addition to runners, the Sykes stud produced hunters used by all the masters of Sledmere. Golumpus was the first sire the first Sir Tatton Sykes ever used.

Notable Descendants