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(Morris') Eclipse
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The handsome Eclipse, a speedy winner in England, was an underutilized stallion in the U.S., arriving just as the Civil War was breaking over the states, and standing most of his life in New York and New Jersey, where his access to high-bred mares was limited. Despite this, he had an enormous impact on American racing and breeding; the owners of his precocious youngsters instigated the popularity of juvenile racing in the U.S., and his daughters and his important son, ALARM, perpetuated speed and precocity in their progeny.
His sire, Orlando (1841, by Touchstone), was a good-looking, fast runner that won good races as a juvenile and at three took Newmarket's Riddlesworth Stakes (generally a test of speed) and was the default winner of the Epsom Derby, embroiled in the "Running Rein Scandal." Orlando's dam, Vulture (by Langar), had the reputation as the fastest filly on the turf during her two seasons and fifteen wins, and both Orlando's and Eclipse's speed have been attributed to her.
Orlando was first a stallion for his owner, General Jonathan Peel, and at Peel's stud dispersal in 1851, was purchased by Charles Fulke Greville, a long-time turf fixture and racing confidant of many prominent racehorse owners. Greville leased paddocks at Bushey Park, next to Hampton Court, and when those properties were repaired and replenished with thoroughred mares by the Royal Stud in 1849-50, Orlando became the premier stallion. An undeniable source of speed, he was leading sire three times in England, and second or third seven times. His yearlings bred by Greville were offered annually at the Hampton Court sales, and that is where Eclipse was purchased in 1856 by Henry Padwick.
Eclipse's dam, Gaze (1842, by the great Bay Middleton), was the unraced sister of Gaper, a winner of Newmarket's Criterion Stakes; their dam, Flycatcher, was a half-sister to Two Thousand Guineas winner Ibrahim, and Oaks winner The Princess.
Eclipse was a "rich" bay, with dappled quarters and a small star on his forehead, white socks on his left front and right hind, and a dash of white on his left hind heel. He stood 16 hands when grown, and weighed about 1150 pounds. Turf writers in both England and the U.S. described him as "particularly" good looking. "He has a good head and ear; fine eyes, great width in the throttle, strong good neck well arched, running into a beautiful, broad and strong well laid shoulder blade. He has a short strong back, good quarters and beautiful hips; a good barrell, capacious and well ribbed home." His faults were recounted as a "deficiency of bone below the knee and a narrowness across his loin, deficiencies which he has not imparted to any of his get that have fallen under our observation..." (in 1866). The American trainer A.J. Miner, who spent a few years in England, said Eclipse was "probably the fastest horse I ever saw." His temperament was not the best, and a story, perhaps apocryphal, recounts that during his last years grooms, "careful to keep their distance," shoved his oats and hay into his box "at long range."
Henry Padwick was a London money-lender who lived at Berkeley Square. He began racing in 1849, buying yearlings that he sent to trainer John Day at Danesbury; he had moderate success, probably his best the filly Virago, a winner of the One Thousand Guineas, Doncaster Cup and many other good races. In 1853 he bought property and built "excellent stabling" at Findon, and it was to Findon and John Day that Eclipse was sent after his purchase in 1856.
Eclipse on the Turf
Eclipse debuted in Doncaster's Champagne Stakes in August of his juvenile year (won by the filly Gildermire), where he ran poorly, so poorly, in fact, that in his second and final race of the year, Newmarket's Clearwell Stakes, Padwick did not bother to place any bets on him. But he won the Clearwell easily, beating nine other youngsters: "his two performances are of so widely different a character, that it would be absurd, after the clever style in which the horse won today, to deny Eclipse the possession of racing capabilities although, as we remarked at Doncaster, he is by no means a prepossessing Derby horse to the eye, there is no knowing what time (which he sadly requires) may do for him."
At age three he won four of his eight starts (including a dead-heat and a forfeit). He won Newmarket's Hampton Court Sales Stakes (ten furlongs), beating Telegram and Eurydice, and then ran a dead heat with Beadsman in the Newmarket Stakes (ten furlongs), dividing the stakes. He was certainly in contention for the Derby but at Epsom he was fourth to Beadsman in a field of twenty-three in the Derby. At Ascot he beat Two Thousand Guineas winner FitzRoland in the Biennial Stakes, with the future St. Leger winner Sunbeam and four others in the field. In the Stockbridge Derby FitzRoland was the winner, with Eclipse placing third. He ran sixth in the Doncaster St. Leger, after being near the front until the home stretch; it was won by Sunbeam.
After the St. Leger Eclipse was purchased from Padwick by American Richard Ten Broeck. Ten Broeck, backed in part by New York breeder Francis Morris, had been in England since 1856 with a small string of American-bred race horses, intent on challenging English horses in the world's most noted races. His mare Prioress had won the Cesarewitch at Newmarket the previous fall, the first American-bred to win an English race, and in 1858 she won the Great Yorkshire Handicap and ran second in the Cesarewitch. Ten Broeck also successfully raced the American-bred horses Starke (Goodwood Cup), Optimist (Brighton Stakes, Ascot Stakes, Bentinck Memorial Stakes), and Umpire (Goodwood Nursery Stakes and matches) in England in these years. Ten Broeck also purchased about a half-dozen English-breds to race while in England. One of these was the Simoom mare, Barbarity (1854), who had won eight races at age three, and six at age four. Barbarity's last two races -- which she won -- in England were at Newmarket Houghton in 1858: a 200 sovereign match over the Ditch Mile at Newmarket against a filly owned by Lord Glasgow, and a 100 sovereign match against Count Batthany's Olympus, in which the owners -- Richard Ten Broeck (Barbarity) and the Count (Olympus), rode their own horses.
Eclipse (carrying 105 lbs.) raced unplaced in the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket, won by Eurydice (carrying 77 lbs.), and then received a forfeit in a scheduled match with Beadsman, his last "race" that season and of his career. He remained in England, but had "gone wrong," and could not stand up to further training.
On July 18, 1859, Ten Broeck shipped Eclipse and the mare Barbarity, and several other horses to Montreal, Canada, and from there to New York, where they arrived on August 10. Barbarity and Eclipse were taken to the farm of Ten Broeck's partner, Francis Morris, at Throgg's Neck, Westchester County, New York.
Morris, one of the founders of Jerome Park race course, was a largely silent partner with, and principal financial backer of, Ten Broeck in the English venture to showcase American thoroughbred breeding. He inherited the Throgg's Neck property from his father. He was the owner of a steamship line that carried mail on a lucrative governent contract from New York to San Francisco via the Panama isthmus, and after the Civil War invested in large properties in Texas. Morris also invested in and served as president of the American Telegraph Company. His son, John, who spent several seasons with Ten Broeck in England, established three separate breeding farms, and in 1889 built the Morris Park race course -- where the "Eclipse Course" was named in honor of his father's famous stallion -- in Westchester County for $1.2 million. The next generation of Morris sons eventually lost interest in the horses, and the last of the bloodstock was dispersed in 1902.
Eclipse in the Stud
Although known, in his own time and now, as a source of speed, the sire of many precocious juvenile winners, Eclipse also got winners of high class middle distance races and some good stayers. Because they were precocious and came early to hand, they were, said one contemporary turf commentator, "often raced off their legs before their fourth year." Eclipse was a filly-getter; overall, his daughters far outstripped his sons as race horses -- between 1866 and 1871 his fillies dominated the great U.S. stakes for two and three year olds. His one truly good running son, ALARM, established a substantial sire line in the U.S. ALARM'S grandson Domino is known world-wide as a speed source. In all, Eclipse got 116 starters of 160 races that won $129,978 between 1864 and 1884, when his last foal was seen on the turf.
While he could never break through Lexington's hold as premier sire during the '60s and '70s, Eclipse was twice second to him on the leading sires list, and twice third. Lexington had access to the many thoroughbred mares on farms in Kentucky, including those relocated from the south during and after the Civil War, but Eclipse, in "the East," did not have access anywhere near as large a pool of thoroughbred mares (excepting 1861-62, when he was in Lexington, Kentucky), where racing and breeding had substantially declined from the heady days of the 1830s. As a stallion Eclipse was annually moved from place to place for some years, often covering mares of unproven ancestry (many since categorized in the "American Family" section of the Family Tables), and seeing few imported mares, because importations were limited in the previous twenty years. In 1866 he was finally settled at Throgg's Neck as a virtual private stallion for Morris, with his small broodmare band. He died there in the summer of 1878 at age twenty-three. Despite these handicaps, his influence was enormous; his blood "acted like an electric current." His offspring were the first to cement two year old racing as a staple in America, and his descendants were known for years as the "speediest strain" in the country.
His first season, 1860, he stood at Long Island's Fashion race course for $50. After that he spent the two seasons at Major Barak Thomas' Dixiana farm in Kentucky, but Thomas was a secessionist, and left Kentucky in 1862, and Eclipse was sent back to New York. In 1864 he spent a season at Adolph Mailliard's Bordentown, New Jersey, farm at a fee of $75. Mailliard, who would decamp to California in 1870, with some Eclipse offspring, including MAYFLOWER -- that would lead to such celebrities as the stallion Joe Hooker and his famous daughter Yo Tambien -- was a close friend to both Ten Broeck and Francis Morris. The next season, 1865, Eclipse, at a fee of $100, was at the Holmdel, New Jersey, stud of Charles F. Lloyd, who would breed Eclipse's fine coal black daughter NEMESIS, later a successful broodmare. The next season, 1866, he was at Morris' Throgg's Neck stud, where he served until his death. It is not clear when Morris assumed complete ownership of Eclipse, but by then he and Ten Broeck had had a falling-out, and later there were lawsuits.
According to contemporary observers, Eclipse offspring, from their training days on "exhibited...a remarkable degree of speed and mettle." One early 20th century commentator noted: "Although Eclipse was never favored in location or in opportunities from the day he landed until his death, he certainly succeeded in making a strong impression on our racing blood, and we do not know of a strain which is more deserving of perpetration, for wherever we find the blood of Eclipse, we find speed as its accompaniment, and all experience has proved speed is the first and greatest attribute of the race horse."
It was apparent from his first crop of 1861 that Eclipse got fast youngsters. The best in this debut group was LADY BLESSINGTON (1861, from Philo, by Mariner). She was bred by W.H. Gibbons, and trained and raced by Virginian Col. David McDaniel, who would later move to New Jersey, establish the Secaucus race course, and own and train the champions Harry Bassett and Springbok, among other top horses. LADY BLESSINGTON was a very fast filly that moved "as if on the wings of the wind," winning two one-mile races at age three at Broad Rock, Virginia, one -- her debut -- worth $1,000, and the other a $2,500 subscription with an added $2,500, and a three mile race worth $30,000, a huge amount that temporarily made her the the highest earning horse in the country.
Sold to August Belmont as a broodmare, LADY BLESSINGTON became his Nursery Stud's best producer. Her foals included Lady Rosebery (1878, by Kingfisher), a winner of Jerome Park's Champagne Stakes, and her sister Duchess (1881, by Kingfisher). Duchess took Monmouth Park's Sapling Stakes as a juvenile, and at age three her wins included Monmouth Park's West End Hotel Stakes (1-1/2 miles), the Monmouth Oaks, and the Jerome Park Ladies Stakes (1-1/2 miles). Countess, LADY BLESSINGTON'S 1871 daughter, considered the best-looking foal ever got by her sire, Kentucky, won Baltimore's Two Year Old Sweepstakes (3/4 mile); at three she won over 3/4 mile at Jerome Park, beating Harry Bassett and other good ones, and was among the very top, placing second to REGARDLESS in the Monmouth Oaks and in Saratoga's Alabama Stakes, and second to Bonaventure in Jerome Park's Ladies' Stakes. At age four Countess won six races, mostly over a mile, but one --the Maturity Stakes -- was over three miles.
LADY BLESSINGTON also produced the good winners Lord Byron, Count D'Orsay (winner of Saratoga's Two Year Old Stakes and at three well-placed, but always running against Tom Bowling and Springbok), and Fairwater (by imp. The Ill-Used). Of her daughters, Duchess became the dam of the co-champion three-year-old Clifford (1890, by Bramble), winner of Gravesend's Second Special, Lexington's Phoenix Hotel Stakes, and second in the Brooklyn Handicap (then at Gravesend). Her daughter Fairwater's line continued for several generations.
LADY BLESSINGTON'S daughter Lady Rosebery, like her dam, was an excellent producer; her daughters included Lady Violet (1890, by The Ill-Used), a winner of Sheepshead Bay's Flatbush Stakes and Great Eastern Handicap at age two, and later dam of Preakness Stakes winner Watervale (1908) and second dam of Bramble and Vulcain (1916), who won in France. Lady Rosebery's line continues to this day and includes such winners as Amour Drake, a winnner of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Ascot's Coronation Cup, and Al Nasr (1978), a winner of numerous good races in France.
YOUNG ECLIPSE (1861), was the first foal out of Morris' imported Simoom mare, Barbarity. She would go on to produce a series of high-class fillies to the cover of Eclipse, that came to be referred to as the "Barbarous Battalion" by turf writer Charles J. Foster, a name that has stuck to this day. YOUNG ECLIPSE was purchased by Adolph Mailliard of Bordentown, New Jersey, and taken to California, along with the stallion Monday and the Tennessee-bred Hennie Farrow, that would become a terrific California matron. They were settled at Mailliard's new property, Rancho San Geronimo in Marin County. YOUNG ECLIPSE won several prizes as best stallion at the state's agricultural fairs. He was the first cover on Hennie Farrow as sire of the great "queen of the turf" Mollie McCarty, but Monday, as second cover and from contemporary commentary, was Mollie's more likely sire. YOUNG ECLIPSE did get Balinette, a California thoroughbred broodmare and the dam of Alta (1882, by Norfolk), a winner of Washington Park's (Chicago) Sheridan Stakes, and of San Juan (1888, by Norfolk), who took Monmouth Park's Stevens Stakes. He was also used as a sire of trotting horses.
Another 1861 colt, THROG'S NECK JR. (out of Fidelity, by Glencoe), bred and raced by Morris, was competitive at age three, winning the Three Year Old Autumn Sweepstakes on the Secaucus course at Hoboken, New Jersey, and another one mile race worth $200 at the same meeting, and running third in the Travers Stakes and the Underwood Gift weight-for-age stakes at Paterson, New Jersey. At age four he won four races on various New Jersey courses, including a two mile race and a couple over a mile.
NELLIE GRAVES (out of Esta, by Bolivar) was another good one in Eclipse's 1861 crop. At age three she won the Three Year Old Sweepstakes at Centreville, Long Island (one mile) and a $200 purse over 1-1/2 miles over the Secaucus course at Hoboken, placed second in Paterson Autumn meeting's (Passaic County, New Jersey) Sequel Stakes (two miles) and a sweepstakes at Secaucus, and was third in the Jersey St. Leger at Paterson. At age four she won a $200 1-1/2 mile purse at Secaucus and a $300 selling purse over 2-1/2 miles, also at Secaucus. Eclipse's daughter PATTI (1861, from Pasta, by Recluse), bred by New Jersey horseman James Watson, won a $300 purse over 1-1/2 miles at Saratoga and placed second several times at Saratoga and Passaic, New Jersey.
The most notable Eclipse in the 1862 crop was CAMBRIST (also called DERBY) out of the Glencoe mare Lady Taylor, bred by Major B.G. Thomas, who stood Eclipse for two seasons -- 1861-62 -- at his Lexington, Kentucky, farm. Thomas bred Hira and her son, the brilliant Himyar (by Eclipse's son ALARM). CAMBRIST -- who went south with his breeder when the Civil War escalated -- raced at the LaClede course in St. Louis, Missouri. There he won over both 3/4 of a mile and a mile in sweepstakes for juveniles, and at age three took three sweepstakes for three-year-olds over a mile.
Another 1862 foal out of a Glencoe mare (Mildred) was NORA WORTH, who became a broodmare for James and Thomas Summer of Gelson, Knox Co., Illinois, where she bred a series of winners to the cover of their stallion, West Roxbury (a son of imp. Balrownie). Almost all her foals were winners, mostly over a mile in "the west," in this case, Illinois, Nebraska, Oklahoma, including her daughters Rocket ($350 mile heats purse Galesburg, Illinois), Mollie Jones ($700 two mile heats at Galesburg), and sons Startle, Trumps, Renown, and Force (set a U.S. record over 7/8 mile at Louisville, Kentucky).
1863 Eclipse foals of note included EVANGELINE (from Prunella, by Glencoe), a winner of a juvenile sweepstakes over a mile at the Laclede course at St. Louis, LITTLE MACK (out of Weatherwitch by Weatherbit), and ECLIPSA (out of Avis, by Sovereign). ECLIPSA, in the Edgewater Stud (Kentucky) of T.J. Megibben produced some high class winners, including Clipsetta (1880, by Springbok), a top juvenile that won the Louisville Ladies Stakes (5 furlongs, beat eleven over 1-1/2 miles), the Louisville Tennessee Stakes (3/4 miles, beat seven by two lengths), and the Coquette Stakes at St. Louis (3/4 miles, beat eight), and Cassius Clay, a gelding by Wanderer that won some races in Kentucky. Clipsetta died in training, but her sister Clipsa (1879), bred on; the good California runner and stallion Imbros (1950) was one of her tail-female descendants.
LITTLE MACK'S dam, Weatherwitch, was one of a group of mares brought to the U.S. in 1859-60 by the Kentucky Importing Company, a syndicate that sent representataives to England to select yearling fillies as breeding stock to augment the post-war U.S. broodmare bands. LITTLE MACK was a flat-out stayer that first ran in the midwest, taking four races at age three, including a sweepstakes for three-year-olds (mile heats) at Chillicothe, Ohio, and two other races over two miles at the same place, and a 1-1/3 mile race at Cincinnati. At ages four and five he won thirteen races, including the Memphis Post Stakes (3 mile straight heats).
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Ruthless
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RUTHLESS, the first, and best, of the "Barbarous Battalion" from imported Barbarity (by Simoom) was born at Morris' stud in 1864. Racing in the Morris colors, she took two of her four races as a juvenile, including the inagural running of Jerome Park's one mile Nursery Stakes, and at three took five of her seven starts, placing second twice. Her wins included the Travers Stakes, Saratoga's Sequel Stakes (1-3/4 miles), and the inaugural running of the Belmont Stakes, one of the few fillies to date to win that classic race. She produced Battle Axe (1871, by Monday), a winner of Saratoga's Kentucky Stakes at age two. Mistakenly shot by a hunter, she died from her injuries a few days later at an early age.
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Another 1864 Eclipse colt, EGOTIST (out of Vanity, by Revenue), won some local races at Paterson and Hoboken in New Jersey.
The 1865 Eclipse crop included several good runners. RELENTLESS (from Barbarity) started and won just once for Morris, the Saratoga Stakes at age two. Charles F. Lloyd's coal black filly NEMESIS (out of Echo, by Lexington), who did not start as a juvenile, won races at ages three and four -- including a $500 purse 1-1/4 mile race for all ages, a $530 purse 1-1/8 mile race for fillies within two weeks, and three weeks later a 1-1/4 mile $500 race for all ages in 2:12, one of the fastest times recorded at Jerome Park -- but her best races were when she ran second to General Duke in a 1-1/4 mile handicap at Jerome Park, beating Metaire, Tasmania, Hira, La Polka, and other good ones, and also her second place in the 2-1/4 mile Grand National Handicap of 1869 to La Polka, with Legatee, Metarie, General Duke and other good ones behind her. NEMESIS was later the dam of the champion black sprinter Rhadamanthus (1872, imp. by Leamington), that took the $4,000 Grand Stakes at Saratoga as a juvenile for August Belmont, and at ages three through five became a specialist in 3/4 to one mile races, winning in New Jersey and New York for George Longstaff and later the Dwyer brothers. NEMESIS also produced Eachus (1882, by Reform), a winner of Jerome Park's Champagne Stakes at age two, and two daughters that bred on -- Wyandotte (1878, by Lexington, winner of Jerome Park's Welter Cup handicap sweepstakes at 3/4 of a mile and a purse in three mile heats at Lynchburg, Virginia), and the unraced Retribution (1880, by Reform), the latter dam of Futurity and Lawrence Realization winner Requital (1893, by Eothen) and the speedy winners Sir William, Contribution, and Nick. NEMESIS' sister NAPHTHA (1868) was the dam of Golden Gate ( a dam of winners), and Explosion (1878), a winner at Baltimore and Jerome Park, who produced Pierre Lorillard's champion three-year-old filly, Dewdrop (1883, by Falsetto) and Daruna, a winner of St. Louis' Merchants' Eclipse Stakes and other races.
Another 1865 foal, BOASTER (from Vanity, by Revenue and so brother to EGOTIST) ran through age five, and took several races at Jerome Park and Saratoga, but his best was probably a second place in Saratoga's Travers Stakes at age three. Eclipse's 1865 daughter FANNY LUDLOW (also called SUE MORRISSEY, out of Mollie Jackson by Vandal) was bred by Morris. Her dam, Mollie Jackson, was a top race horse that established a record for three mile heats; Mollie Jackson was also the dam of the stallion Monday. FANNY LUDLOW won mostly at the selling level at distances between 3/4 miles and 1-1/4 miles. Purchased out of a selling race at Saratoga by James Conlisk for $2,000, she went on to establish a record of 1:56 over 1-1/8 mile that held for many years. At Pierre Lorillard's Rancocas stud she produced a number of winners, including Cedric, Choctaw, and the high-class Cholula, but is known for her daughter Jamaica (1871, by Lexington), who produced James Keene's great horse Foxhall (1878, by King Alfonso), winner for Keene of the Grand Prix de Paris in France, and the Cesarewitch-Cambridgeshire Handicaps double in England. Jamaica's daughters were good producers, and one, American Girl (1881), established a long-lived female line.
The 1866 Eclipse crop included an unnamed Eclipse filly out of a mare called Slasher-Barbarity (a daughter of Barbarity). This Eclipse daughter ran a dead-heat with Oakleaf in Saratoga's Two-Year-Old Stakes, but was second in the run-off. This filly had a brother, the gelded ST. PATRICK (1869) that won the Saratoga Stakes for juveniles for Morris.
The star of this crop was NARRAGANSETT, a beautiful ("this colt pleases everybody by his fine form and racing-like appearance") brown colt bred by Morris from Jessie Dixon, by Arlington, who "never met a horse that could extend him." He ran for the Dennison and Crawford Stable, trained by Thomas Puryear, coming out in his first race at Saratoga over 1-1/4 miles for all ages, and beating Cottrill and others. In 1869 he took Saratoga's Sequel Stakes (2 miles) and the Excelsior Stakes. He came unbeaten to to the Westchester Cup at Jerome Park at age four, but in a trial the day before the race he pulled up lame, and that was the end of his career. He went to stud at E.A. Clabaugh's Cloverbrook Farm in Carroll County, Maryland, where he had limited opporunities, but was generally considered successful as a sire, getting Palmetto, a juvenile winner at Saratoga (died at age four), Pastor, a winner of Monmouth Park's Hopeful Stakes, and Kingsland, a winner of Monmouth Park's August Stakes, Budha, and some daughters that bred on.
ECLIPTIC (out of the great mare Nina, by Boston), MIDDAY (from Ninette, by Revenue), and REMORSELESS (out of Barbarity) were all good winners in the 1867 Eclipse crop. REMORSELESS, a chestnut with white face and legs, was the champion juvenile of her year, winning Jerome Park's Nursery Stakes, the Saratoga Stakes and Flash Stakes at Saratoga and two other races. At three she took Jerome Park's Hunter Stakes (1-3/4 miles) and a sweepstakes also at Jerome Park, and ran second in the Kenner Stakes.
ECLIPTIC, a half sister to the noted runner and stallion Planet and to Belmont Stakes winner Algerine, ran for her owner-breeder Major Thomas Doswell of Virginia. She won Monmouth Park's Mansion House Stakes (2 miles) at three, and later produced a Leamington filly, Sunbeam (1873) that won in Maryland. Her tail-female descendants include Belmont Stakes winner One Count (1949), and more recently the Storm Bird stakes-winning daughter, Storm Star (1983). MIDDAY, another filly with a turn of speed, also bred and raced by Doswell, ran through age five, winning races at Jerome Park and Monmouth, including the Long Branch Stakes (all ages) at Monmouth Park (2 miles) in 1872.
Others born in 1867 included Francis Morris' "neat looking" CAVALIER (out of Etiquette, by Mariner), who ran at and won at the selling level, and later briefly served as a stallion at Morris' farm. SCATHELOCK (out of the tiny good race mare Fanny Washington, by Revenue), also in this crop and bred by Major Doswell, ran largely unsuccessfully and was later a stallion for R.J. Hancock of Ellerslie Stud in Virginia. Scathelock was the sire of some good broodmares, including Lizzie Hazlewood, the dam of Preakness Stakes winner Knight of Ellerslie (later sire of one of America's greats, Henry of Navarre).
Also in the 1867 crop were MAYFLOWER (out of Hennie Farrow, by Shamrock) and FELICITY (from Fidelity, by Glencoe). FELICITY ran and placed at Saratoga at age three, and later produced the champion juvenile filly Faithless (1879, by Leamington), a winner of Jerome Park's Juvenile Stakes, Saratoga's Flash Stakes, and Monmouth Park's Thespian Stakes. MAYFLOWER and her dam Hennie Farrow were purchased by Adolph Mailliard and taken by him to California, along with the stallions YOUNG ECLIPSE, Monday and several other horses. At Mailliard's Rancho San Geronimo she dropped Joe Hooker (1872), a recalcitrant racehorse that was purchased by Theodore Winters, and at his Rancho del Arroyo stud got Yo Tambien, one of the best race mares in American history, American Derby winner C.H. Todd, and some top California racehorses.
In addition to NAPHTHA, another good Eclipse matron born in 1868 was MISS NELLIE (1868), out of Laura Farris, by Lexington, a half-sister to Mollie Jackson, the dam of Monday and FANNY LUDLOW. Bred at Morris' stud, MISS NELLIE was used as a hack and driven to harness until 1884, when she was bred to King Ernest, and the next year produced Nell, that was second dam of the Kentucky Derby winner Stone Street (1905).
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Alarm
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Eclipse's most significant offspring was the brilliant ALARM (1869), undefeated at age three, and as a source of great speed, an exceptional stallion whose fast son Himyar (1875) got two sons -- the great Domino and Plaudit -- whose tail-male lines are still successful in the U.S. ALARM'S dam was the Stockwell daughter, Maud (1859), brought to the U.S. in 1859-60 by the Kentucky Importing Company. She also produced one of August Belmont's important broodmares, Attraction, and Maudina, the latter dam of Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Cloverbrook. A bright bay, ALARM stood a "robust" 15.3 hands, with excellent legs and feet and a good temperament.
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The other good Eclipse racing foal of 1869 was MIMI (out of Hennie Farrow), a sister to MAYFLOWER. MIMI stood 16 hands, "deep through the heart, high behind, and with the travelling tackle well arranged." At two she won Monmouth Park's Thespian Stakes, and at three placed in a 1-1/8 mile free handicap at Saratoga, in Jerome Park's Ladies Stakes, and Jerome Park's Hunter Stakes. She was later the dam of Kinglike (1880, by King Ernest), whose wins included Jerome Park's Nursery Stakes (3/4 mile) and Monmouth Park's Omnibus Stakes; Stately (1886, by King Ernest), another winner of Jerome Park's Nursery Stakes, and Copyright (1889, by Uncas), whose wins included Saratoga's United States Hotel Stakes (1-1/2 miles) and Canada's Toronto Cup. MIMI and MAYFLOWER'S sister, ELECTRA (1871) was an important broodmare that produced the stakes winner Hidalgo (1882 by Joe Daniels), later dam's sire of Spinaway Stakes winner Julia Powell; Fitz James (1885, by Kyrle Daly), a winner of Monmouth Park's Sapling Stakes; and several daughters that bred on, including Marian (1880 by Hubbard), the dam of Travers Stakes winner Sir John (1887 by Sir Modred). The fine California stakes winners B Thoughtful (1975) and Hollywood Glitter (1984) descended from ELECTRA.
The stand-out Eclipse foal of 1870 was CATESBY (from Katie by Two Bitts). His dam, Katie, was a "weedy-looking thing broken to harness" and was traded for a yoke of oxen -- after she broke several sets of harnesses and wagon tongues, she was sent to Morris' farm to be bred to Eclipse. Although "gawky" and "angular," at age two CATESBY won Pimlico's Central Stakes and the Saratoga Stakes, beating Springbok and other good ones, and placed in Jerome Park's Nursery Stakes and Saratoga's Kentucky Stakes. At three, he did nothing, but at age four he took Jerome Park's Maturity Stakes (for four-year-olds) and another 1-3/4 mile race for all ages at Saratoga and a $500 selling race over 1-1/4 miles at Saratoga, beating eight. He retired as a stallion to Governor Oden Bowie's Fairview Stud in Carroll County, Maryland, where, from limited opportunities and a stud career cut short by his early death, he got Crickmore (1878, out of Belle Meade by Jack Malone), a winner of Pimlico's Dixie Stakes (2 miles) and the one-mile Withers Stakes at Jerome Park, the winner Compensation, and Cinderella (1877), the dam of Herald (1889 by Kyrle Daly).
MEGARA (1870, from Ulrica by Lexington) and QUITS (out of Columbia, by Glencoe) were two good broodmares from the 1870 crop. QUITS ran for Hunter and Travers through age four; she won a $400 all age purse at New Orleans, a Consolation Handicap at Prospect Park (1-1/2 miles), a selling purse over 1-1/2 miles at Monmouth Park, and a $400 purse for all ages over 3/4 of a mile, beating nine and carrying the highest weight, at the Boston Mystic Park Association meeting. She was second dam of Pierre Lorillard's gelded Democrat (1897, by Sensation), who was sent to England to race and was the top juvenile there, winning Doncaster's Champagne Stakes, the Dewhurst Stakes, the Middle Park Plate, and other good races.
MEGARA, a half-sister to Kentucky Derby winner Ben Ali, produced the U.S. champion juvenile filly, Spinaway (1878, by Leamington), whose wins included Jerome Park's Juvenile Stakes. Spinaway, retired early after bruising a hoof, established a successful female line that included the great Belmont Stakes-winning filly Tanya (1902), 1921 Preakness Stakes winner Broomspun, and more recent stakes winners. MEGARA was also the dam of several minor winners, and La Belle N., a winner of 27 races in Minnesota, Chicago, and elsewhere in the midwest, and later dam of La Joya, a high-class filly that beat Henry of Navarre in Lexington's Melbourne Stakes, and won six other races at ages two and three. MEGARA also produced Fenelon (1884, by Reform), who won Canada's Toronto Cup in 1892 for Travers, and thirty other races through age nine, and was later a useful stallion.
The 1871 crop featured yet another Babarity filly bred and owned by Morris, REGARDLESS, the co-champion U.S. three-year-old filly of 1874, whose wins that year included the one mile Monmouth Oaks (beating five) and Saratoga's Alabama Stakes (beating six). At two she had taken Saratoga's Flash Stakes over a half-mile. She later produced Plevna (1876 by Warminster), a good juvenile winner of Jerome Park's Juveniles Stakes and Jerome Park's Homebred Produce Stakes. Morris' 1872 Eclipse filly, SWEET LIPS (out of Prophetess, a daughter of Barbarity, by Prophet) won Monmouth Park's 3/4 mile Thespian Stakes as a juvenile, beating seven, including Aristides, was second in Monmouth Park's July Stakes, and placed third in Longbranch's August Stakes to Chesapeake and Lizzie R (seven ran).
MERCILESS (from Barbarity) , the last of the "Barbarous Battalion" to make a mark in racing, was the superior Eclipse foal of 1873. Racing for Pierre Lorillard, she won $3,500 for him at age three, including Saratoga's Alabama Stakes, and placed second in several races, including Jerome Park's Ladies Stakes, but the best she could do in the Withers Stakes was run third. Her line continued through her in-bred daughter Black Annie (1887, by RUTHLESS' son Battle Axe) with modest winners through the present. OSSEO (1873, from Oleata, by Lexington), who raced for Thomas Doswell, won some races, including the Cottrill Stakes at the New Orleans Fairgrounds race course. HILDA (1873, out of Jessie Dixon, by Arlington, and so sister to NARRAGANSETT), also in this crop, was a "large mare of fine appearance;" she became a broodmare in the Lorillard Rancocas Stud, and was the third dam of the American-bred Grave and Gay, a winner in England and later important matron in Germany.
The unraced MARGUERITE (1875, from imported. Merry Wife, by Eclipse's old English nemesis Beadsman), was a successful broodmare at Elmendorf in Kentucky, dam of the sturdy gelded campaigner Rupert (1882, by Falsetto), a winner of over twenty handicaps and sweepstakes to age nine, including the Long Branch Handicap (1-1/4 miles), Sheepshead Bay's New York Handicap, and Brooklyn's Boulevard Handicap (3 miles, beating a top class field). Rupert's half-sister Ruperta (1887, by Prince Charlie), a good juvenile and winner at three of the American Hotel Stakes, the Dolphin Stakes, and the Reaper Stakes, and other winners. MARGUERITE had many daughters, raced and unraced, that carried her line forward; the champion Market Wise (1938) and his sister Too Timely (CCA Oaks winner), and the Nashua stakes winning colt Diplomat Way (1964) were among her descendants. The best of Eclipse's last crop, born in 1876, was GRANDMASTER (1876, from Inversnaid by Leamington), who raced for Charles Reed, and won the one mile Vernal Stakes at Baltimore and placed in a couple of Saratoga selling races (with a high reserve) at age three.
Eclipse is primarily celebrated today through the sire line he established via his son, ALARM, whose famous grandson, Domino, is the catch-word for speed in racing, even today. But many of his daughters and grandaughters ended up in important American studs, where they, too, sent lines of fast, precocious horses forward into the present. His effect on American, and ultimately world racing, is all the more remarkable for the limited opportunities he had during, and after, the U.S. Civil War.
--Patricia Erigero
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