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MATCH EM LINE IN THIS COUNTRY Lost Its Most Famous Representative When Old Hastings Finally Passed Away When Hastings died the most famous represen ¬ tative of the Matchom line in America was re moved writes O E Brossman It is a fact well known to all students of thoroughbred horse pedigrees that the male lines founded by the famous race horses Eclipse Herod and Matchem have dom ¬ inated the English turf for generations Rivalry existed among breeders in those times as well as now each claiming superiority for his own particu ¬ lar strain hut as time went on and the blood of the descendants of these three grat sires became intermingled the increasing potency of the blood of each became manifest until now breeders desire to have their horses trace back to all of these cele ¬ brated sires as many times is possible possibleMatchem Matchem was the best representative of the Go dolphin Arabian line and the latter was the last Oriental horse from which the British turf derived positive and permanent advantage The early Eng ¬ lish breeders found the Arabian stock to constitute an excellent cross upon tlie Barb Turk and Spanish marts the foundation stock of the British turf The Royal Spanish horse was a descendant of Orien ¬ tal stock of Barb and Moorish origin therefore it is not improbable that tlio wild horses of the western plains the mustangs and ponies of Texas and Mexico were descendants df horses that escaped or were turned loose from the illfated expedition com ¬ manded by Ie Soto when as the first white man he gazed upon the waters of the broad and beautiful Mississippi It is not unreasonable therefore to suppose that the vigor and endurance discovered in these ponicsby the army during the recent invasion into Mexico can be attributed to the Oriental blood in them descended from their ancient ancestors and by constant inbreeding remained reasonably pure deteriorating only through want of feed and attention From the Arabian blood was acquired sjiced from the Barb stoutness and stride while from the Turk was obtained increase in height and length Of all of the successful foreign stallions imported into England in an early day the fame of the two grcat Arabians the Darley and the Godolphin lias swallowed up nil the rest The best English and American horses trace maiiy times to the blood of these two horses anil it has been an everlasting benefit to breeders everywhere The Godolphin Arabian was imported into England by Mr Cook and it was strongly suspected that he was stolen as no pedigree was obtained with him or the least item given as to his history The only notice given was that lie was foaled in 1721 Ho was eventually presented to the Earl of Godolphin at whose stud he was kept as a vassal to Hobgoblin the premier stallion of the establishment but no mares were ever sent to his court until one day Hobgoblin refiised to cover Koxana and she was given to the embraces of the Arabian The produce was the beautiful elegant and sensational race horse Lath in the general opinion of the horsemen of that day the liest that had appeared on the turf since the days of Flying Childcrs ChildcrsTlio Tlio Arabian continued lo serve for the remainder of liis life in the same stud producing yearly a succession of highclass horses and when he died in 1753 in ins twentyninth year he was decently buried and cakes and ale were given at his funeral The complete Matehem male line as it comes to us from the Godolphin Arabian down is as follows Godolphin Arabian Cade Matchem Conductor Trumpeter Sorcerer Counts Humphrey Clinker Mel ¬ bourne West Australian Australian Spendthrift and Hastings HastingsINFIRMITIES INFIRMITIES OF GREAT SIRES SIRESWe We are informed by the archives of the turf that Sorcerer and Comus were blind that Humphrey Clinker roared and that Melbourne had bad legs but prominent sires in the other lines were not without their infirmities Lexington was blind Vir ¬ gil was blind and Prince Charlie was a roarer three of the host sires ever in America For a great number ofycars Australian was about the only representative of the Matchem male line we had in the United States but in 1880 the late J 15 Ilaggin always alert to the host breeding interests of the country imported into California from Aus ¬ tralia the great race horse Darebin by The Peer which was a son of Melbourne imported into Aus ¬ tralia from England EnglandMelbourne Melbourne the sire of West Australian the first winner of the Triple Crown and the best three yoarold in England in 1853 and The Peer was one of the most famous sires of all time his get won the Derby twice Oaks three times St Legef twice Two Thousand Guineas twice One Thousand Guineas twice Doncaster Cup Great Metropolitan Cup twice Goodwood Cup twice Ascot Cup twice and Cambridgeshire Cup siring the winners of nine ¬ teen of the great classical events of England EnglandImported Imported Australian was a good race horse and a great sire Among other noted horses Spendthrift Fellowcraft Wihlidle Rutherford Springbok Baden Baden Farfaletta dam of Fal ¬ setto Maggie II B dam of Iroquois were sired by hiri While this line has never been so popular or its descendants so numerous as that of the lines of Eclipse or Herod it is indeed one of great merit for as a rule mares by horses of this male line have always proved their value in the stud and when we recall that Beeswing Giantess Brovn Agues Penelope Miss Twickenham Blink Bonny Maggie B B Farfaletta Emma C dam of Commando and a host of other sturdy pro ¬ ducers were sired by horses that trace to Matchem we must admit that whatever the objections to it are these daughters have played a mighty import ¬ ant part in the history of the turf and no doubt tlm daughters of Hastings in years to come will be eagerly sought after and highly prized as suc ¬ cessful stud matrons Hastings like his siie Spendthrift was a good race horse and after being retired from racing and placed in the stud commanded a prominent position as a sire from the first year his progeny appeared on the tnrf tnrfIt It is gratifying to that class of American horsemen who believe in the superiority of the old stout rugged Americanbred race horse to know that the recent winner of the Irish Oaks Golden Maid is a lineal descendant in the male line from the immortal Lexington While the mares from that line have always been held in the highest es ¬ teem the stallions east of the Kocky Mountains were rather discarded in favor of supposedly more fashionablybred ones from England and France For be it remembered the pedigree of Lexington is barfed from the English Stud Book Numerous horses carrying the blood of Lexington in their veins at different periods have won the great English classics and defeated the cream of the English Stud Book oh English soil for the blood of Lexington is not to be denied wherever horses LEXINGTON PRESERVED IN CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIASeveral Several prominent breeders in this country who breed for sale and had before the great war a large English clientele for pecuniar reasons sought to produce yearlings that would sell to the foreign customers on pedigree at the highest pos ¬ sible price without any regard to the Improve ¬ ment of the breed in America and as there was a prejudice in England against Lexington thiy bred what their foreign customers wanted and would pay well for It was in California that the male line of Lexington was best preserved Through Norfolk Monday son of Colton Grinstead son of Gilrcy and other sons and grandsons this valuable blood usu ¬ ally crossed on Glencoe mares has left an iripres sion on the bloodstock of the coast that will be of benefit for all time to come comeWhat What an illustrious familty it is Emperor of Norfolk the best horse of bis day son of Norfolk the best of his time son of the immortal Lexington son of the mighty Boston all race horses of the highest type each champion of his time and in ¬ deed their very names are synonyms for speed gameness and endurance enduranceThe The stallion Jack Atkln is richly endowed with this blood on his dams side His first dam is by Emperor of Norfolk by Norfolk which was by Lex ¬ ington dam Novice by Glencoe second dam by Grinstead son of Gilroy which was by Lexington dam the famous Magnolia by Glencoe third dam by Virgil by Vandal by Glencoe fourth dam Blunder by Lexington dam Blonde by Glonooe So it will be seen that his dam is full of the Lex ingtonGIcncoe cross Tack Atkin was a firstclass race horse and is proving to be a firstclass sire sireIn In this grand scramble to secure imported stock we ought not to overlook and discard our tested and approved strains for there are none better At one time we came mighty near losing the male line of Glencoe for until the great Virgil was resurrected we were in danger of having no male representative of that line at all Virgil himself had so far de ¬ scended in the social scale that he was assigned the menial duty of drawing a buggy when a lucky incident recalled him to the stud where he after ¬ ward enjoyed a reputation second to none in Amer ¬ ica Had he not been recalled what a void there would have been in turf history historyIf If the illustrious deeds performed by the great Hindoo and the mighty Hanover and other descen ¬ dants were wiped out of American turf history there would be a blank so great it could hardly be appreciated Golden Maid the winner of last years Irish Oaks is by Golden Rod a son of America1 by Emperor of Norfolk therefore it will be noticed that this same blood is winning stakes on Ixith sides of the Atlantic and should bo sought after wherever it can be procured It would be a sad commentary on the astuteness of the American breeder if he were obliged to go to England to resurrect a strain of blood that is distinctly Ameri ¬ can Judiciously crossed with the best of the foreign stock this vigorous strain of the old American thor ¬ oughbred will tend to Improve the breed and satis ¬ factory results are almost certain to follow followIt It certainly does seem to be a calamity that a great breeding state like California with natural advantages in that line and that annually sent winning stables over the mountains to the eastern shore and Saratoga should be so hampered by fan ¬ atical laws prejudice and spite so as to wreck one of the greatest industries In the state for racing will go on and people will have it If they cant have it in one place they will go to another and only the citizens of the states that prohibit racing are the losers
