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RELATION OF RACING AND BREEDING There In no pastime which I like more than taking from my shelf one of the early volumes of my collection of newspaper cut tings and comparing antefactuiu arguments of competent writers with tlie accomplished facts in connection with the im ¬ portant and once widelydiscussed problems Some years after Bona Vista hail left the homeland for the Hungarian Pnszta there appeared on the occa ¬ sion of Bcrevolgys triumph in the Austrian Derby of 1SMK5 in one of the Austrian sporting papers a review to tlie following effect We maintain tiiat the English have materially underrated the breed ¬ ing proclivities of Bercvolgys sire Bona Vista and the luck was all on our side that Bona Vista was purchased ere Cylkne had manifested his won ¬ derful abilities But even after the turf successes of Mr C I Roses colt little regret so far as we can ascertain was expressed in the English turf land at the expatriation of his sire and this ap ¬ parently because the son of Arcadia during the whole of his racing career had not had a single opportunity to give evidence of tlie real greatness of ills individuality He belonged to the IS vintage which was the worst for a good many years yearsOnly Only think of horses like Teddah Patt half brother of Flying Fox and Dunlop settling between themselves the most Important race of the world and commoners like Disraeli Wantage and Nlmis struggling for the booty of the Guineas It will be ditlicult to gauge with any degree of certainty liow much better than these Cyllcne has been In the Newmarket Stakes which Cyllcnc won by four lengths Jcddali was only fifth and Wantage last lint one in a field of eleven In the Jockey Club Stakes Cyllcne defeated the fouryearold Velasquez by six lengths after the latter had won the Eclipse Stakes in a canter by three lengths from the Derby second Batt Ninus and Wantage were amongst the last iu the Jockey Club Stakes StakesWhen When a crop of colts is so much below any commensurable standard knights of the pen usually find an excuse by asserting that this is again a year when the fillies are decidedly better than tlie colts Tliis may have been so as far as the form of the One Thousand Guineas winner Nun Nicer the Oaks winner Airs and Graces and the Corona ¬ tion Stakes winner Goletta iu comparison with that of JetUlah Disraeli etc is concerned but may it not be forgotten that this trio succumbed to Cyllene in the Jockey Club Stakes No wonder English owners subsequently began to dread even the shadow of Cyllene In the race for the Ascot Gold Cup the son of Bona A ista had therefore all for himself winning in a trot by eight lengths It lias repeatedly been declared and indeed it would bo found ditlicult to contradict statements of this kind that St Simon had he retained his engagements in the classics would have left horses like Scotfree and tlie deadheaters St Gatien and Harvester down the course courseBut But we humbly suggest that St Simon bred by one of our countrymen would never have gained more sensational victories in the chief threeyear old events than Cyllene had he held engagements In the classics We do not hesitate t declare that Uyllene must be uumliered with the best turf performers of all times and contending as we do that such colts cannot possibly fail to become equally successful at the stud we the now lucky owners of his sire are quite confident that Cyllene will inaugurate a new chapter in the history of the English race horse horseThis This was written in 10 when nothing was known of Cyllenos extraordinary breeding quali ¬ ties The sound foresight in the above article was fully vindicated for no other horse of modem times not even St Simon sired four Derby win ¬ ners within seven years The record is hold by Waxy which begat Pope WhalelKine Blucher and Whisker during the period of 1SOT1811 The only other horse which sired four Derby winners was Sir Peter which sired Sir Harry Archduke Ditto and Paris during the period of 17051802 Thus to classify these horses Waxy would take premier honors Cyllene second and Sir Peter third nd now on the top of this we have in Polymelus a sire which promises to retain a position amongst the sons of Cyllene as did Persimmon amongst those of St Simon SimonThe The best handicap horse of Cyllenes time was Velasquez but the son of Bona Vista which in fact was much above the average classic form was at least twice as much in front of his sires halfbrother as was Ormonde of Minting and Ben digo And this difference between individual prop ¬ erties of the Derby winners and cracks in the handicap class was substantiated also by the sub ¬ sequent stud records of these horses for while Mint ¬ ing and Bendigo did not attain much as sires Or ¬ monde begat a real good horse in Orme The stud achievements of Cyllene and Velasquez do not per ¬ mit of any comparison at all tlie gulf between them was Infinitely greater at the stud than on the turf turfI I welcome this interesting subject if only for tlie corroborative evidence which it offers for my con ¬ tentions that firstly such remarkable individual properties as were possessed by Cyllene Ormonde and the hitters grandson Hying Fox are the most reliable pointers towards individual breeding propensities of colts contrasted by family breeding tendencies and secondly that these qualities are tested best over the Epsom course or by the help of the Derby form Only by such reasoning can it be explained why Ormonde proved a far greater suc ¬ cess at the stud than his brothers Osiry and Ark low Similarly Pipistrello Flying Lemur and Va ¬ mose as sires as they were race horses are not a patch on Flying Fox To quote some more case of this kind there is Ayrshire and his two brothers Kilmarnock and Troon Blair Athol and Brcadal bane Bay Middleton Achmet and Vanderdecken the two Derby winners Whalebone and Whisker on the one hand and their brother Woful on the other Voltigenr and Bariiton Isinglass and Isling ¬ ton Isonomy and Fernandez West Australian Mar ley Hill and Aurifer Election and Prodigal Per ¬ simmon and Sandriugham Galtee More and Blair linde This list which could be considerably ex ¬ tended servos in these times as a forcible reminder of the great iniiiortaiice of the racing test for the discovery of the supreme sire blood but from the following commentary it will be seen that this racing test is not nearly so reliable for the selec ¬ tion of the best broodmare broodmareI I have put up the following four classes of great and good turf performers A Derby winners B firstclass handicap horses and cup winners C Oaks winners D fillies which ran prominently in handi ¬ caps and for the cups The l est representatives of Class A colts which won other important races besides the classics were Ayrshire Ard Patrick Donovan Diamond Jubilee Flying Fox Flying Dutchman Galtoe More Isinglass Lndas Melton Ormonde and Rock Sand Tlie most prominent members of Class B were Althorp Bendigo Buc ¬ caneer by Privateer Bachelors Button Charles XII Carlton Count Schomberg Ely Ilamptin The Hero Isonomy Kilsallaghan Merman Minting Nnntliorpc Pageant Polymelus Philomel Tim Whifflor and Velasquez Tlie most successful rac ¬ ing fillies of all time Class C were Achievement Apology Bolphoebe Crucifix Chnezou Formosa Hannah Januette La Fleche Pratty Polly Revo dOr Sceptre Thebais Virago and Wheel of Fortune In the last category Class I are Alice Hawthorn twice winner of the Doneaster Cup Bees ¬ wing which won the same race four times and Lily Agnes AgnesIf If then we compare Class A with Class C that is to say the achievements of tlie best colts and fillies at the stud wo will find that not one of tlie colts proved a failure whereas with the cxcpolion of Crucifix and La Fleche the best fillies greatly disappointed above all such phenomenal turf per ¬ formers as Achievement Formosa Jannette and Wheel of Fortune Jomo fillies of this class pro ¬ duced goud colts but there is at the present tinip not one of their female lines alive capable of producing anything more than moderate race horses horsesWhilst Whilst as I have shown above full brothers to colts of the Class A as a rule did not attain any remarkable success at the stud it will bo seen from the following list that full sisters to Oaks winners were more successful at the stid than these although themselves only moderate turf performers in the best of ea s Of Han ¬ nahs sisters Breeze established a line which leads to Galeazzo and Radium another sister Zephyr became the dam of Favonius Derby Goodwood Cup and Brighton dip jmlogy sister to Apology whose liest produce was Esterling be ¬ came the dam of Elf II Ascot Gold Cup the Oaks winner Deception a complete failure at the stud had two sisters namely Delightful grauilani of the Cambridgeshire winner Weatherbound and Entwpriso dam of the Royal Hunt Cup winner Ephesustlie most successful member of the one lino which that groat racing filly Eleanor Derby and Oaks founded was her greatgrandson Lothario Liverpool Summer Cup of Eleanors sisters Julia became the dam of the Derby winner Phan ¬ tom and Cressida the dam of Antar Two Thousand Guineas and of ill Derby winner Priam PriamOf Of Achievements sisters Chovisaiince was the dam of that phenomenal filly Jannette and Cognisaiince produced Hopbloom Royal Hunt dip and Manchester November Handicap and Chevron Woodcolc Stakes Amiable One Thousand and Oaks was a failure at tin stud but her sister Charm produced Fascination Coronation Stakes und Red Robe Goodwood dip Belnhoehes sister Stray Shot became the dam of Shotover Two Thousand Guineas and Derby of Penitent dam of Bavenslnry and of Silver Sea dam of Lord Bobs Two other conspicuous instances we find amouirst the daughters of the great Sir Pjtor for wliilp his Oaks winners Ilermiimo and Parisot failed at the stud the formers sister Lady Jane produced the Oaks winner Rriois which again was thr dam of a classic winner VriimtM and of Miss Tculey grandma of IJarkaway A nameless sister of Parisot Ixcame the dam of Gramarie which produced the Derby winner Prince Leopold and Bella Donna grandam of the Derby winner Amato Comparing Classes B and D that is to say the best handicap horses and cup winners amongst the colts and tillies wo find that of the aboveUen tioned twenty colts only Hampton Isonomy and Polymelus made a hit at the stud The list of prominent fillies in this category is naturally rather limited but it is remarkable that some of the best representatives of Class D i e Alice Haw ¬ thorn Beeswing and Lily Aguts number with the most successful brood mares of all times I leave it to my readers to draw for themselves the only possible conclusions from tlie above com ¬ mentary upon the distinct relation between indi ¬ vidual racing and breeding performances of males on the one hand and of females on the other Bouhinscr in London Sporting Life
