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ROMANCE OF THE GRAY HORSE Great Horses of that Color Figure in English Turf History Notable Doings as Sires and andRacers Racers Since Gimcracks GimcracksBeginning Beginning in 1764 The present year promises well for the return of grays among the runners in and possibly the win ¬ ners of our big English races and as then is al ¬ ways a certain amount of romance or call it senti ¬ ment if you will in the presence of a gray In any race it lias struck me that it might he of interest to your readers to briefly review the grays whici Iiuvo Ixen prominent in our great races in times gone by byIn In the first place it must be noted that every srav horse or mare of the pn ent day CIIH be traced back to either Alcocks Arabian or to the Brovnlow Turk The first of these was imported into Eng ¬ land prior to 1750 was first owned by a Mr Al ¬ cock and ultimately came into the possession of the Duke of Ancaster lie was the first sire imported prior to 1750 to which a Derby winner could IHJ traced in direct male descent Ainnvell 1785 J B Robertson ascrilws this transmission of gray as not iMing due to an actual inheritance of the color gray but to the inheritance of a factor in ¬ hibiting the production of color in the hairs He writes and without exception every gray thor ¬ oughbred in the world has inherited the inhibitory factor from one or both of these sources through an unbroken line of gray ancestors ancestorsGIMCRACK GIMCRACK THE FIRST GREAT GRAY GRAYliie liie first great gray race horse was Gimcrack described by Lady Sarah Bunbury as the sweetest little horse that ever was He was by Cripple by the Godolphin Arabian dam Godolphin Blossom by Crab by Alcocks Arabian His first race was at Epsom on May 31 1704 when he won a 250 plate For his owner Mr Green he won six similar plates and was then sold to Mr Wildman the purchaser of Eclipse and for him he won one plate and was passed on again to Lord Bolingbroke who after a time and several wins sold him to Colmt Lauraguais who took him to France to win a bet that no horse could travel twentytwo and onehalf miles in one hour This he did and re ¬ turning to England went on winning at such places as AVlsbech Ascot Marlborough and Wells and wns beaten at Newmarket Wantage by another gray and at Odsoy In 1768 he was purchased by the Duke of Bunbury and in that year and in the one following won more races and was then sold to Lord Grosvenor for 0000 for whom he went on Avinning until he retired to the stud at Eaton in 1771 having run in thirtyfive races twentyseven of which he won He stood a little over four ¬ teen hands in height and it was to perpetuate his fame that the Gimcrack Club was founded in 17C7 17C7FROM FROM HOLLANDAISE TO GUSTAVTJS GUSTAVTJSThe The first classic to be won by a gray was the St Leger of 1778 which was taken by Sir Thomas Gascolgnes gray filly Ilollandaise a daughter of Matchem Virago a gray and in 1708 this same owner again took the race witli Symmetry which was by Delpini sou of Highflyer dam Gray Countess by Ilank a daughter of Rib gray which was by Crab Between these two years Crop a gray had run second to Young Eclipse for the 1781 Derby Carlo Khan by Mambrino a gray was in a similar position for the 1784 race and Grantham smother of Mambrinos stock ran up to Aimwell a direct descendant of Alcocks Arabian in the male line Once more back to the St Leger the race of 1704 was unique in history as four of the eight starters were grays These were Prior Brilliant Allegro and a gray filly by Delpini and they finished in the order named be ¬ hind Boningborough In ISO Scotia by Delpini a gray won the Oaks and in the Derby of 1SOG Hector was third to Iaris and in 1809 Lisette by Hambletonian was in a similar position behind Ashton for the St Leger starting at the nice price of 20 to 1 In 1818 Itaby a gray was second to Sam for the Derby and another gray in the Marshal was third to Reveller for the St Leger also at a nice price 50 to 1 1In In 1821 Gustavus won the Derby for Mr Hunter from a field of thirteen starting at 2 to 1 This horses pedigree is interesting as he is by Election Lady Grey and except in his sires sires charter of the pedigree lias gray ancestors in all of the other three quarters lie traces back through Vi ¬ rago to the Alcock Arabian through Grey Countess to the Alcock Arabian and through the dam of Election to Skim a gnr son of the ISolton Grey Starling In the following year Professor a son of Coiiius dam a gray mare ran third at longer odds than 1000 to 5 to Theodore for the St Leger LegerTHREE THREE GREAT GRAY HORSES IN CLASSICS CLASSICSThe The next year of interest is 1820 in which the Two Thousand Guineas and Derby were won by Frederick This horse according to Sir William Cooke was a gray but I can find no corroboration for this and can only suppose it is a mistake and an easily made one as his pedigree is full of gray blood He was by Little John whose dam was Grey Skim dam a daughter of Phantom whose dam was a sister to Election dam Skim her dam a gray daughter of Herod A head behind him in the Dirby was a gray son of Whalelwne Exquisite and a gray son of Gustavus in Alington was also in the field fieldIn In 1832 the Figaro filly ran third to Margrave for tin St Leger starting at 50 to 1 and in 1838 Grey Momus by Counts was third for the Derby to Amato after winning the Two Thousand Guineas from Iiiitil o and afterward won the Ascot Gold Gup of which to date he is the only gray win ¬ ner Grey Momus traces back to that great mare Faith a gray by Pacolet also a gray which won the Doncasler Gold Cup as a fouryearold beating Fortitude and others In 1783 The only other gray that has taken this race the Doncaster Cup was Chanticleer in 1S48 and he was second the following year to Van Tromp for the Emperor of Russias Plate at Ascot AscotPROWESS PROWESS OF WARLOCK AND GREY FRIAR FRIARIn In 1853 Warlock a roan son of Irish Birdcatchor Avon the St lgcr and the Great Ebor Handicap and from then until Grey Friar iteat Silvio and Bclplioebe which afterward took the Thousand Guineas Derby and St Loger at Newmarket in 1877 no gray showed up prominently This horse Continued on second page ROMANCE OF THE GRAY HORSE Continued from first page traced directly back to the Brownlow Turk and his line is almost extinct in England EnglandAfter After Grey Friars there is another gap of years until in 1893 and 1894 Grey Leg by Pepper and Salt a gray dam Quetta proved himself a really good handicap horse In 1893 he won at Newmarket i and at Goodwood and in 1894 took the City and Suburban and the Portland Plate This horse traced directly back to the Alcock Arabian and his ling is carried on today by his son Senseless whose dam is Senses by Raebtirn and Clydebridge dam Jer ¬ sey by St Simon SimonThe The next gray was the unlucky Holocauste which starting second favorite to Flying Fox for the Derby of 1899 the last by the way that was started witli a flag fell just after passing Tatten hain Corner and broke his fetlock Sloan his jockey and others Jalways declare that but for Ills accident he would havo emulated the feat of Gustavus and won a second Derby for the grays He was by Lo Sancy tlie sire of Tngale dam of Tagalie Le Samaritain and Nabot all grays LE SAMARITAIN A NOTABLE GRAY GRAYThe The next to be mentioned is Roi Ilerode by Le Salmiraitain which will go down to fame as the Blre of The Tetrarcli This horse was unplaced to Calomel for his first race at Paris on October i 1900 and as a threeyearold his best was two seconds one when second to Querido for the Prix du President at MaisonsLafitte with horses like Eider and Beppo behind him and the other when second to Anemone H for the Prix Royal at Paris In 1909 lie was second to Amadis for the Doncaster Cup with Dean Swift Lagos Dark Ronald and others behind him and fourth for the Newbury Aututnn Cup His success on the race course was never equal to the success he has already attained at the stud for in The Tetrarcli he sired one of the finest twoyearolds of the century Roi Herode was also the sire of King John winner of the Irish Derby in 1918 and Judea winner of the Irish Oaks in 1918 and Aboil Ben Adhem AdhemIn In 1912 the performance of Gustavus was re ¬ peated in fact eclipsed by the performance of that wonderful gray Tagalie as she not only won llio Derby but put the One Thousand Guineas also to her credit Besides being the second gray to win the Derby it must be noted that only four fillies had previously won it itTAGALIE TAGALIE GRAYNESS OF ANCESTRY ANCESTRYTagalie Tagalie can be traced directly back to Virago to which Giistavus traced his color in the tail female line and which goes back in turn to Al cocks Arabian Tagiilie is one of Hie many ex ¬ ceptions which go to disprove tin Bruce Lowe Figure System as on this theory she is a member of the No 20 family whereas her coat color is derived from families No 4 11 23 2 7 and 9 For those interested in statistics or figures it may be stated that according to the Gallon method of iinmlxTing pedigrees the produce being No 1 his sire No 2 liis dam No 3 and Ills grandparents Nos 4 5 fi 7 and so on ad infinitum Alcocks Arabian is No 430732 in Tagalies pedigree and she has obtained her color through eighteen individu ¬ als alsThe The Tetrarcli retired to the stud an unbeaten liorse He won seven races to the value of 55C80 in hi twoyearold days was the hottest autumn favorite 21 to 1 for the following years Derby that has ever been known and just when all looked absolutely plain sailing for a Triple Crown he met with his accident and his owner Captain McCalmont and his trainer Mr Persse were robbed of u great chance of winning a Derby This Tetrarcli has sons and daughters this year which may quite possibly recompense Mr McCalmont and Mr irtjrsst for tljuir bud luck witli the sire If a soii of Tlfe Tetrarch wliis the 1919 Derby there will be a scene of enthusiasm I know for a gray has a romance in this particular case a real romance ullIiiH owii AdUir Dighton in Rallys Magazine
