view raw text
BRUCE LOWE NO. 4 FAMILY i . i Man o War, Hourless and Cudge! Distinguished Members, i Thoroughbred Group and Its Branches Full of Winning- JJ Horses of the First Class. V : i t by exile. . i As before said. I :un citing ym facts, :unl it is :i fiit-t that lint comparatively few really influential !l sires from the No. -1 family have conic. By in- t flucutial sires, be it understood. Mres callable of i transmitting tlieir own sire excellence to their sons mid grandsons after tliem. - A most influential No. 4 sire, however, was Matchem. in that it is tliiough him that the line of Godolphiu Arabian has been perpetuated. The same can be said of Tliormanliy. for it is through 1 Thornianby that this line of Herod carries on. -Thormanbys son, the? Two Thousand Guineas win- 1 ner Atlantic, became the sire of tile famous Lo 1 Saney. Atlantics diim Hurricane was, however, a member of the sire family No. :!. and Matehems ; 1 best sire sen Conductor a member of the sire i 1 family No. 111. Bona Vista, the main connection , 1 of Bend Or link, was also a No. -1 horse, and l!oua Aistns son, Cyllcne, a member of that extreme good all-around family the Maid of Mnsham branch of the No. 9. Orbit, the South American sire sue- i t cess, was also a No. 4 horse. So was Orbit the srire of Old Man. which got the South American i i champion Botafogo. Prestige of No. 4 in France is the sins of Sardanapalo and Itock Sand, the she iff Tracery, HoPliestor. Itock Flint. October, etc. Another good No. 4 Iiorse from the ltock Sand branch of the family is the Irish sire Tredpnnis. : These, as I see them, are the most influential of Hie No. 4 sires abroad, and the once shining No. 4 light for this country. Sir Dixon. Come to think of it. Sir Dixon has not left a sen to perpetuate his line. Thornianby is best known on account of the excellence and influence of his daughters as brood mares. His Atlantic line, however, looks like carrying, because of Le Sancy, Le Sagittaire, Mnintcnou and I.e Sumuritnin. The Iiouu Vista line of I.end Or is firmly established because of the sire success of his grandson Polymelus. lolymelus is a member of the I.rown ltcss branch of the No. :! family. Hock Sand is ijood. and his son Tracery, a member of the strong No. 1! family, has a worthy representative this season in the Middle lark winner Monarch. In spite of all this, I am convinced that the No. 4 family must be regarded, in t lie main, rather as a running than a sire line, from the fact that the successful and influential sires by No. 4 horses are thcmsclvi s membcis of sires of stout families and "that there :ue so many sire failures to lecord for really good rating No. 1 horses. The Derby winner Iroquois was not a success as a sire. Neither was Falsetto, for Falsettos line is dead, the former of these a member of the justly celebrated running line of Maggie 15. I!. Whisk Broom may. however, better the sire condition of the Maggie It. I!, branch of the No. 4 family. Falsetto, a member of the Cub mare family, a family from which come ever so many of the best of the race horses, but as yet no really influential Cub mare stallion has put in au appearance. FAMILY PRODUCES MANY WINNERS. As a winner producing family the No. 4 cannot well be excelled. The best special branch of the family is undoubtedly the Alice Hawthorn. Alice Hawthorn, the dam of the Derby winner and sire of Atlantic, Thormanby and ancestress of the South American Orbit, the Idle Hour beginner North Star III., that good race horse Polar Star, Corisande. Bona Vista, his half brother and failure as a sire; the Derby and St. Leger winner Sir Visto, and the St. Leger winner Wool Winder, a good success as :l sire of winners in southern Europe. All the world over female members of the No. 4 family are noted for the excellence of their offspring as race horses. In this country really good and high -class winners, which trace to the Cub mure, are many. The best winner producing family of all is the Maggie 1!. I!. branch. Many a good winner, but no great sire, traces to Spotless, by Walton. The Medora by Selim branch is especially strong in the excellence of its female members as race fillies anil brood mares. To Medora trace the famous Virago, St. Marguerite, Sea Breeze. Thebais, etc., and the sires Itock Sand and Tredeunis. This branch of the No. 4 family has iiuite blossomed out as a sire line of late, because of the capabilities of Itock .Sand and Tredeunis. but the daughters of Itock Sand are better as brood mares than his sons as sires. Any mare, then, which traces in the direct female line to Medora. by Selim, lias more than a good chance to be a success. The Games by I.uccaneer branch of the family lias not been productive of anything of especial merit in recent times. Neither has the Kate by Auckland branch. The branch which rims to Milksop, by Cade, is responsible only for an occasional winner. To Thistle, by Scottish Chior however, trace many, notably the triple crown winner Common, imported Goldfinch and Missel Thrush. but none of these were successes as sires. Common, despite his racing excellence, was some thing of a failure as a she. The Manganese branch of the family is good as a winner producing line. Manganese herself won the One Thousand Guineas, and Iter daughter. Mineral, bred Kisher and Wenlock, and is ancestress of the really good race horse Willonyx, which has as yet to prove himself as a sire. Another daughter of Manganese, -Mandragora, is the dam of Apology, which bred Esterling and Asperse; yet another is Agility, to which runs Crowberry; and then there is Thorsday, by Thormanby, ancestress of the Grand Prix winner I.rulaur, and of Irestige, sire of the French phenomenon, Sardauapale. The Manganese branch of this family, therefore, must be classed as Al as a winner producing line, with more than a chance of prominent sire success on account of the prominence of Irestige. The most interesting question for American breeders of bloodstock is what are the chances o sire success for the bis three Man o War, Honr-Jiit-s amj Cudgel, all of wliicli claim membership of the No, 4 family. Cudgel traces back to Marpesia. by Hay Middleton, and is bred up on practically an all Eclipse foundation, and from this Marpesia branch of the family no really good sire yet has come. Hourless is of Hlacklock descent and also strongly inbred to Eclipse, and is a member of the Alice Hawthorn branch of the family from which come such influential sires as Thormanby and Kona Vista, lint both of these Herod on one sifie or the other, St. Simon horses, as is Hourless, have in the past done wonders when mated with mares of Matchem descent, or mares showing a close-up dash of the Matchem strain. Members, it would seem, of the Alice Hawthorn family also have a liking for the Herod strain, therefore the best of the produce of Hourless will doubtless be bred on similar lines. The champion race horse, Man o War. is a member if the Harriet, by Stripling, branch of the No. 4 family, and from this special branch no really influential sire has yet put in an appearance. I do not know that many members of this branch of the family have been tried as sires, for the branch is only a small one. The success of Man o War as a -sire rather resolves itself into a case of Hruce Lowes findings against his physical and racing excellence, with tlie odds now on his success because of the fact that he is bred Matchem to Eclipse, and the blending of these three lines are worth all other high roads to breeding success put together. And this, in great part, instanced by the sire success of members of the No. 4 family, for the blend is most apparent in Atlantic and Hiina Vista, and Orbit sired his best. Old Man, from the Dollar mare Maissoneuve. Therefore, Hourless and Cuggol, Slo. 4 horses as they are. will score best off mares in whose pedigrees is found liberal supplies of Herod I and Matchem blood, and Man o War will score best off mares of Eclipse descent which show the Herod 1 strain close up.
