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The Palmer
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A durable weight-carrier that won some good races for the successful owner - trainer team of Sir Joseph Hawley and John Porter, The Palmer spent seven years as a stallion at the noted Cookson stud at Neasham, County Durham, getting a lot of north country runners, before he was sold to Germany, where he was twice leading sire. In both England and Germany his best runners were fillies, and he had an important influence on thoroughbred bloodlines through his daughters.
His sire, Beadsman (1855, by the stout Weatherbit and out of the dual-classic winner Mendicant), was the last significant England-based stallion in the Joe Andrews branch of the Eclipse sire line. Beadsman was bred by Sir Joseph Hawley (1814-1875), and raced and owned as a stallion by Hawley until his death in 1872. Unplaced in two starts as a juvenile, at age three Beadsman won two races in succession at Newmarket, followed by a dead-heat with Eclipse (by Orlando) in the 1-1/2 mile Newmarket Stakes, and in his fourth race of the season, the Epsom Derby, he easily swept past the post in first position. He next won Stockbridge's Triennial Stakes, and in October received a compromise forfeit. Hawley took him out of training after that, and retired him to his stud at Leybourne Grange in Kent, where he got some fine racing sons, most bred by Hawley, and some good broodmare daughters.
One of Beadsman's most successful hits as a stallion was with Madame Eglantine (1857), by the Bay Middleton son, Cowl, who stood at Leybourne, where she was born. She was out of the good Defence daughter, Diversion, who also produced her half-sister, Miami (1844, by Venison), who won the Epsom Oaks for Hawley, and another half-sister, Crosslanes (1851, by Slane), a winner of Ascot's Queen Anne Stakes (Trial Stakes), and several other daughters that established good female lines.
Madame Eglantine was a fast, but temperamental race filly: "Terrible stories were told of her training eccentricities; and when at the post she fretted to such an extent that she was beaten before the flag fell." She was a fast filly that could not win over more than a half-mile, and only raced as a juvenile. Her wins included Northampton's Althorp Park Stakes (by four lengths, sixteen ran), Newmarket's Hopeful Stakes (beating King of Diamonds), a 3 furlong -217 yard sweepstakes at Newmarket by twently lengths, the four-furlong Reading Stakes at Reading by eight lengths (beat five), and a couple of matches at Newmarket (one receiving a forfeit). She was placed second to Lupellus in Epsom's Two-Year-Old Stakes, second to Seclusion in a sweepstakes for juveniles at Newmarket, and third to King of Diamonds and Sweetsauce in Doncaster's Champagne Stakes. In Newmarket July's Chesterfield Stakes she "jumped about" so badly, she was left at the post and was never in the race, and also ruined her chances in the Nursery Stakes at Newmarket in October of her juvenile year, her last race.
As a broodmare, "Year after year, when Madame Eglantine was due to foal, she made for a particular tree in the Berkshire downs, where she was pastured." There she presumably dropped an unnamed filly by Charleston in 1862. Then came Monaca (1863, by Beadsman), later dam of Goodwood's Stewards' Cup winnner Monaco, and the Favonius daughter Priory, that bred on. The next year she produced The Palmer, followed by their brother, Rosicrucian (1865), and their sister, Doncaster Champagne Stakes and Nassau Stakes winner Morna (1866, also second in both the One Thousand Guineas and Epsom Oaks).
In 1867 Madame Eglantine dropped Asterope (by Asteroid), and that year was put to Hawley's Two Thousand Guineas winner Fitz-Roland, producing Jocosa the next year (1868), a productive broodmare whose daughters bred some good winners. In 1872, the year Beadsman died, she dropped one of his last foals, Chaplet (1872), another good producer whose foals included the versatile Ascot Gold Cup and Royal Hunt Cup winner Morion and his brother, Winkfield (both by Barcaldine), and Bayolia, the second dam of Oaks winner Bayuda. After that came Sister of Mercy (1873), also by Beadsman, sold at Hawley's dispersal sale. Madame Eglantine also came under the hammer and was purchased by the commercial Cobham Stud, and in that stud produced Centenary (by Blair Athol) in 1875, followed by her last foal of note, Frivola (1877, by George Frederick); the latter was the dam of two daughters that went to France, where they became the ancestresses of many top stakes winners in France and Germany.
The Palmer was not an attractive horse, especially compared with his full brother, Rosicrucian, who was considered one of "the handsomest horses in England." He had "rather a coarse head," and, like his sire, a long back, "standing over a deal of ground," but he had excellent legs and "beautiful musculature." When he turned out for the 1867 Epsom Derby, where he was one of the favorites, although he went unplaced in that race, "there was quite a buzz of delight when he stripped a perfect mess of polish..." At 15.3 hands, with his heavy muscling, he gave an impression of "great power." He was, said his trainer John Porter, a very honest, and "...fine-tempered, horse...very sound and had a hard constitution" and "as a racehorse he improved steadily as he got older."
The Palmer on the Turf
The Palmer went to Cannons Heath stable at Newmarket, where Hawley's trainer George Manning had schooled all his horses. By the time The Palmer was ready for training, the stables had been taken over by a very young John Porter, who had been recommended to Hawley by Lord Westmorland, after Manning died in 1863. John "Tiny" Wells was retained as the stable's jockey. At the end of his three-year-old season, The Palmer, all of Hawley's other horses, and Porter moved to Hawley's newly-built racing stable, Kingsclere, with fourteen box stalls and a small trainer's cottage. When Hawley died in 1875, Porter exercised an option to buy Kingsclere, from which he sent forth many winners for such good owners as the Duke of Westminster (Shotover, Geheimness, Farewell, Ormonde, Flying Fox, etc.), the Prince of Wales, Baron Hirsch (La Fleche), and others. In addition to The Palmer, Hawley's horses trained by Porter included Blue Gown (by Beadsman), Porter's first Epsom Derby winner of seven and Pero Gomez (by Beadsman, Porter's first Doncaster St. Leger winner of six).
The Palmer could get twelve furlongs, and was a good weight carrier, however, he was not a great racehorse, and even Porter never thought of him as a "tip-topper." Hawley was a big believer in trials, and The Palmer was well-used at both ages three and four in trials with Hawley's other, more successful horses, including Blue Gown, Pero Gomez, and his brother and sister, Rosicrucian and Morna, probably to his detriment.
As a juvenile he ran four times, winning once. He took a maiden plate at Ascot, but couldn't place at Newmarket in the fall, including the Middle Park Plate (won by The Rake) and the Prendergast Stakes (won by Pericles, with Knight of the Garter second).
The Palmer started second favorite for the Epsom Derby, despite his modest showing as a juvenile; rumors were flying, with Hermit, a successful juvenile the previous year, having bled so severely before the race that his jockey was released to ride the other favorite, The Rake (by Wild Dayrell), the latter also in trouble, having developed a bog spavin over the winter and then breaking a blood vessel a week before the Derby. Word that at a dinner party Hawley had bet Hermit's owner, Henry Chaplin, a huge sum -- many reports put it at £40,000 -- The Palmer against Hermit, with one to win -- convinced many Hawley knew what he was doing. As he was disposed to do, Hawley had Porter run The Palmer in a trial against three unraced three-year-olds, just two days before the Derby, over 1-1/2 miles: with Wells up, The Palmer won the trial by three lengths, carrying 9 stone, with Padishah (8 st- 8 lbs.) second, Arapeile (8 st-8 lbs.) third, and Fakir (8 st.-9 lbs.) fourth. Despite what he considered a good showing, Hawley laid off £20,000 of his bet with Chaplin, which, as it turned out was fortuitous for him, since Hermit, despite the bleeding and the sleeting weather, and with a new jockey, won by a neck, with The Palmer, "badly knocked about during the race," eighth, and The Rake nowhere in the thirty horse field. Hawley was always convinced of The Palmer's superiority to Hermit, although Porter was not, and in 1868 made two matches with Chaplin for The Palmer and Hermit, but neither match came off.
At Ascot, with Wells -- "There was no jockey of his day who could punish more severely" -- scheduled to ride The Palmer in the Ascot Derby, he lobbied Porter and Hawley to be permitted to use the whip and spur on The Palmer, whom he considered a "lazy" horse. In the 1-1/4 mile race, The Palmer was headed by the French horse, Montgoubert, opposite the stand, but Wells plied whip and spur to his mount, and The Palmer came on again to win by a head, with Montgoubert second and The Priest third, and four others in the field. A few days later The Palmer met Hermit again in the St. James' Palace Stakes, and was decisively trounced by three lengths by that horse, with the Wild Dayrell son, Wild Moor, third. At that meeting Hawley made back all of his losses from the Derby wager, with his bets on Rosicrucian, who won the same Two Year Old Plate The Palmer had the previous year, beating a big field, and on Blue Gown, who beat the favorite, Grimston, for the Fern Hill Stakes.
At Goodwood The Palmer (9 st.- 1 lbs.) ran second by two lengths to Julius (8 stone - 10 lbs.) in the Racing Stakes, with Feodor third. The Palmer went on to Doncaster, where he ran out of steam when he hit the turn for home in the St. Leger, won by the brilliant filly Achievement, with Hermit second.
At Newmarket Second October The Palmer won the Royal Stakes (1 mile-2 furlongs-73 yards), beating his sole opponent, Tarreban, by a half length. At the same meeting, carrying 8 st. - 4 lbs., he was second by a head to the lightly-weighted Cheltenham (7 st. -3 lbs.) in a Handicap Plate over the Royal Mile (1 mile-17 yards), with nine others in the field. At Newmarket Houghton he dead-heated with that year's Cesarewitch winner, Julius, in the Free Handicap, worth £1,150, Across the Flat (1 mile-2 furlongs-17 yards), with ten horses in the field. The owners divided the stakes, and The Palmer took the walk-over.
The next season, 1868, The Palmer won three of his six starts, with several trials sandwiched in. He was second in a handicap plate at Newmarket First Spring (1 mile-18 yards), to Vespasian (8 st.-10 lbs.), carrying 9 st.-5 lbs., with eleven others in the field. He had a scheduled match against Hermit at Newmarket Spring, in which he was to receive 13 pounds from the Derby winner, but Chaplin cancelled the match and paid Hawley the forfeit.
On May 12 The Palmer ran in a trial against Hawley's two top three-year-olds, Rosicrucian (8 st.-7 lbs.) and Blue Gown (8 st.-7 lbs.), carrying 9 st.-10 lbs., and was two lengths behind the younger colts, with Rosicrucian winning by a neck. Two weeks later he was in another trial with Hawley's three-year-old Derby contenders and Green Sleeve (by Beadsman) that had been the top juvenile filly the previous year. In this 1-1/2 mile exercise, Green Sleeve (7 st.-7 lbs.) came first by a length, followed by Blue Gown (8 st.-8 lbs.), with The Palmer (9 st.-2 lbs.) trailing by four lengths and Rosicrucian 2 lengths behind The Palmer. "Rosi" had been ill that winter and despite the first trial, was "weak and unfit," and he was nowhere in the Epsom Derby, won by Blue Gown. The Palmer had no excuse for his trial performances, since the extra weight he carried was considered appropriate for his age.
At Ascot The Palmer ran unplaced in Ascot's Trial Stakes (won by Irish Queen). At Doncaster he was second by a short head to Vespasian in a handicap plate. That fall he was used in another trial against the two Hawley juvenile cracks, Pero Gomez and Morna, both by Beadsman, where, giving them 13 pounds and 20 pounds respectively, he ran third by a neck over six furlongs. At Newmarket October he picked up a handicap plate over the Royal Mile, beating by 3/4 of a length Lady Elizabeth (who had won eleven races the previous year as a juvenile) and three others. At Newmarket Houghton he won another handicap plate Across the Flat (1 mile-2 furlongs-73 yards), beating his only opponent, an unnamed filly by Young Melbourne, by a neck. The Palmer also had a second scheduled match against Hermit Across the Flat for Newmarket Houghton, with The Palmer giving Hermit 3 lbs., but Hermit also paid forfeit on this race.
In November he won the best race of his career, the Liverpool Autumn Cup (1 mile - 4 furlongs), with Knight of the Garter second, both horses at even weights of 8 st.-12 lbs., with the rest of the 17 horse field (including See-Saw), more lightly weighted.
In 1869 The Palmer, age five, came out for Goodwood's Chesterfield Cup in July, but he was unplaced in the race, won by his nemesis Vespasian (carrying the heaviest weight at 10 st.-4 lbs.), with two lightly-weighted horses, President Lincoln and Bambridge, second and third. The Palmer was toting 9 st.-8 lbs. in this, his only race of the season. That summer The Palmer was tried over 1-1/4 miles with Vagabond, Hawley's candidate for the City and Suburban Handicap, and two others, giving Vagabond 31 pounds and running second by a length. The Palmer, and Hawley's 1868 Derby winner Blue Gown and his useful horse Lictor (1865, by Lambton) were slated to run in the Liverpool Cup, but in the first week of October, out for a gallop at Newmarket with Blue Gown, The Palmer broke a small bone in the pastern of his near hind leg, and that was the end of his career on the turf.
The Palmer in the Stud
The Palmer did not stay in Hawley's stud, which also had the Beadsman sons Blue Gown and St. Leger winner Pero Gomez, and Hawley's beloved Rosicrucian, although all those horses were sold before 1870, as Hawley began winding down his stud operations. The Palmer was purchased for £1200 by James Sawrey-Cookson, an enthusiastic hunter to hounds in north Yorkshire and a successful breeder of many winners, whose stud was at Neasham, near Darlington in Co. Durham. Cookson and his father before him had owned such stallions as Sweetmeat, Macaroni, and the recently-departed Buccaneer, that had been sold to the Hungarian Imperial Stud. The Palmer joined The Earl, a largely infertile stallion, and Lord Lyon, the latter sold just after The Palmer joined the stallion line-up. In 1877 Cookson could not resist the £7,000 offered by Georg von Lehndorff, in England looking for stallions for the imperial Prussian stud, and The Palmer, the highest priced English stallion yet purchased by anyone in Germany, went to the principal state stud at Graditz, where he remained until his death in 1886.
The Palmer was eleventh on the leading sire's list in Great Britain in 1876, when his son FORERUNNER and daughter ZEE were good three-year-olds. He was eighteenth on the list in 1878 (PILGRIMAGE'S three-year-old season; she was not counted as a daughter of The Palmer, since her first listed sire was The Earl--if she had been, The Palmer would have been signficantly higher on the list, certainly within the top ten), and also eighteenth in 1879, when he had twenty winners, most taking more than two races (but mostly of the less lucrative kind), and tenth, his highest placing, in 1880, when his Oaks winner JENNY HOWLET was a three-year-old.
Many of his youngsters, purchased at the Doncaster yearling sales by northern sportsmen, ran at Doncaster, York, Thirsk, Ripon, Newcastle and other northern venues, and quite a few were winners, but of races with small purses. He got winners over all distances, including several long-running geldings that won numerous sprint races, but most that won seemed to be able to get 1-1/4 miles. His youngsters tended to be "long and low," like himself, with sturdy constitutions and usually, also like him, heavily muscled. His best runners were fillies, and his main contribution to thoroughbred bloodlines is through his fine broodmare daughters, among which PILGRIMAGE holds pride of place. None of his sons made much of a mark as stallions in Great Britain, although PRECURSOR and WARRENBY, sold to Sweden, had some influence in upgrading half-bred horses, the latter seen in Swedish Warmblood pedigrees. His son PALMY was exported to Chile, where he was three-times leading sire, and established an enduring sire line that continued through the 1950s, with Insurrecto (1953) the last of The Palmer's good tail-male descendants.
In Germany The Palmer was twice leading sire, in 1882 and 1883, but he was not as successful as had been anticipated, and was quickly supplanted by the German-bred Flibustier and then the powerhouse imported French stallion Chamant. As in England, his best runners were fillies, and it was through them that his thoroughbred influence continued in Germany.
His first crop, born in 1872, included CONFESSOR (from Secret, by Melbourne), a gelded winner of a number of sprint races, such as the Salisbury Stewards' Plate (5 furlongs) from age three through age ten, his best distances under a mile, trained for Sir Frederick Johnstone by John Day and mostly racing locally, at Weymouth, Salisbury and Stockbridge. GREY PALMER (1872, from Eller, by Chanticleer), another colt in that crop, was out of the dam of the excellent triple classic-winning filly Formosa, and Sir George Chetwynd paid £1,000 for him at the Doncaster yearling sales. "A rather lumbering goer," he won some races, including Warwick's Country Handicap (one mile), and a walk-over for Goodwood's Racing Stakes at age three, and was moderately competitive through age five, when he ran third in three big races -- the Chester Cup, the City and Suburban, and the Cambridgeshire. He was later a modest stallion.
Other winners in the 1872 crop included the Cookson-bred, gelded HUNTLY (from Virginia, by Stockwell), a winner of Berkshire's Abingdon Handicap and the Oxfordshire Stakes for Lord Rosebery; PILGRIM (out of Happy Thought, by Thunderbolt), bred in the Bonehill Stud in Staffordshire, a winner of three races at age three, and several winners of multiple selling plates.
The 1873 crop included some high-class winners. FORERUNNER (1873, out of Preface, by Stockwell) won a Nursery Plate at Ayr, beating seven and Newmarket's Bedford Stakes as a juvenile. For the Duke of Westminster, at age three he was second to Kisbér in the Epsom Derby, with Julius Caesar third and Petrarch fourth, and went on to win the Ascot Derby and place third to Apology and Craig Millar in the Ascot Gold Cup. He did not run after age three. As a stallion at Keltmarsh Stud Farm in Northamptonshire, he got the unraced Black Star (1880), whose daughter, The Apple (1886, by Hermit, a winner of one juvenile race) produced One I Love (1883, by Minting), Cider (1892, by Harvester) and Thankful Blossom (1891, by Paradox), three mares that established successful female lines in the U.S. Another FORERUNNER daughter, the unplaced Quick Thought (1884, from Magnolia, by Lecturer), was sold to France, where she bred three stakes winners and Queenie, (1904, by War Dance), a significant French matron with many successful broodmare daughters, including Prix de Diane winner Quenouille (1916, by Prestige), who established an important family in the Rothschild's Haras de Meautry.
Another good runner born in 1873, ZEE (out of Lady Blanche, by Voltigeur), won two races at Goodwood as a juvenile for owner Henry Savile, including the Bentinck Memorial Stakes, and at three took Goodwood's Nassau Stakes and the Yorkshire Oaks. ZEE bred some winners, and was second and third dam of two Derby Italiano winners.
The Palmer's 1873 crop also included THE NUN (1873, out of Baliverne, by Womersley), a winner of four races as a juvenile, including Liverpool's Tyro Plate and Stockton's Elton Juvenile Stakes; KING'S LYNN (out of Etoile du Nord, by Touchstone), who won Doncaster's Fitzwilliam Stakes; ST. OSWALD (from Florida, by Lord of the Isles), a winner of two juvenile races at Newcastle, exported at age four to the West Indies; RICHELIEU (from Strategy, by Adventurer), a winner of the Beresford Stakes at the Curragh in Ireland; the gelded VENTNOR (out of Maggiore, by Lecomte), who ran through age six, winning numerous sprint races, including Lewes' Ashcombe Handicap (5 furlongs) and Alexander Park's Alexander Gold Cup (5 furlongs) and two other races at age six. There was also a host of The Palmer youngsters that won races at the selling level, many of them owned and raced by northern trainers. THE NUN'S great-grandaughter went to Chile, where she became second dam of the famous Chilean champion, Oakland (1927). Another daughter from this crop, PALMISTRY (1873, out of Schechallion, by Blair Athol), bred by John Trotter, who had his horses with John Osborne at Ashgill, produced Maskelyne (1878, by Albert Victor), a winner for Count Frédéric de Lagrange of the Ascot Derby.
The Palmer's 1874 crop included PELLEGRINO (out of Lady Audley, by Macaroni), purchased at the Doncaster yearling sales by the Duke of Westminster for 1600 guineas. As a juvenile he ran second to Chamant in Newmarket's Middle Park Plate, and was thought to have a good chance in the Derby the next spring, but he broke down shortly before the Epsom race, and was retired to stud. He was a stallion at Finstall, Bromsgrove, near Birmingham, where he got "stock after The Palmer fashion, with plenty of length and liberty and with the grand muscular development peculiar to the Beadsman descent." He got winners of modest races, and never cracked the top twenty on the leading sires list. His best was probably Nasr-ed-Din (1886) , who took Ascot's Queen Anne Stakes (Trial Stakes) at age three.
PELLEGRINO got several useful broodmare daughters, including the unraced Marchioness (1883, from Baroness by Stockwell), dam of Goodwood's Stewards' Cup winner Altesse (1894), the dam of two high class colts and a couple of daughters that bred on, and of several other daughters that established useful female families. Other Pellegrino daughters that bred on included Itinerant (1879, from Corybantica, by Fandango), Lucky Shot (1883, from a Distin mare), whose several daughters established female lines; Milanaise (1895, from Mireille, by Young Melbourne), sold to Poland, where she won the Nagroda Wielka at Warsaw and later became the dam of Galtee Boy (1902, by Galtee More), a winner of the Nagroda Derby and other races in Poland; Patroness (1885, out of Patronage, by The Prime Minister), whose daughter Cross Patty (1894) also went to Poland and produced some winners and established a long-lived female line; and Shining Light (1882, from Scintilla by Thunderbolt), that established long-lived lines through several daughters in eastern Europe and Denmark.
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Palmflower
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PALMFLOWER (1874, out of Jenny Diver, by Buccaneer), bred by Cookson at Neasham, won four races as a juvenile, including Stockbridge's rich Hurstbourne Stakes, but her value was as an influential matron, the dam and second dam of Epsom Oaks winners, whose many winning descendants populate all of Family 20 -c. She went into the Mereworth stud of Lord Falmouth in Kent, where she produced Maize (1884, by Hampton) a winner of the Nassau Stakes, later the dam of the stayer Mazagan (Goodwood Cup, Jockey Club Gold Cup) and Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Veronese, and of Sesame, whose female line persisted through the twentieth century. At the Mereworth dispersal in July of 1884 PALMFLOWER was sold for 3,800 guineas to Douglas Baird. |
PALMFLOWER went on to produce a succession of winners, including El Dorado (1886, by Sterling), always placed in good company, including third in the Epsom Derby and second in Ascot's Rous Memorial Stakes and Sandown's Eclipse Stakes, and winning Goodwood's Prince of Wales's Stakes; Floranthe (1887, by Muncaster), who established a long-lived female line; Richmond Stakes winner Siphonia (1888, by St. Simon), dam of the good Ayrshire colt Symington; Coronation Stakes winner Silene (1890, by St. Simon); Kempton Park's Duke of York Stakes winner St. Florian (1891, by St. Simon); Goodwood's Prince of Wales's Stakes winner and runner-up in the One Thousand Guineas, Santa Maura (1893, by St. Simon), dam of five winners, whose many stakes winning descendants included 1939 Epsom Derby winner Blue Peter; Epsom Oaks winner Musa (1896, by Martagon), dam of Oaks winner Mirska (1909, by St. Frusquin), and Grand Prix de Paris winner Montmartin (1915, by Cadet Roussel).
Other 1874 youngsters by The Palmer included the in-bred MY NANNIE O (out of Jenny Jones, by Weatherbit) and LADY MILLICENT (from Queen of Beauty, by Thunderbolt). Both fillies ran through age four, MY NANNIE O at the selling plate level, where she won a number of races at Newton, York, Beverley, and elsewhere, and LADY MILLICENT, of slightly higher class, taking handicaps at Thirsk (1-1/4 miles) and Ripon (one mile). MY NANNIE O was sent to the U.S.; she was second dam of 1894 Preakness Stakes winner Assignee (1891, by Spendthrift), and third dam of California-bred Rubio (1908, by Star Ruby), the first U.S.-bred horse to win the Grand National Steeplechase (in 1908). LADY MILLICENT, the dam of Liverpool Spring Cup winner Givendale (1883), bred on; her descendant Grand National (1977) won the 1980 South African Oaks.
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Warrenby
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Another The Palmer matron born in 1874, PAMPELUNA (out of Catalonia, by Lord Clifden) produced three fillies that established important family lines. The good stayer and stallion Foxlaw (1922), 1927 Derby Stakes winner Call Boy, Doncaster St. Leger winner Alcide (1955), 1980 Two Thousand Guineas winner Known Fact and many other good stakes winners descend from her daughters in tail-female.
The Palmer's long and low bay colt WARRENBY (1874, out of Amine, by Pompey) was sold to Sweden at age two, where, through his daughters, he had some influence on the develoment of the Swedish warmblood. |
| The 1875 crop included PILGRIMAGE (a sister to PELLEGRINO, out of Lady Audley), a dual classic winner, and another significant broodmare by The Palmer. Nominally, she was by The Earl or The Palmer, with The Palmer the second cover, but The Earl was notably infertile, and all contemporaries agreed she was by The Palmer. She was bred by Cookson, and purchased at the Doncaster sales for 200 guineas by Joseph Cannon, who trained for Captain Machell at Bedford Cottage, Newmarket. Cannon "took a fancy" to PILGRIMAGE, despite her being "shockingly upright in front." "I bought that one," he told Machell, to which the Captain responded, "oh, I suppose you bought those forelegs as well?" She won four of her five races as a juvenile, including the Dewhurst Stakes. |
Pilgrimage
| | At age three PILGRIMAGE beat Insulaire and Sefton (the Epsom Derby winner that year) in the Two Thousand Guineas, and paid for it by spending that night and most of the next day with her forelegs in a bucket of ice. But several days later she was sound enough to take the One Thousand Guineas, beating the excellent Jannette. At Epsom, she could not stay in the Oaks, beaten by Jannette, who would also win the Doncaster St. Leger, but finished second, although lame, ahead of the good Mortemer daughter Clémentine. She could not be kept sound, and was retired, where she went on to glory in the breeding shed, producing the important broodmare sire Loved One, the outstanding race mare and producer Canterbury Pilgrim, and Epsom Derby winner Jeddah. |
Purchased by the Duchess of Montrose, PILGRIMAGE bred the stakes winners Loved One (1883, by See-Saw), Lourdes (1884, by Sefton), Shrine (1877 by Isonomy) and Mecca (1891, by Isonomy). Loved One, a modest winner of Newmarket's Cheveley Park Stakes and Newmarket's Post Foal Stakes at two and of Ascot's six furlong Wokingham Stakes at three, later got Gondolette (1902) and Doris (1898), neither of which rose above selling plate level as runners, but both of which were significant broodmares. Gondolette bred two classic winners -- One Thousand Guineas winner Ferry, and her brother, Derby winner and good stallion Sansovino. Doris produced Princess Dorrie, winner of the One Thousand Guineas and the Oaks; Sunstar, who took the Two Thousand Guineas and Epsom Derby, and the brilliant juvenile White Star. The progeny of both Doris and Gondolette have had great influence on thoroughbred bloodlines. Shrine, who won Goodwood's 1-1/4 mile Chesterfield Cup, became the dam of the good French colt Saxon (1898, by The Bard), who won the Prix du Jockey Club and other important races in France.
In 1893 PILGRIMAGE dropped Canterbury Pilgrim to the cover of Tristan. When the Duchess' Sefton Stud was dispersed in 1894, the yearling filly was sent as part of the consignment to the Newmarket July yearling sales, where she was picked up for 1,800 guineas by the Earl of Derby's son, Lord Stanley, on the recommendation of stud groom John Griffiths, who had moved to the Derby stud with the dispersal of the Sefton stud. Canterbury Pilgrim's wins included the Epsom Oaks, the Liverpool Summer Cup, Doncaster's Park Hill Stakes, and the 2-1/4 mile Jockey Club Cup, the latter by 15 lengths. Canterbury Pilgrim bred ten foals, but by far her most important youngsters were her two stellar sons. One was Chaucer (1900), a winner of eight races and sire of five classic winning fillies, including the champion Selene, that was dam of Hyperion, Sickle, and Pharamond II, and Scapa Flow, the dam of Fairway and Pharos, both leading sires. The other Canterbury Pilgrim son, Doncaster St. Leger winner Swynford (1907), later a leading sire that got six classic winners and a lightly-raced son, Blandford, that became leading sire in England three times.
The eighteen-year-old PILGRIMAGE, in foal to Janissary, also went under the hammer in 1894, and was picked up for 160 guineas by the Duke of Westminster. The next year she dropped Jeddah, who won the 1898 Epsom Derby and Ascot's Prince of Wales's Stakes.
Another 1875 The Palmer daughter, CARILLON (out of Timbrel, by Rataplan) won Doncaster's Salford Borough Cup (1-1/4 miles), a sweepstakes at Manchester, and some other races at age three, and won Stockton's Middlesborough Handicap (1-1/4 miles) and was second to Dresden China in the Great Yorkshire Handicap at age four. She later produced Clochette (1881, by Camballo), a winner of the Yorkshire Oaks. CARILLON'S younger sister, EVENING CHIMES (1877), was a consistent performer and winner of "a few nice little races" -- Ripon's Claro Plate and Richmond's Easby Nursery Handicap at age two, and the North Durham Handicap (1-1/4 miles) at age three -- for trainer Joseph Osborne. She was later the dam of Matin Bell (1884, by Thurio), a winner of the two mile Northumberland Plate by four lengths at age four, and of Campanajo (1892, by Isobar), whose wins included the two mile Goodwood Stakes and the Great Northern Handicap. Campanajo was later sold to South Africa, where he was twice leading sire.
The Palmer's 1876 crop included PALMBEARER (1876, out of Schechallion, by Blair Athol, and so brother to PALMISTRY), bred by John Trotter and trained by Joseph Osborne. He won Catterick Bridge's Brough Hall Handicap (1-1/4 miles), and both the Spring Handicap and the Chesterfield Handicap at Doncaster Spring, in which he "displayed staying powers which induced his owner to run him on the off chance for the Derby." He went off at 200 to 1 (with 1000 to 30 to place) at Epsom, and ran second to Sir Bevys. He went on that season to place third in the Great Northern St. Leger and Newmarket's All-Aged Stakes, and at Edinburgh won the two mile Queen's Plate.
Another good one from this crop was AMICE (1876, from Letty Long, by Longbow); she won the Two Year Old Plate at Newmarket, Goodwood's Findon Stakes and York's Gimcrack Stakes as a juvenile and took Newmarket's Heath Stakes (one mile) at age three. Another useful juvenile filly, MISS PALMER (1876, out of Miss Osborne, by Chevalier d'Industrie), bred and trained by John Osborne at Ashgill, won Durham's Elmore Stakes and a handicap over seven furlongs at Liverpool at two and at three Manchester's Salford Welter Handicap (1-1/4 miles), and a gentleman's race at Stockton. Neither filly produced any foals of note, but another filly from that year, PLAGUE (1876, out of Pestilence, by Daniel O'Rourke), sent to Ireland, produced The Crofter (1882 by Scottish Chief), a winner of the Madrid Handicap at the Curragh.
The Palmer's last crop born in Great Britain came in 1877, and included his Epsom Oaks winner, JENNY HOWLET, JOSEPHINE, that became a foundation matron in south Australia, and PALMY, three times leading sire in Chile.
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Jenny Howlet
| | JENNY HOWLET (1877, from Jenny Diver by Buccaneer, and so sister to PALMFLOWER) was yet another good race filly and broodmare by The Palmer. She was sold by Cookson at the Doncaster yearling sales for 1,300 guineas, purchased by Malton (Yorkshire) trainer William I'Anson for Charles Perkins, a member of a recently disbanded partnership of three owners that collectively ran horses under the name "Mr. Northern." I'Anson was owner of the superior 19th century broodmare Queen Mary, and owner and breeder of her daughter, Derby and Oaks winner Blink Bonny, and Blink Bonny's great son, Blair Athol.
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JENNY was a small, bright chestnut filly, "well-shaped and smart looking, with strong hips and capital thighs." She was a useful juvenile that won two races, but the only indication she could run at the highest level was when she beat the Duke of Westminster's juvenile star, Douranée, that would win nine of her thirteen races that season.
JENNY did well over the winter, as did another filly in the barn, Bonnie Marden (by Lord Lyon), owned by another member of the partnership. I'Anson's two owners agreed to run both in the Epsom Oaks, although the stable did not truly believe either filly had much of a chance in the race, which included such good fillies as Claude-Joachim Lefèvre's Versigny (by Flageolet) , a good winner in France that had run third in the One Thousand Guineas in England (and would win the Prix de Diane), and Evasion (by Wild Oats), who had run second. In a trial a few days before the Epsom meeting Bonnie Marden beat JENNY, and I'Anson and his owners placed small bets on Bonnie Marden to win, but it was JENNY who beat all of them and nine others, in a canter by four lengths. "So great was the general astonishment, that many people had to look at their race-cards to see what this mysterious animal could be that had won the Oaks with so little effort." As a bonus, Bonnie Marden, an almost equally obscure outsider, placed second. That was JENNY'S crowning glory. She later went on to run in Doncaster's Park Hill Stakes, but could only place third to Experiment and Evasion, and at four ran once, unplaced in a welter plate at Manchester before retirement.
As a broodmare for Perkins, JENNY bred several good ones. At age three her son Hawkeye (1883, by Uncas) won Newcastle's Bentinck Stakes in a canter, and a month later took Newcastle's Stewards' Cup by three lengths and the next day the Northern Derby, where he carried 9 st.-1 lbs. That year he also took Redcar's Great National Breeders' Foal Stakes. In June of 1888 at Newcastle his owner, who rode to hounds, rode him in a six furlong match against two other sportsmen at "catchweights", which meant the horses carried the owners, whatever they weighed -- Hawkeye had to lug the portly, 16 stone Perkins, who discovered that riding to hounds was not the same as riding a game, honest flat racing horse, "rolling about in the saddle like a ship in distress." But the same afternoon Hawkeye easily took a professional race, the Thursday Plate.
JENNY also produced Belle Mahone (1885, by Uncas), who ran third to Briar Root and Seabreeze (Oaks and St. Leger winner) in the One Thousand Guineas, won Newcastle's Northern Derby carrying top weight, and did what her dam could not, by taking Doncaster's Park Hill Stakes for her owner Perkins and trainer I'Anson.
JENNY'S son, Chitabob (1886, by Robert the Devil), was also bred and raced by Perkins and trained by I'Anson, but he had some mysterious ailment that frequently left him unsound and ill one day, and then fine the next. He was one of the few horses to "lower Donovan's sails," beating that great colt at two in Manchester's Whitsuntide Plate (worth 5,000 sovereigns) by four lengths, and also taking Newcastle's Seaton Delavel Plate and Doncaster's Champagne Stakes that year. At three he took the Northumberland Plate, but he was lame and sweating when he went to the post for the Doncaster St. Leger (won by Donovan), and towards the end of the race, with the horse blowing and in trouble, although in third place, his jockey dropped the reins, which placed him fifth of twelve runners. Chitabob was sick all night, but completely sound in the morning. He went on to Manchester to meet Donovan again, with only one other in the field -- by then, the rest had given up -- and at even weights he was beaten by Donovan by two lengths. His other wins at three were York's Great Yorkshire Stakes and Redcar's Great Foal Stakes. Chitabob, who made eighteenth on the leading sires list in 1896, was a pretty good broodmare sire. His daughter Carlin bred three good winners -- Carrousel (Goodwood Cup), Peter the Hermit (Hardwick Stakes), and Simon the Jester (Newmarket's Great Foal Stakes). Another daughter, Unberufen, was the dam of Signorino daughter, Makufa (1909), who won the Oaks d'Italia, the Premio Parioli, and the Premio Regina Elena in Italy. His daughter Camoena produced Chulo (1906, by St. Julien), whose wins in France included the Prix Monarque and Prix Ganay.
The Palmer's other youngsters of 1877 included DOMINIC (out of Kilbride, by Mountain Deer), a winner of the 1881 Liverpool Summer Cup and Edinburgh's Luthian Handicap (1-1/2 miles), and EVENING CHIMES. Another in this crop, JOSEPHINE (sister to MISS PALMER), who was imported into Australia by Sir Thomas Elder, bred four winners by Gang Forward -- SAJC Goodwood Handicap winner Goodwood; VRC Sires Produce Stakes winner Forward; VATC Oakleigh Plate winner Marie Louise, and Hortense, brilliant juvenile winner of the Flying Stakes, Ascot Vale Plate, Maribyrong Plate and VATC Debutant Stakes. JOSEPHINE'S daughters Marie Louise and Hortense both estalbished long-lived family lines in Australia and New Zealand -- 2010 VRC Standish Handicap winner Royal Ida, the gelded sprinting winner of sixteen races is a recent representative.
PALMY (1877, from Henriette, by Newminster) was sent to abroad, where he was installed at the first private stud in Chile, Haras Pirque in Santiago, founded by the brothers Julio and Eugenio Brown in 1891. He got many classic winners, and three classic winning sire sons, of which two, Fatal (1893) and Almendro (1900) also got good sire sons. Fatal's sire line continued through son Alanés, one of the best runners of the first decade of the twentieth century, to his grandson, Insurrecto (1953). PALMY'S daughters were extremely influential matrons in Chile, none more so than Skylark (1897, from Sky, by Doncaster II), the dam of Chile's grand champion Old Boy (by Orán).
In Germany
The Palmer got off to a slow start from the state stud at Graditz. In 1882 and '83, due largely to his two fine daughters, GLOCKE and MARIA, he was leading sire in Germany, but his star faded after Flibustier and Chamant youngsters hit the turf. He left no good sire sons that had any influence on thoroughbred breeding, but a number of his daughters proved useful as broodmares. He died at Graditz in 1886.
His first two crops included PALESTINA (1878, out of Hope), a winner of the Sierstorpff-Rennen as a juvenile, and VALERIUS (1879, out of Valeria) a winner of the Goldene Peitsche (Gold Shield) at the Hoppegarten at age three.
WILLKOMMEN (1879, from Preis der Diana winner Das Veilchen, by Cavendish) was also in the 1879 crop. She produced Warnung (1884, by Chamant), a winner of the Preis von Thüringen at Gotha that was later dam of the excellent filly Waschfrau (1892, by St. Gatien), whose wins included the Preis der Diana and the Deutches St. Leger, but the line did not continue beyond Waschfrau. Her sister, WARTHBURG (1881) was the dam of Union-Rennen winner Burgwart (1885, by Flibustier) and of Volapük (1894, by Valauris), the latter a stallion at Graditz that got many half-bred Trakehnen mares, some of which are seen in sporthorse pedigrees.
The Palmer's most successful crop in Germany was the one born in 1880, which included GLOCKE, MARIA, and several useful broodmare daughters. GLOCKE (1880, out of Goura, by Buccaneer, and so half-sister to the Chamant daughter Geheimnis, a top broodmare) was a successful race mare that was a good juvenile runner at age two, and at age three won the Preis der Diana, the Goldene Peitsche, the Skandinavisches Derby (the Scandinavian Derby at Copenhagen), and the Grosser Preis von Hannover. She later produced Glöcknerin (1887, by Weltmann), a winner of the Preis der Diana and the Deutsches St. Leger; this family continued through the twentieth century, and included the Deutsches Derby winner Gulliver (by Hannibal); Gulliver was later a good sire of jumpers.
MARIA (1880, from Kisasszony, by Lord Clifden) was bred by Eduard von Oppenheim, who owned Gestüt Schlenderhan, near Cologne, where many famous German thoroughbreds were nurtured for over 100 years. She won ten of her twelve career races. In England she won the Two Year Old Plate at Newmarket Spring, beating ten other youngsters, then went to Germany, where she took both Baden-Baden's Zukunfts-Rennen and the Sierstorpff-Rennen, making her the leading juvenile runner in Germany in 1882. At age three her wins included the Alexander-Rennen at Frankfurt, Baden Baden's Fürstenberg-Rennen, and ran a dead-heat for the Deutsches St. Leger.
At Schlenderhan MARIA produced two important daughters, Masha (1896, by Charibert), a winner of the Austria-Preis at age three, and Sappho (1886, by Wisdom), whose wins included the Zukunfts-Rennen as a juvenile. Masha produced Majestic (1910), a winner of the Union-Rennen and other races, Der Mohr (1917), a winner of the Grosser Hansa Preis, and Maja, whose son, Mah Jong, won the Deutsches Derby, among other good races. Her female line continued through the twentieth century. Sappho was the dam of Saphir (1894, by Chamant), who had a brief, brilliant career on the turf and was later three times leading sire in Germany, and Semiramis (1898, by Dorn), dam of a Deutsches Derby winner and daughters whose family lines continue to the present.
Others from The Palmer's 1880 crop included MARGARETHE II (out of Bumblekite, by Voltigeur), a winner of the Preis von Thüringen and other good races as a juvenile, later second dam of Union-Rennen winner Nicus (1896, by Nickel); LILIE (1880, out of Lady Love, by Blair Athol), whose tail-female descendants were good winners in France and Germany through the twentieth century; and FANTASIE (1880, out of Fancy, by Orlando), dam of Deutsches Derby winner Tegetthoff (1885), and of Falb (1898), a winner of the Milenniumi dij and the Austria Trial Stakes at age three and later a useful stallion in Hungary.
LIEBLING (1884, a sister to MARIA), also a broodmare at Schlenderhan, was second dam of Köln's Preis vom Rhein winner Flirt (1899), that later produced the linebred For Ever (1905, by Saphir), who won the Preis der Winterfavoriten and Alexander-Rennen at age two, and the Grosser Hansa Preis and Grosser Preis von Berlin at age three.
LUCRETIA (1884, from Hannah, by Buccaneer) won the Fürstenberg-Rennen at age three and was later second dam of Lore (1898, by Hannibal), a winner of the Preis der Diana. ALHAMBRA (1884, out of Lady Salisbury by Lord of the Isles) established a female family that lasted through the 1920s. GIFT (1885, from La Giroflee, by Ely) became second dam of Gika (1901, by Saraband), a winner of the Ratibor-Rennen.
-- by Patricia Erigero |
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