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King Tom
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King Tom was the son of one of the best racehorses of the nineteenth century and one of the most significant broodmares in the history of the thoroughbred. He raced only six times, and then retired to his owner's estate in the Aylesbury vale where he reigned as king, getting well over one hundred winners, some of which elevated him to champion sire status twice. His daughters, including MERMAID, a notable mare in New Zealand, and ST. ANGELA, dam of the great racehorse and stallion, St. Simon, ensured his presence in throughbred pedigrees to the present day.
His sire, the big chestnut Harkaway, born in County Down, Ireland, was out of the Irish-bred mare, Fanny Dawson (1823, by Nabocklish), who placed third twice in four races over two seasons. Harkaway's sire, the English-bred Economist, won five races in England, including Liverpool's Stanley Stakes (1-1/4 miles); as a stallion in Ireland he got some runners besides Harkaway, including a couple of good steeplechasers, and the unraced filly Echidna that became the dam of The Baron (sire of Stockwell and Rataplan).
Harkaway won twenty-seven of his forty-six starts in Ireland and England, including the Goodwood Cup twice, often carrying immense amounts of weight. He has had his advocates as the best racehorse of the nineteenth century, and was certainly, despite his hampered career, in the same class as St. Simon and Ormonde on the turf. As a stallion Harkaway was shuttled back and forth between England and Ireland, and probably did not reach his potential as a sire. He was leading sire in Ireland twice, and was eighth on the sires list in Great Britain. He got Idle Boy (1845), who made eighth on the leading sires list in Great Britain, Horn of Chase (1844), a leading sire in Ireland, and Elcho (1847), who had a significant impact on the development of Argentinian racing. His Irish daughters The Deformed (1850) and Chaseaway (1848) were both excellent runners and later established good tail-female families. Two other Irish-bred daughters were the half-bred Luna (HB-1 Family), from whence numerous good steeplechasers descended, and Queen Bee, the dam of nine winners, whose family is one of the most noted in Irish breeding.
King Tom was out of the great broodmare Pocahontas (1837, by Glencoe), a non-winner that was a broodmare at John Theobald's Stockwell Stud, near Clapham, now part of London. Two years before he was born, she had dropped Stockwell (1849), who would become a perennial leading sire that got twelve classic winners, to the cover of The Baron. The next year she produced Stockwell's brother, Rataplan (1850). These two colts' careers on the turf and in the breeding shed established her standing as the most significant matron of the nineteenth century, cemented when King Tom proved his worth as a stallion.
When Theobald died in 1850, the executors of his estate sent Pocahontas to Edmund Tattersall's nearby Willesdon Paddocks at Kilburn to be covered by Harkaway, who was spending the first of two seasons there, before going back to Ireland. The Baron, who had been sold to France in the fall of 1849, was no longer available, and Stockwell, a backwards juvenile, had yet to show what he could do on the turf. Still, one wonders if Harkaway, by Economist, was selected not only because of his proximity to Stockwell Stud and his success in Ireland as a stallion, but because The Baron's dam, Echidna, was also by Economist; after all, there were other stallions at Willesdon that year.
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King Tom as a juvenile
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When Theobald's estate was settled, the yearling Rataplan, and the in-foal Pocahontas were purchased by Charles Thellusson. Thellusson gave Rataplan to his father, also Charles, of Brodsworth Hall, Doncaster, for whom he won 42 of 82 races, including the Doncaster Cup and Ascot Gold Vase. The younger Charles retained Pocahontas, and her Harkaway foal, King Tom, was born in his ownership. After two races as a juvenile, King Tom was purchased by Baron Meyer de Rothschild -- after "highly involved" negotiations -- from Thellusson for £2,000, and raced in the famous blue jacket and yellow cap of the Baron for the rest of his career. He remained in Rothschild ownership until his death at age 27.
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A visitor to Rothschild's Mentmore estate, guided by the stud groom, Charles Markham, saw King Tom in 1871, when he was twenty: "...when he heard Markham, he came instantly forth, and granted us an audience in his ante-chamber. Like the good-tempered giant that he is, and according to 'his custom of an afternoon,' he stood with his head toward the wall, to receive the usual 'scratch' bestowed on him by a well-known hand, and then was treated to his conventional nibble at the stick while he stood inspection before us. With the 'beacon star' upon his forehead, and the quaint snip of white on his nose, which gives so much character to the head, he consented in the most gracious manner to our attentions, without one atom of that indignant, turn-you-out-of-my-box sort of air which more than one patriarch of the stud assumes before visitors. Taking stock of his enormous power and muscle, we were carried back to the days of his early promise...to his gallant fight with the Danebury pair up the Derby hill, when for want of condition the noble heart yielded for once, and the sweetness of revenge was left to be accomplished by the Parmesan pledge of Zephyr [e.g. Derby winner Favonius, by Parmesan and out of Zephyr by King Tom], his fair daughter dead and gone. Following the King round his straw bed, you may wonder at his action, light and corky as that of the most perfect park hack, you may note the short strong back, powerful sloping shoulders and strong neck, and above all, the marvellous hind action, working from the muscular quarters, which have made his stock such famous 'getters upstairs,' over the Ascot hill. If you ask how it is that he bears his years so bravely, you will learn that moderation in use has been the secret of his lusty old age, that his wondrous powers have never been overtaxed...King Tom has none of the Stockwell or Rataplan coarseness about him, though like most big horses, he is not remarkable for the highest of quality...the only thing wanting to crown the edifice of his glory, is to claim the sireship of some colt, who may be considered worthy of succeeding to his father's throne."
King Tom on the Turf
Thellusson placed King Tom with a trainer named Wyatt at Myrtle Green, near Findon (West Sussex). King Tom's debut was the great North and South of England Biennial Stakes at Goodwood over three-quarters of a mile. He was third to Marsyas, with Scythian second. He won his next race, the Brighton Biennial Stakes, beating Student, Bracken, and four other youngsters.
After this, he was purchased by Rothschild. Rothschild's private trainer, Joseph Hayhoe, gave him a trial with Rothschild's two-year-old Twinkle (by Harkaway and out of Daughter of the Star, later dam of good King Tom youngsters), a proven winner at Newmarket, whom he easily beat while giving away 12 pounds. Less than a week later, the third and final race of his juvenile year was the Triennial Produce Stakes (3/4 mile) at Newmarket First October, which he won for Rothschild, beating Champagne, Miranda, and six others.
All efforts were then bent toward the Epsom Derby, which was his first, and as it turned out, only race as a three-year-old. He was tried before the Derby, carrying 8 st-9 lbs. against the Baron's horses Orestes (9 st.-1 lb.), Hungerford (8 st.-2 lbs.), and Middlesex (7 st. - 2 lbs.), and was beaten by half a neck by Middlesex, with the rest well behind. Then, a little less than two weeks before the event he fell lame "in the off hock, or at all events somewhere in the off quarter," [later said to be a curb by some, a sprain by others] and was stall-bound for ten days, babied by Hayhoe and only allowed a "couple of canters" between then and the race. Starting second favorite to John Gully's Andover (by Bay Middleton), he ran second, by a length, to that horse, with Two Thousand Guineas winner The Hermit (by Bay Middleton) third, both Bay Middleton colts trained at Danebury, and twenty-seven others in the field. He was dead lame after the race, and was out for the rest of the season. ""Only the few, to whom the extent of his misfortunes and its grave consequences were known, were aware of how gallantly their champion had borne himself in the fight," said a writer who had later talked with the Crafton stud groom, Charles Markham.
The next year, 1855, Rothschild reportedly used King Tom as a stallion at Mentmore, but no foals of 1856 have been discovered. Put back in training after the breeding season, he was on the turf again at the Newmarket First October Meeting, where he won the second leg of the Triennial Produce Stakes (2 miles-119 yards), beating Boer, Alembic and six others. He started for the Cesarewitch Stakes at Newmarket Second October, but broke down, permanently, in the running. Still, the Baron and Hayhoe had shown that King Tom was a genuine horse that could win at two miles.
King Tom in the Stud
He was retired as a stallion to Rothschild's Crafton Stud -- with stables in the "Swiss style" -- at Leighton Buzzard, in the Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire, part of the Baron's 3,000 acre Mentmore estate, crowned by a "fairy tale" castle. It is unclear who planned King Tom's matings, but the Baron was a hands-on owner, who once told an aquaintance he would not send a mare to Ireland because he would not be able to enjoy seeing her foals. His long-time stud groom at Mentmore, Charles Markham, was an integral member of the team, and his "kind hand" was instrumental in fostering good-tempered, amenable foals.
The Baron "never wavered" in his support of King Tom, and provided him with high-quality mares when at stud, but it wasn't until 1864 that King Tom's first classic winner, TOMATO, trumphantly entered the paddock at Newmarket.
Between 1861 and 1877 -- seventeen years -- King Tom was in the top twenty sires all but once, and in the top ten thirteen times. He was leading sire twice, in 1870 (with Newminster second), and in 1871 (with Parmesan second, and King Tom's half-brother Stockwell fourth). He was second once, in 1864 (the year of TOMATO'S classic win), behind Stockwell, and third twice, in 1866 and 1876. He was frequently higher in the sires lists when tabulating the number of his winners, rather than progeny earnings. What one wonders when looking at these years and the succeeding ones, is, where are King Tom's sons on the sires list? Not a one was ever among the top twenty in Great Britain...not a one ever became "worthy of succceeding to his father's throne."
As it turned out, King Tom's sons gained greater repute as sires of hunters and chasers than as sires of flat racers -- MOGADOR, LOTHARIO, SKYLARK, and DALESMAN were all well-known as hunter and chaser stallions in England and Ireland. Even his Derby winner, KINGCRAFT, ended up in Ireland getting hunters.
In America, his sons did better as flat racing stallions -- both KING ERNEST and PHAETON, sires of champion runners, had good sire sons, and his son KING OF DIAMONDS was a champion sire in Germany. KING LUD, after he got to France, sired two classic winners.
King Tom got many good juveniles; neither Joseph Hayhoe, trainer of most of Baron Rothschild's horses, nor Matthew Dawson, who schooled Lord Falmouth's King Tom youngters, were inclined to spare the big, growthy colts King Tom tended to throw. Several turf writers later commented on the large frames carried on weak underpinnings, particularly hocks and fetlocks, but although some King Toms broke down early, many went on in subsequent years to win or place in classic races, and to win distance races. The later consensus was that mares with sturdy staying pedigrees produced his more durable youngsters, but that "flashy" mares of speed sources tended to produce King Tom foals with early brilliance that could not train on. However, a number of his "soft" offspring later went on to breed good stayers and even jumpers.
His five classic winners were: TOMATO (1861, One Thousand Guineas); TORMENTOR (1863, Oaks); HIPPIA (1864, Oaks); KINGCRAFT (1867, Derby); and HANNAH (1868, One Thousand Guineas, Oaks, St. Leger). Three of these were bred by Rothschild, whose support of his stallion with well-bred mares of all kinds of bloodlines, his ability to field numerous King Tom youngsters on the turf, and his canny trainer, Joseph Hayhoe, were key to the horse's success.
In every place but the U.S. and Germany, King Tom's daughters were far superior to his sons as breeding stock, and they were equal to, or better than his sons on the racecourse. Three daughters each produced an English classic winner, three each produced a French classic winner, and five produced seven classic winners in Austria-Hungary and Germany. Two King Tom daughters were especially significant: ST. ANGELA, the dam of the famous stallion St. Simon, and MERMAID, dam of the great racemare Lurline and other daughters that had great influence in New Zealand.
KING OF DIAMONDS (1857) was out of one of Rothschild's foundation broodmares, Emerald (by Defence). A good juvenile, he won Doncaster's Champagne Stakes, but at Newmarket October could only run third in the Prendergast Stakes. At age five he was second to Canary in Ascot's Royal Hunt Cup. He was later purchased to Germany and installed at Union-Gestüt zu Hoppegarten, where, in 1870, he became Germany's leading sire. His winners included Investment (1866), winner of the Deutsches Derby and Furstenberg Rennen, and Lady Bird (1866) and Caro Dame (1867), both winners of the Preis der Diana.
Another Rothschild mare, Mrs. Hobson (by Bay Middleton), purchased in 1856, produced some winners to the cover of King Tom. First was JANUS (1857), a good juvenile that at age three won the Ascot Derby (now King Edward VII Stakes); he ended up serving mares in Co. Waterford, Ireland, where he got some daughters that bred on. His brother, JANITOR (1863), winner of the Ascot Biennial and Ascot Triennial, and Epsom's Woodcote Stakes at age two, also ended up in Ireland, as a stallion at Brazil, Co. Dublin.
Rothschild's King Tom colt, WINGRAVE (1859, out of The Incurable by The Cure), another good juvenile that won Newmarket's Two Year Old Plate and the Woodcote Stakes, and was second in Goodwood's Findon Stakes, ran through age five, and proved to be a good stayer, running second to Adventurer in the 1863 Ascot Gold Cup, and in 1864 winning four races at Newmarket in nine starts, including a Queen's Plate. He later got the outstanding filly Lilian (1869), a winner of 46 of 109 starts, including the Gimcrack Stakes at age two, the Newmarket Oaks at age three, the Brighton Stakes and Warwick Cup at age four, the Great Ebor Handicap at age six, and twenty Queen's Plates. Lilian was later dam of Goodwood Cup winner Savile (1884, also winner of Chester's Dee Stakes), and some of her tail-female descendants were classic winners in Australia and New Zealand.
The unraced Agnes (1848, by Pantaloon) was another foundation mare at Mentmore crossed with King Tom. Her daughter QUEEN OF THE VALE'S (1858) wins included Ascot's Fernhill Stakes and Two Year Old Plate at age two, and the Coronation Stakes at age three. KING OF THE VALE (1860) was third in the Two Thousand Guineas, and won the Prince of Wales's Stakes and other races; he went to Germany with KING OF DIAMONDS, but was not a successful stallion. Her excellent filly EVELINA (1861), winner of Ascot's New Stakes, and Newmarket's Two Year Old Plate and Exeter Stakes as a juvenile, later won Queen's Plates at Ascot and Newmarket. Daughter CAMILLA (1864), purchased by America-based August Belmont, was a foundation broodmare in his Nursery Stud; she produced Carita (1877, by the Ill-Used), whose wins included the Champagne Stakes and Ladies Handicap. All three of Agnes' King Tom fillies bred on through the end of the nineteenth century. |
King of the Vale
Dalesman
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Agnes's King Tom son, DALESMAN (1863), a 16 hand bright chestnut, ran almost forty times in four seasons on the turf, almost always in high class company, but scored just seven times, including Ascot's Triennial Stakes and several Queen's Plates. He was first a stallion at Newmarket, and in 1869 was sold to Major Barlow and taken to Hasketon, where he got Lowlander (1870), a superior miler that won the All Aged Stakes at Ascot and the Royal Hunt Cup, in turn sire of Lowland Chief, a winner of Goodwood's Stewards Cup and good sire of broodmares. Lowland Chief was the last good sire in King Tom's line in England, but failed to get a successor son.
In the summer of 1869 Barlow presented DALESMAN at numerous horse shows as a thoroughbred hunter stallion: at the big Islington show he won the first prize (with Broomielaw and Ivanhoff behind him); he won first at six more shows that summer, from Ipswich to Lincoln and Beverley, placing second only once, to Lord Zetland's Carabineer, at the Royal Agricultural Society meeting at Manchester. That was enough to convince Lord Spencer to purchase him in the spring of 1870, and he was taken to Althorp where he got hunters. A turf writer later exclaimed, "What a lot of good horses Dalesman, son of King Tom, got, and all of them taking to jumping as easily as little ducks take to water." After Lowlander showed his class, DALESMAN was sold again and taken to Middle Park Stud, where he ended his years.
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DALESMAN'S daughter, Stella (1872) was second dam of Goodwood Cup winner Perseus (1899, by St. Simon) and his sister, Ascot New Stakes winner The Gorgon (1897), in turn dam of Two Thousand Guineas winner Gorgos (1903). Gorgos got Hollebeck (1914), who in Italy established a very successful family of classic winners.
Two other King Tom sons that ended up as hunter sires were OLD CALABAR and MOGADOR. OLD CALABAR (1859, from a mare by Picaroon called "the Hipped Mare"), raced by Sir R.W. Bulkeley was an unbeaten juvenile that won four races at Newmarket, including the Triennial Produce Stakes, the Glasgow Stakes, and the Criterion Stakes. He was later a stallion in Shropshire where he got the good Cup winner Indian Ocean (1867), and numerous hunters.
MOGADOR (1860, out of Moonshine, by Orlando) won three races at Newmarket at age three, including the Newmarket Stakes over the Ditch Mile. Standing at John Davis' Water Tower Farm at Rugby, Warwickshire, he got some minor flat racers, such as Whackum, who won the British Dominion Stakes at Sandown and the Winchester Biennial, and Chocolate, a winner of several plates at Sandown, Newmarket and Shrewsbury as a juvenile, but he gradually became known as a famous sire of weight-carrying hunters. His son Pathfinder (1867) won the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree, and two other chases; Pathfinder's sister, St. Faith (1874), a modest winner of one steeplechase, several hurdle races and a hunter's flat race, was later the dam of The Maroon (1888), an Irish Grand National winner, the steeplechaser St. Elmo (1887), and Sister Elizabeth (1893), a winner of eight steeplechases, including the Great Shropshire Steeplechase. His son, The Muleteer, won prizes as a hunter stallion and later got some winners over fences and many hunters.
In 1854 William Cookson's Mincemeat (1851, by Sweetmeat, out of Hybla), a useful juvenile runner, started her three-year-old season by winning the Epsom Oaks by two lengths. Rothschild immediately entered into purchase negotiations, and after securing her ran her twice more, unsuccessfully, after which she was retired to Mentmore.
Mincemeat's 1861 filly by King Tom, TOMATO, was her sire's first classic winner. She was a useful juvenile that won Ascot's Fernhill Stakes and the second class of the Two Year Old Stakes, and placed second in Epsom's Two Year Old Stakes and the Newmarket Triennial in six starts. She came out at age three to win Newmarket's Bennington Stakes for three-year-olds over a mile. She then won her next race, the One Thousand Guineas (with BREEZE second) in a field of fourteen, but in the Oaks, won by Fille de l'Air by a half-length, BREEZE was second, and TOMATO a length behind in third. Her only other win -- in eleven starts -- at age three was the Town Purse at Newmarket July, but she put up a good showing in the Newmarket Triennial, placing second to Ely, and was even more impressive in the Cambridgeshire Stakes in October, when she was second to the more lightly-weighted Ackworth in a huge field of over thirty-five horses. In 1865, age four, she won the 2 mile-1 furlong Ascot Stakes.
TOMATO later produced Mr. Pickwick (1878, by Hermit), imported by Charles Reed of Gallatin, Tennessee (USA), where he was a good stallion (twice in the top five leading sires), sire of Dobbins (Lawrence Realization Stakes, dead-heat with Domino at Morris Park), Ida Pickwick (winner of sixty races), and other good runners.
A SISTER TO TOMATO (1866) from Mincemeat, was purchased by Baron Arthur Schickler and installed at his Haras de Martinvast at Cherbourg, where she produced Perplexité (1878, by Perplexe), winner of the big juvenile race in France, the Grand Criterium, and at age three took the Newmarket Oaks in England and the Prix Royal Oak in France, running second to Serpolette in the Prix de Longchamp and the Prix de Diane. Perplexité bred three French classic winners to the cover of three different stallions: Grand Prix de Paris winner Fitz Roya (also winner of Prix la Rochette, Prix de Malleret, and Prix de Juin), Prix du Jockey Club and Prix Royal-Oak winner Chene Royal (also winner of Prix Lupin and Prix du Cadran), and Prix du Jockey Club winner Palmiste (also took the Prix Lupin, Prix Greffulhe).
TOMATO'S brother, TOMAHAWK (1863), a winner of the Lincolnshire Handicap, was the probable sire of Cinderella, imported into the U.S. as a yearling, where she became a sigificant matron by producing Hastings and Plaudit, and several other important horses, including daughter Slippers, who continued the tail-female line.
TOMATO'S sisters, PREMATURE (1867, born December 26) and TAMARIND (1867) both survived foaling, and went on as broodmares; 1952 Epsom Oaks winner Frieze descended from PREMATURE.
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Tormentor
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TORMENTOR (1863), King Tom's second classic winner, was bred by Charles Greville, a long-time participant on the racing scene as owner, breeder and manager. Greville had bred her dam, Torment -- a winner of four Queen's Plates, the York Cup and other distance races -- and had owned Torment's sire, the winning stayer Alarm. TORMENTOR was purchased as a yearling by Benjamin Ellam, a London saddlemaker and whip manufacturer who had purchased The Warren stud farm at Langley Vale, near Epsom, remodeling the old 17th century hunting lodge built for King Charles II for entertaining the Epsom racing crowd. Ellam raced under the name "Mr. Dunbar." TORMENTOR was sent to Epsom trainer John Nightingall's South Hatch stable.
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TORMENTOR was described as "a slight, weedy-looking filly, with bad heels, curby hocks, weak knees and a low back: defects inherited in a great measure from her sire..." offset by "grand quarters, wide hips and excellent shoulders, fortified by the stout and lasting properties of the Partisan and Defence blood on the side of her dam, to which her Oaks' victory is mainly due." This unfair and inaccurate assessment of the filly's heritage does not stand when compared with many descriptions of King Tom and his offspring.
TORMENTOR did not follow the Newmarket-Ascot path King Tom's other classic winners traversed as juveniles. She raced at less prestigious venues as a two-year-old. Unplaced in Egham's King John Stakes and a handicap for juveniles at Doncaster, she got it right in her third race, the Caroline Stakes at Lincoln, beating four others by four lengths and more. Also at Lincoln she was second, by a neck, in a nursery plate to Alderoft, with six others in the field. After that she won three races in a row, taking the Knowsley Handicap for juveniles in a canter and the Nursery Plate easily by two lengths at Liverpool November, and at Shrewsbury beating Miss Harriette by a neck in the Salopian Stakes for two-year-olds.
Her first race at age three was the Epsom Oaks, which she won by laying off the pace while James Merry's Mirella wore herself out in the fast race; there were sixteen fillies in the field, including Ischia--winner of the Gratwicke Stakes and the Newmarket Oaks that year -- and Actaea, who would win the Cambridgeshire in the fall. TORMENTOR went on to win the Queen's Plate at Hampton, beating six; the Queen's Plate at Newmarket, beating six, including the Newmarket Handicap winner Eskring; Stamford's Burghley Handicap, beating eight in a canter, and a few days later the Burghley Gold Cup, beating Elland (winner of eight Queen's Plates and the Ascot Gold Vase that year) and one other by two lengths. That season she also placed third in the Chelmsford Great Handicap (won by the four-year-old Ostreger), and failed to place in five other races. She ran eight times at age four, and failed to place, and was retired.
TORMENTOR was a modest broodmare, but she did not see the best stallions. However, her sister, INQUIETUDE (1871), sold to France in 1875, produced Image (1879) to the cover of Mortemer; Image was sold to Poland, where she bred Nagroda Derby winner Tormentor (1887) and Mortimer (1892), winner of classic races in Russia.
Daughter of the Star (1844, by Kremlin), was bred by the Duke of Westminster and sold as a yearling to Thomas Oldaker, a sometime agent for Rothschild, to whom he resold her. At age two she won a small sweepstakes at Egham. She was bred several times to Harkaway on his periodic visits to England, resulting in Twinkle (1851), a juvenile winner at Newmarket, and Venetia (1855), the latter the second dam of the grand steeplechasing mare Miss Hungerford (1867), a winner of the Grand Steeple-chase de Paris in 1875. After King Tom retired to Mentmore, she was bred to him several times, producing TOMYRIS (sold to New Zealand) and her best runners -- HIPPIA and HIPPOLYTA -- as an older mare.
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Hippia
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HIPPIA (1864) was King Tom's third classic winner, and like most King Toms, had a very busy and successful juvenile year. She began at Northampton, second by a neck to the speedy three-year-old Mr. Pitt in the Whittlebury Stakes (she was in receipt of 38 pounds from the older horse), and the next day she lost to Problem by a head in a half-mile sweepstakes. She then won Newmarket's Two Year Old Plate (beating sixteen), the Sunning Hill Stakes at Ascot spring, the Queen's Stand Plate (beating a large field, including Saccharometer and Ostreger) and Fern Hill Stakes (beating Friponnier and Vespasian) at Ascot summer. She was second to the great filly Achievement in the Chesterfield Stakes.
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After a rest HIPPIA came out in the Rutland Stakes at Newmarket First October to run second to Knight of the Garter, and a week later failed to place in a £100 plate won by Friponnier. At Newmarket Houghton she beat an unnamed Toxophilite colt of Lord Glasgow's in a match over the Two Year Old Course, took a walk-over for £125, and later that week failed to beat Viridis over a mile in the Nursery Stakes.
At age three she won three races in succession -- a Fillies race at Nemarket Craven, and two races worth £250 and 90 sovereigns respectively -- and then was third to Friponnier (winner of 18 races that year) and the brilliant, but erratic, D'Estournel, in a 100 sovereign plate over the Rowley Mile at Newmarket Spring. She was not entered for the One Thousand Guineas. In the Oaks she beat Achievement, Romping Girl and five others in the field, but that was a bad day for Achievement who had "gone off." She went on to challenge for the Ascot Gold Cup, and although she started first favorite, ran third to Lecturer and Regalia in a very hard fought race that, despite her loss, proved her a fine, game stayer. She then shifted back to sprints, winning two short plates at Newmarket July, each worth 50 sovereigns, and in one beating the promising juvenile See-Saw (giving him 27 pounds). She tailed off again in the fall, running third to Friponnier and Hermit in the Grand Duke Michael Stakes, and third to Owain-Glyndwr and Trocadero in the Newmarket St. Leger, and failed to place in her last race of the season.
At age four HIPPIA won five of her thirteen starts. She failed to place in Epsom's Great Metropolitan, won by the lightly-weighted Blueskin. At Newmarket she took a walk-over for 200 sovereigns, and another walk-over for 50 sovereigns. At Epsom she won the Queen's Plate for mares, beating six others, followed by taking the Queen's Plate at Newmarket July and the Queen's Plate at Goodwood. Once again in the fall she fell off, and failed to place in her last six races, after which she was retired.
HIPPIA was the dam of several winners, the best of them Nellie (1879, by Hermit), a good juvenile, later second dam of dual classic winner St. Amant and the head of a family line that included many successful winners in England, France, Italy, South Africa and South America. HIPPIA'S son Gunnersbury (1876, by Hermit) was a big disappointment as a racehorse, running third in the Woodcote Stakes and second in Newmarket's July Stakes, third in the Chesterfield Stakes and third in the Middle Park Plate as a juvenile, and failing to place at all in his three races at age three. He was purchased relatively cheaply -- 20,000 florints -- by Francis Cavaliero on behalf of the Hungarian Imperial Stud, and sent to Kisbér, where he became a powerhouse sire of numerous classic winners in Austria, Hungary and Germany, including two Deutsches Derby winners, Uram-Batyam, and Galifard.
Daughter of the Star also produced HIPPOLYTA (1861) to the cover of King Tom. This successful filly, another stayer, won seven of her eleven races at age three for Rothschild, including the two-mile Ascot Stakes (beating twelve), Queen's Plates at Chelmsford and Ipswich, and four races at Newmarket. Her daughter, Fairy Rose (1880, by Derby winner Kisbér), purchased by California rail baron Leland Stanford, went to his Palo Alto Stock Farm in the San Francisco bay area, where she produced several good runners, and one record-setting colt, Racine (1887), virtually unbeatable as a juvenile in California, winner of sixteen races in nineteen starts mostly in the "east," at age three -- including setting the mile record in the U.S. at Washington Park in Chicago -- and fifteen wins in 28 starts at age four.
REGINELLA (1862), was the first of several King Tom offspring bred from the high quality mares owned by Evelyn Boscawen, 6th Viscount Falmouth, at his Mereworth Castle estate near Maidstone in Kent. Her dam, Flax (1855, by Surplice), purchased from Middle Park Stud in 1856, had produced Falmouth's first home-bred classic winner, Oaks winner Queen Bertha (1860, by Kingston). REGINELLA was a useful juvenile, winning a sweepstakes at Newmarket October, placing third in Doncaster's Champagne Stakes, and fourth in big fields in the Ascot Biennial and Newmarket's Clearwell Stakes. She was a broodmare at the Middle Park Stud, and purchased at its dispersal by the Cobham Stud Company. She produced Guy Dayrell (1867 by Wild Dayrell), a good juvenile that won Epsom's Two Year Old Stakes, Newmarket July's Two Year Old Plate, and the Stockbridge Gold Cup; later he won the one mile Lincolnshire Handicap. He was sold to the Comte de Berteux, but at the count's Haras de Cheffreville, although he got a number of foals, they did not win in France's principal races. His daughter, Katia (1883) produced Prix de Diane winner Kasbah (1892), later the dam of the outstanding racemare Kizil Kourgan.
FURZE CHAT (1862, from Lady Alice by Chanticleer) was another pretty good juvenile filly from the same year, bred by John Osborne and raced by Henry Sutton. She won two of her three races at age two: the Hungerford Stakes, beating seven, and Newmarket's Triennial Produce Stakes, beating ten. Her son, Hollywood (1871, by Orest) won the 1875 Liverpool Spring Cup and other handicaps, and was later the sire of Eglentine (1882), the dam of Grand National Steeplechase winner Drogheda (1892). Her daughter, Stone Chat (1872, by Adventurer) was the dam of Cesarewitch Stakes winner Stone Clink and other good daughters. Furze Chat's tail-female line continues to today with numerous stakes winners.
LOTHARIO (1863, from Calista, by Liverpool), was a big 16 hand bay with "immense bone and muscle, probably one of the strongest thoroughbreds in Ireland." Bred and raced by Rothschild, at age three he won the Newmarket St. Leger (2 miles) and was second to Lecturer in the Cesarewitch by a half-length, with 25 other good ones in the field. He was sold to D. Kayes and taken Co. Mayo, Ireland, as a stallion. Intended as a hunter stallion, and very successful, he won first premium for the best thoroughbred stallion at the Dublin Horse Show in 1871, and several of his get also won prizes. He got some good flat racers, including Inamorata (1877), winner of the Curragh's National Stakes as a juvenile, and Piersfield (1874), winner of the Royal Whip (4 miles) at the Curragh and sire of winning steeplechasers and hurdlers and of the famous Piersfield mare, taproot of the Half-Bred Family 4. LOTHARIO'S winners over fences included Captain (1878), winner of Liverpool's 1885 Champion Chase; Gay Lothario (1881), a winner over fences and his brother, Lochinvar (1883), a winner of 12 steeplechases, including Punchestown's Downshire Plate (3 miles), and second in the Conyingham Cup (carrying top weight), later the sire of numerous good chasers and hunters; Revenge (1869), winner of 13 steeplechases, including the Irish Grand Military (twice), the Prince of Wales Plate at Sandown (twice), and second in many other good races, later a successful stallion in Co. Carlow; Vengeance (1876, brother to Revenge), a winner of six steeplechases, including the 1877 Conyngham Cup; Lady Jane (1878, sister to Revenge), dam of Chevy Chase (1889 by Ballinafad), winner of 17 steeplechases including Liverpool's Champion Chase; and many others.
TOM KING (1863) was bred by William St. George from the dam of Solon, a mare by Birdcatcher that had also been bred by St. George. Solon, despite being a roarer, was a big winner in Ireland, and later got the great horse Barcaldine. TOM KING was nothing like his half-brother, although he did win a Queen's Plate at the Curragh at age four (beating Selim, Dunasany and Owen Roe), his only win, and placed second to Selim in the Irish Derby at age three. A handsome 16 hand blood bay "of great power, excellent formation and plenty of bone," at age five St. George exhibited him as a hunter sire at the Irish Grand National Horse show, for which he won second prize, and stood him at the Rathbride Stables at the Curragh at a fee of 5 guineas. He got Umpire (1873), a winner of fourteen of his sixteen starts. Umpire was champion colt in Ireland in 1876, winner of the Irish Derby, the Baldoyle Derby (twice), and numerous Queen's Plates in Ireland, and of the Manchester Cup (carrying top weight) in England. Umpire's daughters were useful in the breeding shed: Miss Plant was dam of the Prince of Wales's 1900 Grand National Steeplechase winner Ambush II, and second dam of Earla Mor; Miss Fanny was the dam of Leopardstown Steeplechase winner Fanciful; Aura (1880) was fourth dam of English classic winner Fifinella (1913) and her good siblings. Umpire's son Regulator was dam's sire of the noted Irish Draught stallion, Brehon Law.
PHAETON (1865, from Merry Sunshine, by Storm) was bred by John Johnstone, who purchased his dam in foal to King Tom and installed her at his Sheffield Lane Paddocks, about three miles from Sheffield. PHAETON was picked up as a yearling by Admiral Henry Rous, by that time the final authority on all turf matters in England. He grew to 16 hands, with a "remarkably neat head...strong, well-shaped neck...shoulders were oblique and well placed...great depth of girth...his back and loin a model of strength...Cut him off at the knees, and it would have been difficult to find a more perfect model of shape, strength and muscular development. But his legs were very defective, and particularly light below the knee for such an immense carcass." A contemporary turf writer said he did not pass on his bad legs, which seems apparent from the numerous winners he got in America.
At age two PHAETON ran once, in Goodwood's Findon Stakes, where he was third to Rabican and Vale Royal, with five others in the field. At age three he came out for a plate over the Rowley Mile (1 mile-17 yards) at Newmarket, and was unplaced. That was his entire career on the turf.
PHAETON was purchased by American Richard Ten Broeck, who took some of his horses to England to race in the mid 1850s (see Prioress, Lecomte, Starke), and was a somewhat unwelcome fixture -- due to his questionable wagering practices -- on the British turf for some years. PHAETON was installed at Ten Broeck's Jefferson County, Kentucky, farm where, after a slow start with a few mares, he unexpectedly got a number of excellent racehorses in his 1872 crop; unfortunately he died in 1874 before any of these animals really got started in their careers. Even with a limited number of offspring, he had an important influence on American racing and breeding; further, his success caused other American breeders to import the King Tom sons GREAT TOM, KING ERNEST and KING BAN.
Ten Broeck (1872) was probably PHAETON'S best runner, a winner of numerous stakes races that set records for a mile, two miles, and four miles during his turf career. He later got Kentucky Oaks winner Ten Penny and Alabama Stakes winner Tolu, some good broodmare daughters, Bersan (Travers Stakes, Latonia Derby, Clark Handicap, etc., later sire of American Grand National Steeplechase winner Sacket), and Free Knight (later sire of Kentucky Derby winner Elwood). King Alfonso (1872) was another PHAETON son that won Louisville's Tobacco Stakes in fast time, the Kentucky St. Leger (2 miles, beating Ten Broeck and others), and the two mile Galt House Stakes beating a high-class field; King Alfonso got some good daughters that are still seen in pedigrees today, such as Tea Rose (second dam of Dick Finnell, making him in-bred to King Tom) and sons Fonso (1877) and Foxhall (1878 ). Fonso, a Kentucky Derby winner, was among the top five leading sires three times. Foxhall, taken to England to race, was the best of his generation -- not nominated to the classics, most agreed he would have triumphed in them had he been able to run. He won seven of eleven starts between ages two and four, including, at age three the Grand Prix de Paris in France, Newmarket's Grand Duke Michael Stakes, and the Newmarket fall double -- both the Cesarewitch and the Cambridgeshire. At age four he won the Ascot Gold Cup. Like Fonso, he got good daughters that bred on, but did not get a useful sire son, ending PHAETON's branch of the King Tom sire line. Other PHAETON winners included Kentucky Derby winner Joe Cotton, Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Grenada, Lisbon (grandsire of Kentucky Derby winner Lookout), Felicia (winner of the Kentucky Oaks and Woodburn Stakes), Tolona, Phyllis, St. Martin, Aramis, Mayflower, Harry Peyton, Jack Hardy, King Faro, and other good ones, mostly very fast horses that won both dashes and heat races.
RESTITUTION (1865) was out of a Slane mare (from Letitia, by Sir Hercules) that had been bred at the Rawcliffe Stud in Yorkshire. Purchased by Rothschild and installed at Mentmore, the Slane mare bred several foals to the cover of King Tom. RESTITUTION ran well enough in eight races at age three, winning the Newmarket St. Leger (beating See Saw and five others), and placing second in Ascot's Prince of Wales's Stakes (won by KING ALFRED) and St. James's Palace Stakes (won by The Earl), and in Newmarket's Cesarewitch Stakes Handicap (won by Cecil, with Blue Gown and See Saw in the field). At age four, 1869, very likely the best of his year, he proved a genuine stayer, winning Ascot's Queen Alexandra Stakes (2 miles-6 furlongs), the Brighton Cup, and the Goodwood Cup ( 2 miles-4 furlongs), and placing second to the grand race mare Formosa in the Ascot Triennial. He was retired as a stallion at Mentmore, and there was briefly hope, based on his race record, that he would continue King Tom's sire line, but that proved a sad mistake; he got few winners of any class, and was among the stallions sold after the Baron's death in 1874.
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King Alfred
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Baron Rothschild also owned a mare by Bay Middleton that he had bred from West Country Lass by Venison. The Bay Middleton mare was bred in successive years to King Tom, producing some good runners and breeding stock. The best of them was KING ALFRED (1865), a big brown horse that was one of the King Toms with a big body and flawed legs; at age three he won two of nine starts -- Ascot's Prince of Wales's Stakes (beating Rothschild's RESTITUTION) and Epsom's Craven Stakes -- placed second to Blue Gown in the Epsom Derby, and was third to Blue Gown and Speculum in the Ascot Gold Cup, but broke down in his off hind leg after and was retired. He was purchased from Rothschild for 1,000 guineas by the Nordisk Jockey Club in 1871 and sent to Denmark, but was brought back to England and ended his days as a stallion at Rowden Abbey at Bromfield. Some of his daughters were sent to Argentina.
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KING ALFRED'S brother, ETHELRED (1869) was a good juvenile that won Newmarket's July Stakes and Ascot's New Stakes for the Baron. KING ALFRED'S sister ACROSTIC (1863) was sold to Germany, where she won the Hamburger Criterium at age two, and the Hoppegarten's Silberner Schild (Silver Shield) at age four.
KING ALFRED'S unnamed sister, a KING TOM MARE (1868) was unplaced in four starts at ages two and three, but retired to the Yardley Stud of the Graham Brothers and bred to Sterling, she produced some good ones, including Two Thousand Guineas winner Enterprise (1884), also a winner at age two of Ascot's New Stakes and Newmarket's July Stakes. She also produced Atheling (1883) to the cover of Sterling. Atheling was later a useful stallion in Ireland, getting classic winner Kosmos, before he was purchased to the U.S. where he got some winners. Through a Sterling daughter, Osberga (1882), the KING TOM MARE'S tail-female line continued through the mid-twentieth century.
Qui Vive, a sister to Two Thousand Guineas and Doncaster Cup winner Vedette (by Voltigeur), was a broodmare in the Earl of Zetland's Aske Hall stud in Yorkshire. Her foals by King Tom included KING COLE (1867) and KING LUD (1869). KING COLE, a winner of the Ascot Derby, the St. James's Palace Stakes, and the Cumberland Plate (6 furlongs) at Carlisle (beating KINGCRAFT at weight-for-age), was imported into Victoria, Australia, by A.K. Finlay in 1876. He got some good winners, including the Caulfield Cup winner Little Jack (1879), Launceston Cup winner The Knave, and Off Colour (1880), whose wins included the 24 furlong AJC Randwick Plate. He also got the big chestnut colt Nelson (1880), who was imported into New Zealand as a foal with his dam, My Idea (by Yattendon), by Maj. Frederick N. George. Nelson was a great champion, harkening back to his great-grandsire, Harkaway; he was a winner over all distances and a superior weight-carrier that beat all the best horses of his day. His wins included the VRC All-Aged Stakes (in Australia, 8 furlongs), the VATC Caulfield Cup (in Australia, 12 furlongs), the Auckland Cup (in New Zealand, three times, 18 furlongs) and the Wellington Cup (in New Zealand, 16 furlongs). A fretful stallion that was put back in training, winning the 6 furlong Flying Stakes at Ellerslie at age nine, Nelson got few winners, but one, Pegasus, also won the Auckland Cup in 1893; Pegasus was the last useful son of the King Tom sire line in Australasia. |
King Lud
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KING LUD was bred by Zetland and purchased by Lord Lonsdale, for whom he ran fourth in the Two Thousand Guineas (won by Prince Charlie) and third in the Doncaster St. Leger behind Cremorne and Queen's Messenger, and in France was second to Cremorne in the Grand Prix de Paris. At age four, raced by Captain Machell and trained by Joseph Cannon, he proved a good stayer that won the Cesarewitch Stakes (2-1/4 miles) in 1873 (beating 34, including a previous winner, CORISANDE, by King Tom, who was giving him 19 pounds), the Shrewsbury Cup and Newport Cup, and a 1600 meter match against KINGCRAFT (won by 3 lengths). In 1874 he won Ascot's Alexandra Plate (2 miles-6 furlongs) beating Boiard (who had won the Ascot Gold Cup the previous day) by a neck, with Flageolet third.
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KING LUD, who stood at Mouldon Stud farm near Richmond, and at Zetland's Aske stud, both in Yorkshire, got some winners in England, including Great Ebor Handicap winner Ben Alder and Great Yorkshire Stakes winner King Monmouth. In 1882 the Comte de Berteux leased KING LUD for 700 guineas, and two years later bought him outright. KING LUD'S French-bred winners, from Berteaux's Haras de Cheffreville, included Reyezuelo and Widgeon, winners, respectively of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Poule d'Essai des Pouliches in 1885; Grand Prix de l'Imperatrice (Prix Rainbow) winners Lavoir and Acoli, and Prix du Nabob winner Walter Scott. King Monmouth continued his sire line through King's Messenger (1895) and his son, Clarenceux (1907), the last son of any note in this branch.
KING LUD'S daughters produced Trollhetta (1893), the unbeaten champion three-year-old in Germany in 1896, and Yorkshire Oaks winner Nighean. His daughter Boudoir (189) bred on, with the good French half-brothers Chateau Bouscaut (1927) and Rodosto (1930) in her tail-female family; daughter Barbara (1890) also bred on, with the French stallion Xandover (1927) one of her descendants, and the excellent producer Marchetta (1907, by Marco) was a tail-female descendant of his daughter Syringa (1878).
In 1865 Lord Falmouth paid 200 guineas for the well-bred filly Woodcraft (1861, by Voltigeur and out of a mare by Venison), that had been useless on the turf, never running above selling plate level in her only season as a juvenile. She produced several foals to the cover of King Tom, the first of which was Falmouth's first Derby winner, and King Tom's fourth classic winner, KINGCRAFT (1867). |
Kingcraft
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KINGCRAFT was a handsome, "delicate" looking bay with excellent shoulders and girth, but light-boned and long below the knee and hock, looking, said observers, more like Venison than King Tom. He was sent to trainer Matt Dawson at Health House, Newmarket, and, as was typical for juveniles under the Dawson-Falmouth partnership, he was heavily used. He won six of nine races as a juvenile, including Newmarket's Chesterfield Stakes (beating 13 by two lengths), Goodwood's Ham Stakes (beating Sunlight by half a length), York's Convivial Stakes (beating four by a length), and Newmarket's Buckenham Stakes and the Triennial (beating six by six lengths); in October he fell off, placing third in both the Middle Park Plate and the Criterion Stakes.
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At age three he met James Merry's Macgregor, who had not raced at age two, in the Two Thousand Guineas, and could only run third, more than six lengths behind the winner, with Normanby second, in a field of ten that also included KING O' SCOTS. The Derby was next, and KINGCRAFT, with Ned French up, won by four lengths, beating fourteen others, with Macgregor, probably the best of the year, fourth, having broke down during the running, much to the horror of the public that had made him a big favorite. This race was described as one of the worst ever, with a very poor field ("rubbish"), and KINGCRAFT received few favorable reviews in the press -- "but a poor specimen of a Derby winner." In the poorly-attended Doncaster St. Leger, with another moderate field of nineteen runners, KINGCRAFT was passed by Hawthornden about a quarter of a mile from the winning post, and was second by half a length in a very slow race. He ran a couple of more times, winning the Select Stakes at Newmarket, before his retirement.
KINGCRAFT was a modest sire, especially considering some of the high-class mares he got from Falmouth at Heath House Paddocks at Newmarket. He got useful juveniles like himself, including Craven Stakes winner Grand Master (out of Falmouth's great mare Queen Bertha), Chesterfield and Prendergast Stakes winner Leap Year (out of Falmouth's good producer Wheat-Ear), and Gimcrack Stakes winner King Olaf. Daughter Whirlwind (out of Falmouth's classic winner Hurricane) won the Stetchworth Stakes, Triennial Produce Stakes and Newmarket Oaks; she was later sent to Argentina. His other winners included King Shepherd, King Pippin, Queen Pippin, Strathblane, and Witchcraft, another good juvenile winner.
Several mares bred to KINGCRAFT were exported carrying his foals in-utero: in France, his daughter Swift won the 1876 Grand Criterium, as did Vermet, later a winner of the Prix du Nabob. Leap Year, who in England produced Cornbury, a winner of the Epsom's Great Metropolitan Handicap, also went to France, where she produced Beatrix (1892, by Le Sancy), a useful winner and later dam of of Strozzi (a Prix du Cadran winner), a stayer and useful sire.
Purchased at Falmouth's dispersal sale in 1884 for 500 guineas (the lowest price for Falmouth's five stallions), KINGCRAFT went to stud at Athgarvan Lodge at the Curragh in Ireland, and became, like some other King Tom sons that stood in Ireland, the sire of some good steeplechasers. In his old age he was purchased by American Daniel Swigert, but he died on shipboard enroute to the U.S. His daughter Springfield Maid (1886) won the Irish Grand National and the Galway Plate, a 2 mile-6 furlong handicap steeplechase, among other races. His half-bred son Mount Armstrong (HB Family 22), won eight steeplechases, including the Foxhunters' Plate at Punchestown. His half-bred daughter Ina (1886, HB Family 24) won several races on the flat, four hurdle races and a steeplechase and later produced winners over fences.
KINGCRAFT'S daughter Gipsy Queen (1886, out of Paradise by Ascetic) was a notable Irish matron whose daughters had a significant influence on breeding in France and Germany -- Lady Palmist (1897) became the tail-female source of classic winners in Germany; Queen's Bower, the dam of Prix de Diane winner Qu'elle est Belle; Waterhen established an excellent tail-female line in France. The Tetrarch traced back to KINGCRAFT in tail-female through his Irish-bred daughter Rose Garden. KINGCRAFT'S Irish-bred daughter Countess Langden (1885) went to William Macdonagh's Menlo Park Stud in the San Francisco bay area, California, where she was bred to the great Ormonde; the resulting colt, Ossary, also a stallion at Menlo Park Stud, got Sir Wilfred, a useful stakes winner and a colt that extended Ormonde's sire line in the U.S. for a few generations.
KINGCRAFT'S influence in direct male line was negligible. He did, however, get Kingdom (1879), a stallion sold to Germany, seen primarily through his Hanoverian son King (1890), and is also present 3 x 4 in the Hanoverian stallion Fling, and so seen in many show jumping pedigrees today through that warmblood connection. KINGCRAFT'S son Grand Master got Loutch (1890), a winner of the Grand Steeple-chase de Paris in 1894.
KINGCRAFT'S dam, Woodcraft, produced another King Tom son, GREAT TOM (1873) for Lord Falmouth, and a couple of King Tom daughters, one of which, ANERIDA (1871) continued the tail-female line for a few generations. GREAT TOM was a big 16.2 hands golden chestnut, also with the "most excellent oblique shoulders" of his sire line, "great depth of girth," and "timber enough under him for a cart-horse." He ran in top company, but was at best a moderate winner. As big and growthy as he was, he started only once as a juvenile, failing to place in the Boscawen Post Stakes at Newmarket First October.
GREAT TOM went on at age three to win twice, place second three times, and third twice in nine starts. Unplaced in both the Two Thousand Guineas and Epsom Derby, he was second in Ascot's Prince of Wales's Stakes to Petrarch (the Two Thousand Guineas winner), and two days later ran a dead-heat in Ascot's St. James' Palace Stakes (one mile) with Glacis, even weights, and afterwards took the walk-over. At Doncaster he won the 1-1/2 mile Doncaster stakes, with COLTNESS second by two lengths. At Newmarket in the fall he was third to Camembert and Twine the Plaiden in the Triennial Produce Stakes (one mile, 2 furlongs), second the Twine the Plaiden in the Beaufort Stakes (one mile), and third to Falmouth's King Tom colt, Skylark in the Newmarket Derby. At age four he won once in six starts, placing three times. His win was Newmarket's Winding Handicap (one mile, seventeen yeards); at Shrewsbury he was second to Sheldrake (117 lbs.) for the Queen's Plate over 2-1/4 miles, carrying 138 pounds, and beating two others, and second to the French-bred Augusta in Newmarket's Triennial Produce Stakes (two miles), and third to Springfield in the Champion Stakes.
William G. Harding, like a number of other leading American breeders, was caught up in King Tom Mania. He really wanted SKYLARK, a much superior runner to GREAT TOM, but at the time Falmouth would not sell SKYLARK, and Harding settled for GREAT TOM. He sent his representative, W.H. Jackson to meet GREAT TOM when he landed in New York in December, 1878. GREAT TOM was brought to Belle Meade Stud in Tennessee, intended to replace the aging Bonnie Scotland, but soon after he arrived, Enquirer was added to the stallion roster, and after Bonnie Scotland's death in 1880, he, and not GREAT TOM, assumed pride of place at the stud; with Luke Blackburn and Bramble added to the farm's stallion barn, and later, Iroquois, GREAT TOM was not the farm's most popular stallion. Still, he got two really fast fillies, Swift and Telie Doe, that bolstered his reputation with their wins in 1886, and became a stalwart stallion at Belle Meade.
GREAT TOM's other good winners included Tyrant (Belmont and Withers Stakes and other races, grandsire of French Oaks winner Medeah), Advance Guard (winner of 48 races in 162 starts, probably the best horse in North America in his time), the 1883 champion juvenile runner General Harding, Cremorne, Toscin, Maid Marian, Talleyrand, Tea Rose, Thackery (the only horse to beat the great turf queen Miss Woodford at age three), and other good ones. A good broodmare sire, his daughters included: Tullahoma, the dam of Tammany (1892 champion horse in the U.S.); and Tallapaloosa, the dam of the gelded Proctor Knott (champion juvenile in the U.S. in 1888), and his daughters bred about fifty other high-class performers. His daughter Touch-me-not, was second dam of Great Britain; another daughter, Grace J., established an American family line that included the American speedster Ruddy Light and Chiclelight; and daughter Tarantula was seen tail-female in Wise Counsellor's pedigree. GREAT TOM died in 1898 at Belle Meade.
One Thousand Guineas winner Mentmore Lass (1850, by Melbourne), was a daughter of Rothschild's Emerald (dam of KING OF DIAMONDS), and was the Baron's first classic winner. She produced a series of winners by King Tom at Mentmore, but her best was a daughter of her old age, the triple classic winner HANNAH (1868), named after Rothschild's daughter, who married the Earl of Rosebery.
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Hannah
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HANNAH, "a small-boned filly somewhat lacking in substance," who took very much after her dam, was yet another good juvenile by King Tom, winning Newmarket's July Stakes (beating a big field), the Triennial Produce Stakes ("easily") and the Clearwell Stakes ("easily"), and in the fall placing a good third to Albert Victor and Steppe in the Middle Park Plate (giving both 7 pounds). In her third outing in the same week, giving away four pounds, she was beaten by a head by Digby Grand in the Prendergast Stakes.
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At age three HANNAH won the One Thousand Guineas (beating Steppe and CORISANDE), and took the Epsom Oaks in a canter. At Ascot in the Prince of Wales's Stakes, she was third to King of the Forest and Ripponden (receiving 11 pounds from Hannah), with a length between first and third. In September she met a field of nine others, including Albert Victor and Digby Grand in the Doncaster St. Leger, and in an exciting race, with the pace pushed by a rabbit, Orator, she responded twice when called upon by her jockey (Maidment), to win the race by a length, with Albert Victor second by a neck. At Newmarket she was third to VERDURE (by King Tom) and Veranda in the Newmarket Oaks, giving them each 7 pounds. After that, she fell off, winning four small races in her next eighteen starts at ages four and five, and was retired. She bred one colt, Holmby (by Lord Clifden), then slipped twins and died.
Mentmore Lass's other King Tom foals included WING (1858), stakes placed at Epsom and Ascot at age two; CRAFTON LASS (1860), at age three a winner of a fillies sweepstakes at Newmarket and third in Ascot's Coronation Stakes, was sold to Hungary at age five carrying a Tim Whiffler foal that was called All My Eye and that won the Magyar Kanca Dij (Hungarian Oaks) at Budapest; BREEZE (1861), at age three winner of Ascot's Coronation Stakes and two other races, and second in the Epsom Oaks and Newmarket Oaks (both times to Fille de l'Air), Ascot's Royal Stakes and Ascot's Alexandra Plate; ZEPHYR (1862), winner of two races at Newmarket as a juvenile, and at age three third in the Epsom Oaks and Ascot Gold Cup. BREEZE was later third dam of Galeazzo (1893, by Galopin) and fourth dam of the good stayer Radium (1903, by Bend Or). ZEPHYR produced Favonius (1868, by Parmesan), who won the Epsom Derby for Rothschild in the year HANNAH took her three classic races, which was henceforth referred to as "The Baron's Year." Favonius later got Derby winner, Sir Bevys (1876), bred and raced by Rothschild's nephew, Baron Leopold de Rothschild, and trained by Joseph Hayhoe.
May Bloom (1861, by Newminster) was another Rothschild foundation mare consistently bred to King Tom. The best runner of the lot was CORISANDE, born in 1868, the same year as HANNAH, and probably a better racehorse. She debuted in a small race at Newmarket in the spring, beaten by two very moderate fillies, The Penguin and Queen of the Gipsies. She was not slated to run again until July, but Favonius (who would win the Derby that year for Rothschild) showed up at Ascot lame, and CORISANDE was hurridly sent to Ascot to replace him in the New Stakes, which she won by a neck from Bothwell. At Newmarket July she won three races in three days, including the Chesterfield Stakes. In the fall, she went unplaced in the Middle Park Plate, won by Albert Victor, with HANNAH third. She could not beat Général in the Criterion Stakes at Newmarket, but a few days later beat Noblesse for a Post Sweepstakes, ending her season with seven wins in ten starts.
At age three CORISANDE was sacrified to her stablemate, HANNAH, in the One Thousand Guineas and Oaks, her efforts in those races "regarded as merely training gallops." At Ascot she easily won the Coronation Stakes, beating Steppe and five others. She did not win at Goodwood, and was started in the Brighton Cup to aid Favonius. Back at Newmarket, Rothschild instructed trainer Joseph Hayhoe to try CORISANDE against HANNAH, only just back from her St. Leger win at Doncaster, and she beat that filly over 2-1/4 miles by a head, ensuring her a run in the Cesarewitch. First, she "did a nice exercise gallop" to win the Grand Duke Michael Stakes at Newmarket First October. She then won the Cesarewitch, beating Cardinal York (giving her 16 pounds), in a field of twenty-seven. Since her trial against HANNAH was conducted quietly, her connections made a great deal of money wagering on the Cesarewitch. With a 7 pound penalty, she failed in the Cambridgeshire, and also in the Rowley Handicap. The next season she won a plate at Newmarket, the Queen's Plate at Ascot and another one at Newmarket July, and at age five she ran several times without success, including the Cesarewitch, won by KING LUD, to whom she was giving 19 pounds.
CORISANDE produced some daughters that bred on: Cambridgeshire winner Adam Bede (1908) and Grand National Steeplechase winner Shaun Golin (1920) were among her descendants. Her year-older sister, VERDURE (1867), won the Newmarket Oaks, and later produced Vista (1879, by Macaroni), a good race mare whose wins included Doncaster's Great Yorkshire Stakes and Epsom's Great Metropolitan Handicap. An outstanding producer, Vista was the dam -- by three different stallions -- of Two Thousand Guineas winner Bona Vista (1889, sire of Derby winner and two-time leading sire Cyllene, and a significant stallion in Austria-Hungary after his export there), Sir Visto (1892), winner of the Epsom Derby and Doncaster St. Leger among other races; and Velasquez (1894), a superior juvenile that later won the Champion Stakes (twice), the Eclipse Stakes, and the Princess of Wales's Stakes. Another May Bloom - King Tom daughter, LADY MENTMORE (1869) was purchased by August Belmont, and in his Nursery Stud in the U.S. produced several winners, with daughters that bred on.
King Tom's son KING ERNEST (1869, out of Ernestine, by Touchstone) was bred by Sir Lydston Newman, (3rd) Bt., of Ashcombe and Manmead, Co. Devon, who had a small stud and ran some winners. A 16 hand blood bay with a gentle disposition and an atypical (for a King Tom) upright shoulder, he reportedly was very speedy in his trials, but irreparably injured a knee by falling on pavement and never raced. He followed other King Tom sons to the U.S., serving as a stallion in David D. Withers' Brookdale Stud in Monmouth County, New Jersey, where he was mostly restricted to the mares of his owner. His get were noted for their speed and endurance, among them Jersey Lass (Maryland Stakes at Jerome Park, later dam of Macduff), Report (Jockey Club Handicap, Jerome Park, 2 miles in 3:36-1/2, Long Branch Handicap, Shrewsbury Handicap, Monmouth Cup, etc.), Reporter, Marathon, Maggie C., Gov. Shevlin, and Kingcraft. He also got Trillion (1891), who won the American Grand National in 1899, and Easter Sunday (1882), sire of the half-bred Maryland Hunt Cup winner Reveller.
KING ERNEST'S son, King Eric, a winner of the Nursery Stakes and the Withers Stakes, was among America's leading sires -- tenth in 1904 -- and got three high-class winners in Ort Wells (winner of the Tidal and Lawrence Realization Stakes, Brooklyn Derby and numerous other races, champion 3 year old in 1904, champion older horse in 1905), Dick Welles (winner of 20 races, six times in the top ten leading sires, and sire of Kentucky Derby winner Wintergreen and of the incredibly versatile gelding Billy Kelly), and Prince Lief. King Eric also got Dick Finnell, the latter a useful winner and sire that continued the sire line by getting Liberty Loan (Latonia Derby and other races) and Westy Hogan (Bowie Stakes, Laurel Stakes, Knickerbocker Handicap, Fort Thomas Stakes, etc.).
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Marsworth
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Another King Tom son that went abroad was MARSWORTH (1871, out of a mare by Fernhill or Gleam), bred at the Rothschild stud. He won Epsom's Woodcote Stakes as a juvenile in 1873, but Baron Rothschild died in February of 1874, and although the Baroness opted to continue the breeding program, two and three-year-olds in training were sold by Tattersalls that year, averaging a very high 715 guineas. MARSWORTH, however, far exceeded the average when Georg von Lehndorff, who believed the colt to be one of the best ever bred by the Rothschilds, purchased him for 5,000 guineas for the German state breeding program.
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Installed at Hauptgestüt Trakehnen in 1874, MARSWORTH got over thirty horses for the State Stud, originally intended for cavalry and riding horse improvement. He became, primarily through his sons Elfenbein (1879) and Piccolomini (1878), one of the most influential stallions in the Trakehner breed, now known for its excellence in sporthorses. Despite the horrors of World War II, when the stud was decimated, MARSWORTH can still be seen in some Trakehner pedigrees.
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Lady Golightly
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The Thormanby daughter, Lady Coventry (1865), bred by Joseph Dawson and trained and raced by Matt Dawson, ran seven times at ages two and three, placing second in the Middle Park Stakes by a head as a juvenile, and second to the explosively great Formosa in both the One Thousand Guineas and Epsom Oaks. Dawson sold her to Lord Falmouth, and she was bred to King Tom several times, producing PEEPING TOM (1871), YORKSHIRE BRIDE (1872), and LADY GOLIGHTLY (1874). PEEPING TOM won Newmarket's International Handicap and some other races; YORKSHIRE BRIDE was picked up by Georg von Lehndorff and shipped off to Germany in 1875.
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An attractive, but "nervous and fidgety" dark bay filly, LADY GOLIGHTLY was good at age two, beaten by a head in her debut, Newmarket's July Stakes, then reeling off five wins in a row, including Doncaster's Champagne Stakes, but trailed off at the end of the season in the Middle Park Plate and Prendergast Stakes at Nemarket. Although she showed poorly in the spring of 1877, placing third in the One Thousand Guineas and not at all (fourth) in Placida's rainy Epsom Oaks, by August she had bounced back, and at Doncaster ran second to her owner's horse, Silvio, in the St. Leger, and went on to take the 1-1/2 mile Great Yorkshire Stakes by three lengths (beating five), the Yorkshire Oaks, the Park Hill Stakes and the Doncaster Stakes. At Newmarket later in the fall she won the Newmarket Oaks and Newmarket Derby, ending the season with ten wins in fifteen starts. She ran at age four, winning once in five starts. Her line persisted for a few generations, with some winners, and then died out.
Scotland-based James Merry (owner of Scottish Chief, Marie Stuart, Doncaster, and other great runners) was the owner of Crocus (1866) by Merry's Derby winner, Thormanby. Crocus was a "very smart" juvenile, winner of five of thirteen starts at that age, including Doncaster's Filly Stakes and the Coventry and Mottisford Stakes at Stockbridge. She could not place at age three and was retired to Merry's stud as a broodmare. She produced several foals to the cover of King Tom, including COLTNESS (1873) and LELIA (1876). COLTNESS, like many other King Tom sons, had speed and could stay. He won Ascot's New Stakes and dead-heated for the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood at age two; the Ascot Biennial, Goodwood's Post Sweepstakes and Racing Stakes, Newmarket St. Leger, Yorkshire Stakes, and Ayr Gold Cup at age three; and Ascot's 2 mile-6 furlong Queen Alexandra Stakes and Goodwood's Bentinck Memorial Stakes at age four. COLTNESS, who started as a stallion at the noted Middle Park Stud, was a good broodmare sire whose daughters produced Hackler's Pride (two-time winner of the Cambridgeshire Stakes), Georgic (1892 winner of the Cambridgeshire), Amurath (Brocklesby Stakes winner) and Lily Langtry's Merman, born in Australia and brought to England to race (winner of the Cesarewitch Stakes, Goodwood Cup, Ascot Gold Cup, among other races). LELIA'S (1876) wins included Ascot's Coronation Stakes.
Lord Falmouth's good broodmare Wheat-Ear (by Young Melbourne, also dam of Leap Year, by KINGCRAFT) produced SKYLARK (1873), "a magnificent dark brown horse who thickened with age and was the beau-ideal of a horse for getting hunters," to the cover of King Tom. A versatile, successful racehorse, at age two he won all four of his races -- the Gladiateur, Chesterfield, Rutland and Post Stakes at Newmarket. At age three his six wins included the Biennial at Newmarket, the Bentinck Memorial Stakes, and the Newmarket Derby. The next season he won ten of his fifteen starts, including the Ascot Gold Vase, and was second in both the Ascot Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup.
Retained by Falmouth as a stallion, SKYLARK stood at Heath House Paddocks at Newmarket, next to KINGCRAFT and Falmouth's other stallions. When Falmouth dispersed his horses in training and breeding stock in 1884, SKYLARK -- who had "uncanny hocks" -- was sold to Mr. Cartwright for 1150 guineas (more than twice the price brought by KINGCRAFT), and stayed at Newmarket at stud for a few years, and then was sold to Ireland, where he stood at Athgarvan Lodge at the Curragh in Ireland (where KINGCRAFT stood). Not very successful as a flat racing stallion, he got Paddy (1889), a stayer that won Epsom's Great Metropolitan Handicap and Manchester's November Handicap, among other races. A daughter, Hilda (1883) was sold to Hungary, where she won the Magyar Kanca dij at age three. But both in Falmouth's stud and afterwards, he did get a lot of horses, both full and half-bred, that ran in hunter's races, hurdles and steeplechases. The most successful of these was The Soarer, winner of the Grand National Steeplechase and the Great Sandown Chase in 1896, among other steeplechases. Other SKYLARK winners over fences included Liffey, Vivacious, Fersen, and Woodlark. As far as influence on the breed, his daughter, Warble (1884, out of Coturnix), who also raced over fences, established a useful tail-female line: her daughter, Maid of the Mint (1897, by Minting) was the dam of Derby and Grand Prix de Paris winner Spearmint (1903, by Carbine). Warble's son, Cesarewitch winner Wargrave (1898, by Carbine), was a useful stallion, and a descendant of her daughter Honeybird (1896) was the fast American filly Ruddy Light (inbred to King Tom through GREAT TOM).
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King Ban
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KING BAN (1875) was another King Tom son bred by Lord Falmouth. He was out of Falmouth's homebred mare Atlantis (1867 by Thormanby), a winner of five races in nine starts as a juvenile, including Newmarket's Clearwell and Prendergast Stakes. KING BAN was a rich chestnut standing 16-1/2 hands, "of good shape and muscular development," but fine legs that did not appear to support his bulk. KING BAN, said American turf writer Thomas Merry, "was the only King Tom horse I ever heard of with bad legs, but he had them." Merry apparently had never seen PHAETON. As a juvenile he ran second to Mourle in the Granby Stakes at Newmarket, his only race that year. At age three he went unplaced in Newmarket's Craven Stakes, and came in second to Mida in the Coffee Room Stakes (1 mile-2 furlongs), with two horses, one of them KING O' SCOTS, behind him. That was it for his career on the turf.
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KING BAN followed other King Tom sons to America, where he was installed at Maj. Barak G. Thomas' Dixiana Stud Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. In the U.S. he was a successful stallion, particularly of speedy juveniles, but he also got some great stayers, and at one point James Ben Ali Haggin (first owner of the huge Rancho del Paso stud farm in California, then of Elmendorf in Kentucky) offered Thomas $30,000 for the horse, which was refused, but Haggin made use of KING BAN several times as a stallion, anyway. Enthusiasm after KING BAN'S first crops hit the ground led to a bidding war at the 1888 New York auction of Haggin yearlings for a KING BAN youngster, King Thomas (1887, bred by Haggin from Maud Hampton), resulting in a final bid of $38,000, the highest price paid to date for a horse of that age at public auction. Purchased by Lucius Appleby, he was later sold privately to Senator Hearst of California for $40,000! King Thomas, like many another overpriced yearling since, was a huge disappointment. At age five King Thomas finally won a race at Brighton Beach -- a $400 purse over 6-1/2 furlongs -- his only win, and was later sold for a couple of hundred dollars, vanishing into obscurity.
KING BAN'S good progeny included James Ben Ali Haggin's Ban Fox, the champion juvenile of 1885, his brother, King Fox, a top juvenile that died at the end of his first season on the turf; Bandala (1883, out of Mannie Gray), winner of Jerome Park's Ladies Stakes and Sheepshead's Mermaid Stakes at age three (fourth dam of Zev and of Edith Cavell and Florence Nightingale); Jewel Ban (1886), winner of the Kentucky Oaks; Highflight (1881), winner of the Ashland Oaks; Queen Ban (1880), winner of Lexington's Citizen Stakes and Bluegrass Stakes; Punster, a speedy winner of five of nine races as a juvenile, including Louisville's Alexander Stakes and Lexington's St. Nicholas Hotel Stakes; Violator, another good juvenile, Bamburg, a winner of the Louisville Cup, and a number of other good stakes winners. His daughters, notably Queen Ban (Rough n' Tumble descends from her) and her sister Lady Frazer (1887, fourth dam of champion filly Friar's Carse, later dam of Relic and Intent), Carline (1885, dam of Preakness Stakes winner Flocarline), Rosary (1881), and Sea Mew (1885) were the sources of many good American stakes winners. KING BAN died in 1887 at Dixiana.
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Prince Plausible
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Very few King Toms, daughters or sons, failed to win at least one race during their careers. Some of his lesser lights included PRINCE PLAUSIBLE (1858, from Longitude, by Inheritor), who raced through age seven. He won a nursery handicap as juvenile at Newmarket; took sweepstakes at Newmarket and Ascot, and placed second twice in seven starts at age three; at age four won the Chesterfield Cup (1-1/2 miles). and placed several times at ages five and six for his owner, Prince Batthyany. His brother, KING CHARMING (1862) won two of his four races as a juvenile. WILD TOMMY (1873, out of Wild Agnes by Wild Dayrell), another big colt and a roarer, at age three won the Post Stakes at Newmarket, but was beaten by a neck into second place in the Doncaster St. Leger by Petrarch, and was second to him again in Newmarket's Autumn Handicap. He stood at Easton, but did not succeed as a stallion.
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KING O' SCOTS (1867, from Katherine Logie by The Flying Dutchman), "a beautifully topped" colt owned and trained by Joseph Dawson at Bedford Lodge, was "known to be a rogue" (one of the few temperamental King Toms), "...though evidently a very good horse when he likes." He ran eight times at age three, placing fourth in KINGCRAFT'S Derby by being baulky, and winning four races -- taking Northampton's Whittlebury Stakes "easily", two sweepstakes at Newmarket (one by six lengths), and Ascot's Prince of Wales's Stakes, beating twelve good ones in a canter. He first went to stud at Barrow's Paddocks at Newmarket. His son, Potentate, was a well-known sire of hunters. His daughter, The White Lady (1875) was third dam of the excellent producer Donnetta (1900, by Donovan), dam of classic winners Diadem (1914) and Diophon (1921) and other good horses.
King Tom's Broodmare Daughters
In England, three King Tom daughters each produced an English classic winner -- ZEPHYR, dam of Derby winner Favonius; QUEEN OF CYPRUS (1873), dam of Oaks winner Limasol (1894, by Poulet; also dam of Cypria that dead-heated for the Cesarewitch in 1893); and KING ALFRED'S SISTER, dam of Two Thousand Guineas winner Enterprise. But the most significant King Tom daughter was ST. ANGELA (1865, from Adeline by Ion), a winner of one small race, that became the dam of the unbeaten racehorse and great progenitor St. Simon, and, through daughter Angelica, second dam of the champion racehorse and important stallion, Orme. MERMAID, another King Tom daughter, was one of the most significant broodmares in New Zealand bloodstock history. King Tom daughters also produced classic winners in Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, and New Zealand.
Several King Tom mares were sold to Germany and Austria-Hungary and later produced classic winners there. CRAFTON LASS (1860, sister to BREEZE and ZEPHYR) produced the Magyar Kanca dij (Oaks) winner All My Eye. THERESA (1858, from Molly by Pantaloon) produced Illona (1876, by Cambuscan), another winner of the Magyar Kanca dij and of the Nemzeti dij (2,000 Guineas), and in Germany of the Preis der Diana (Oaks); Ilona's brother Isolani (1877) also won the Nemzeti dij and the Magyar St. Leger. GAIETY (1864, from Gaylass by Teddington) was the dam of Cambus (1881, by Cambuscan), who won the Furstenberg Rennen (Two Thousand Guineas) in Germany.
GORSE (1859, out of Blooming Heather by Melbourne) won the Nursery Stakes at Newmarket at age two, and was sold to Baron T. Festetics, for whom she won races in Germany, including the Kaiserpreis at age five. GORSE later produced Österreichisches and Union-Rennen winner Good Hope (1873, by Buccaneer), later a useful sire. GORSE was also the dam of Goura (1872, by Buccaneer), dam of Deutsches Derby winner Geier (1890, by Flageolet) and successful broodmare daughters that sent her family forward through the mid-twentieth century. Deutches Derby winner Gulliver (1909), Glosse and Grita (all by Hannibal) were all descended from GORSE. GORSE'S sister, MAHONIA (1867), winner of the Ascot Triennial at age two, was the dam of three English-bred daughters that established successful branches of her family, largely in Germany and France, including Magnolia (1874, by Lecturer), whose tail-female line continued in Rothschild (or Rothschild relatives) ownership for over one hundred years, and included Prix de Diane winner Quenouille (1916, by Prestige) and her descendants, such as Grand Prix de Paris winner Vieux Manoir (1947, by Brantome) and Prix du Jockey Club winner Crystal Palace (1974).
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Canace
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CANACE (1860), out of Rothschild's mare Deiopeia, by Defence, won at age two and placed at age three in sweepstakes at Newmarket. She was purchased by Count Nikolaus Esterházy in 1865, and bred some winners, including her daughter, an unnamed Buccaneer Mare (1870) that won the Österreichisches Derby. CANACE's daughter Vita (1876, by Buccaneer) was the dam of Soll Ich (1884, by Chamant), winner of the Magyar Kanca dij, and Willich (1886, by Przedswit), who took the Szent Laslo dij. CANACE'S sister, NYANZA (1865) won a number of races for Rothschild in England, including the 1868 Queen's Plate (4 miles) and the Oatlands Plate over the Cambridgeshire course at Newmarket. Another sibling, the dark chestnut TOM KING (1859) was sold to the Walker brothers of New Zealand, and exported there, where he stood at various studs and got some winners.
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In France, King Tom mares were the dams of three classic winners, all by the Vermout son, Perplexe, and all bred at Baron Arthur Schickler's Haras Martinvast. The unraced AGNES SOREL, bred by Sir Tatton Sykes, dropped Sakountala (1883, by Perplexe) at Martinvast. Sakountala won some races as a juvenile and at age three took the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, but could only run third in the Prix de Diane. Sakountala's sister, Macarena, was the dam of La Morinière, a winner of the Prix la Rochette and the Prix du Jockey Club. The SISTER TO TOMATO (1866) out of Mincemeat was the dam of the good race mare Perplexité, whose wins included the Prix Royal Oak.
MIMOSA (1868), out of the Melbourne mare Giraffe, also went to Haras Martinvast, and, to the cover of Perplexe, produced Sycomore (1883). He won a couple of races as a juvenile, and at age three tied with Upas in the 1886 Prix du Jockey Club, placing second in several other races, including the Prix Hocquart and the Poule d'Essai des Poulains.
Giraffe, who had been bred by Rothschild, also produced MISS GIRAFFE (1858) to King Tom. MISS GIRAFFE was sold to William Gerrard of South Australia, and went into his Rapid Bay Stud there, where she produced two excellent brothers by imported Talk o' the Hills. The first, Rapid Bay (1872), won the VRC Melbourne Stakes and All-Aged Stakes and the AJC Doncaster Handicap; he died two years after his retirement to stud, but got a winner of the VRC Oaks and a number of good broodmare daughters. The second was Neckersgat (1873), a big ungainly colt who injured himself before racing and was exiled to Queensland to get riding horses; when Rapid Bay died, he was brought back to Rapid Bay Stud, where he got over twenty winners of significant races, including the stayers Melbourne Cup winner Dunlop and Portesa, a winner of the VRC Australian Cup and other good races, and the flyers Maddelina (Caulfield Guineas, etc.) and Newstead (Flying Stakes). Among the leading sires in Australia for over a decade, he was also a good broodmare sire.
MERMAID (1860, out of Water Witch, by The Flying Dutchman) and TOMYRIS (1858, sister to HIPPIA and HIPPOLYTA, out of Daughter of the Star) also bred at Mentmore, were both sold to New Zealanders Lancelot and Sherbourne Walker, who also bought TOM KING and the great stallion Traducer on the same shopping trip to England. MERMAID was bred repeatedly and successfully to Traducer; most of her foals bred by English transplant Stephen Nosworthy, who had a stable at Riccarton and later managed the famous Middle Park Stud at Canterbury (New Zealand). MERMAID'S daughter Lurline was a true "Queen of the Turf" in both New Zealand and Australia, losing only three of her thirteen races in New Zealand, and those because her owner had declared for a stablemate. Her wins included the Canterbury Cup (twice), the Christchurch Plate (twice), the Dunedin Cup, and in Australia, after her purchase by Samuel Gardiner, the Australian Cup, Adelaide Cup, and other good races. At Gardiner's Bundoora Park Stud in Victoria (Melbourne), Lurline was the dam of the Australian classic and Cup winner Darebin (1878), later a stallion at Rancho del Paso in California, where he got Emma C., the dam of Commando. The MERMAID-Traducer cross also produced Castaway (Wellington Cup, Timaru Cup, later useful sire), Le Loup (1874, Canterbury Cup, CJC Canterbury Jockey Club Handicap, VRC Handicap, later sire), and Malice (1867, dam of the useful stallion St. Swithin (1884)). MERMAID'S daughter Waterwitch (1866, by Duppa's Camden) was the dam of three excellent producing daughters that carried her female line forward to the present, and a son, Natator (1875), a winner of the CJC Derby Stakes, Wellington Cup and other good races and later sire of the great steeplechaser Moifaa, who went to England to win the 1904 Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree.
Many other King Tom daughters were good producers and/or continued successful tail-female lines. The more immediately successful broodmares -- who had offspring that won at all distances -- not noted elsewhere included: MISS HAWTHORN (1859, from a Jerry mare), dam of Captivator (1867, by Caractacus), whose wins included Epsom's Great Metropolitan Handicap (2-1/2 miles), and of Tam o'Shanter (1871, by Blinkhoolie), a Chester Cup winner; CRESLOW (1861, from Lady, by Orlando), whose son, Winslow won the Corinthian Plate and Ascot's Royal Hunt Cup; LADY SOPHIE (1863, out of Bridle, by The Saddler), dam of Goodwood Stakes winner (2 miles) Scamp (1871, by The Rake), Ascot's Hardwicke Stakes winner (12 furlongs) El Plata (1876, by Cathedral), and Scobell (1878, by Carnival), a winner of Newmarket's 1-1/2 mile Great Foal Stakes at age three; MRS. WALLER (1863, out of Tight-Fit, by Teddington), who produced two good See-Saw foals, Master Waller (1877), who took Ascot's Prince of Wales's Stakes and Ascot's Visitor's Plate among other races, and Miss Waller (1881), winner in Ireland of the Curragh's Flying Stakes and Baldoyle's Stewards' Plate; BELLE AGNES (1873, from Little Agnes, by The Cure), dam of Sir Ruben (1881, by Doncaster), whose wins included the Prince of Wales's Stakes at age three.
Another King Tom daughter, PRINCESS ALICE (1864, out of Princess, by Brockley) was sold to count Hugo von Henckel, a wealthy German-Austrian industrialist; in his stud at Nedau near Wolfsburg, she produced Henckel's Union-Rennen winner Roman (1871, by Lecturer), and Prince Giles (1874, by Giles the First), a winner of numerous races in Germany and Austria-Hungary, including Frankfurt's Alexander-Rennen, Friedrich Franz-Rennen (Bad Doberan); Prince Giles was the only horse to come close to beating the great Kincsem, when he dead-heated with her in Baden-Baden's 1878 Großer Preis von Baden (he lost the run-off).
Mrs. Lincoln (1866) by Rothschild's stallion North Lincoln was bred at Mentmore, and retained as a broodmare, though she was not very successful, producing just one minor winner from five foals. However, two of her King Tom daughters did better than their dam. CZARINA (1871) later produced Dunmore (1879, by Scottish Chief), a winner of the Woodcote Stakes as a juvenile. PRINCESS (1872), a non-winner in her only race, was part of the group of horses in training sold when Baron Rothschild died in 1874.
Purchased by William Blenkiron, PRINCESS bred four foals, only one of which won a race, before she hit with Hampton, producing Royal Hampton in 1882. Royal Hampton was sold to Sir Blundell Maple, and in three years on the turf, won two races, placing second or third seven times, in ten starts. He was a brave horse that had severely injured his pastern and coronary band as a yearling and ran with a knocked-down hip, always in top company, and his best race was his last, the City and Suburban Handicap (1-1/4 miles), where he broke down during the race (he was later in slings), but managed to finish a half-length in front in the field. At Maple's Childwick Bury stud, near St. Albans, Royal Hampton proved a successful stallion, reaching fourth on the leading sires list in 1904, getting Ascot Gold Cup winner Marcion, Two Thousand Guineas winner Kirkconnel, and Royal Lancer, and some classic winners in Germany. His daughters were successful in the U.S.A., including the good race mare Royal Gun; Royal Rose, the dam of Pennant; Fascination, second dam of Stefan the Great; and Luscious, second dam of Omar Khayyam.
PRINCESS was one of several King Tom mares purchased by August Belmont and sent to his Nursery Stud in the U.S., where she bred more successful offspring, including His Highness, a winner of the Futurity, the Great Trial Stakes and six other races and champion juvenile of his year, later a useful stallion; Prince Royal, one of the best of his year at ages 3, 4, and 5; and Her Highness, another good winner that died early.
EMPRESS (1861, from Ma Mie, by Jerry), was the dam of Chiselhurst (1880 by Beauclerc), juvenile winner of the Rous Memorial Stakes whose later wins included the 1885 Liverpool Spring Cup. Ma Mie's daughter, Mammifier (by Erymus) produced REGINA (1861), a winner of four of eighteen races at age three, including two at Newmarket. REGINA was later the dam of Reform (by Fazzoletto), a winner of the Goldene Peitsche in Germany, and of Kaiser (1870, by Skirmisher), whose wins included Doncaster's Champagne Stakes, Ascot's Prince of Wales's Stakes, and the Great Yorkshire Stakes.
Rothschild's mare Flash of Lightning (full sister to Two Thousand Guineas winner Meteor, by Velocipede) produced JASPER (1864), winner of the 1867 Royal Hunt Cup. JASPER'S sister, TOURMALIN (1863) was the dam of Camelion (1872, by Lecturer), a winner of the 2-1/2 mile Jockey Club Cup.
Jeu d'Esprit (1852, by Flatcatcher) in John Williamson's stud, produced a series of good winners and broodmare daughters, including Feu de Joie (1859, by Longbow), whose wins included the Epsom Oaks. Her daughter by King Tom, JEU DE MOTS (1861) was an equally successful producer whose tail-female line, with a wealth of classic and other winners, continues to today. JEU DE MOTS' daughter, Empress (1875, by Blood Royal), won the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree, and later produced Red Prince (1889, by Kendal), juvenile winner of the National Produce Stakes at the Curragh and the Royal Whip (4 miles) at age three, and at age four put over fences, winning Cork Park's Grand Stand Handicap chase and Manchester's (England) Lancashire Steeplechase. Red Prince was the leading sire of jumpers in Great Britain between 1904 and 1909.
HILARITY (1871, from Nightingale by Mountain Deer, taproot mare of Family 1-p) was bred by James Cocklin; she was put to jumping, and passed through numerous hands, running in hurdles, hunter's races and steeplechases through age six; her best season was 1874-75, when she won the Great Western Railway Hurdle (2 miles) at Swinden, and five other races in twenty-four starts. She ended up in the Bonehill Stud of the Painter Brothers in Staffordshire, where she produced three daughters to the cover of Pero Gomez that successfully returned the family to flat racing, most notably Connie (1884), a winner of Sandown's Stand Plate as a juvenile. Connie's daughters Merry Wife (1891, by Merry Hampton), Conjure (1895, by Juggler), and Lady Santoi (1898 by Theophilius), all were tail-female conduits of good runners. The excellent Argentinian brothers Cocles, Codihue, and Camerino (all by Copyright) descended from Lady Santoi in the second generation; Ascot Gold Cup winner and sire Santoi was a grandson of Merry Wife; Conjure produced three successful stakes winners, including One Thousand Guineas winner Winkipop (1907, by William the Third). Numerous classic winners descended from Winkipop and her sister, Third Trick (1906). |
Boehm bronze of King Tom, courtesy Wikipedia
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King Tom was visited shortly before his death in 1878: at Charles Markham's "...call of "Poor Old Tommy, a worn, shrunken-necked horse slowly approaches the door of his box, and half returns the fond caress bestowed upon him. It is a touching sight, and in the eyes of one looker-on a little moisture collects as he looks, probably for the last time, on the horse so good on the course, so famous at the stud, the aged and illustrious King Tom." King Tom was euthanized via chloroform not long after that visit, after he was down for 24 hours with colic, and was buried on the Mentmore estate.
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In 1879 a life-sized bronze statue of the "Monarch of Mentmore" by artist J. Ernst Boehm was erected in the vast garden at Mentmore, "...backed by a screen of evergreens overhanging the 'grassy mound' under which the bones of King Tom rest." In 1982, when Mentmore was sold, the statue of King Tom was moved to Dalmeny House near Edinburgh, Scotland, an estate owned by the descendants of Hannah Rothschild, Baron Meyer's daughter. King Tom, we believe, still resides in the Vale of Aylesbury, where his foals once frolicked under the eye of his faithful owner, and where he will always be King.
--Patricia Erigero
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