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SIRE OF ECLIPSE QUESTION Preponderance of Evidence Is in Favor of Marske Shakespeare Pedigree Founded on onthe the Evidence of a Groom Groomand and Discredited Who vns the sire of Eclipse Ninety per cent of those asked would siy Marske and probably fifty per cent of the remainder would say it does not matter John Lawrence who is the first writer that I know of who brought the question of Eclipses paternity to public notice is of opinion that it is a matter of little imortancc and one would naturally think that with a hundred years und more passed by since Lawrence wrote it would be a question of less importance now than it was then Yet the subject is an interesting one and seems worth a few moments consideration The story as told by Lawrence is briefly this Spiletta which report says was barren to Marske in the previous year had a foal in 1704 She had been bred to both Marske and Shakespeare and she foaled to the time of Marskes service which docs not mean much Spilettas stud record is a curious one She seems to have been a shy breeder She had her first foal in 1759 a bay filly by the Prince of Wales Crab Then came Eclipse in 1764 a bay filly Proserpine by Marske in 17tiG a chestnut colt Garrick by Marske in 1772 and a chestnut filly Uriscis by Chrysolite in 1774 She died in 1776 at the age of twentyseven and she left only five foals It may be pretty safely held that if there had been more we should have heard of them Mr Sandivcr of Newmarket told John Lawrence that Spiletta never was bred to Shakespeare and that of course if correct should do away with ajl doubt But unfortunately there is just the oppo ¬ site story told When John Lawrence visited Eclipse at Epsom which he frequently did he often was told by Colonel OKellys groom that the niare was bred to Shakespeare and that a groom was bribed to ascribe the paternity of Eclipse to Marske And here we may leave John Lawrences history of the business Sir Theodore Cook in his book Eclipse and OKelly disposes of the question of the grooms gossip briefly He asks what likelihood there was of Colonel OKellys groom getting to the Royal Stud to manipulate evidence and points nut that at the time when this supposed plot was being piit into being it was not known that the Duke of Cumberlands stud would come to the hammer and it was not till six years later that Eclipse had made his name It is obvious that no great good could come to his sire till he became famous famousEVIDENCE EVIDENCE FAVORS MARSKE AS ORIGIN ORIGINI I think that Sir Theodore Cook effectually settles the question of Shakespeare boing the sire of Eclipse for there was nothing to be gained by any ¬ one by attributing the paternity to Marske Whether there was ever a double service or not is a question however which cannot be dismissed alto ¬ gether and as there seems some good grounds for thinking there was a double service it may be worth while to examine the evidence and give a few rea ¬ sons why Maiskc and not Shakespeare was the sire qf the great Eclipse First let us examine the por ¬ traits we have of Shakespeare and Eclipse Those which I have in my mind are by Sartorius and therefore have especial value for Sartorius was one of those artists who conscientiously kept all artifi ¬ cial adornment out of their portraits No one can examine closely this work of Sartorius without being convinced of the strong family likeness be ¬ tween the two horses quite strong enough to admit of one being the son of the other otherHut Hut what of that It is a matter easily accounted for especially by those who look upon the founders of our three great families of modern thoroughbreds ns a kind of fetish That the Darley Arabian did as much in forming the type of the modern race horse as any horse in his generation may I think be taken for granted And both Marske and Shake npcare were greatgrandsons of the Darlcy Arabian They both get the Darley Arabian cross through Ilartletts Childcrs whose dam was the inbred Betty Lcedcs by Careless by Spanker and there was therefore plenty of sound reason for the resem ¬ blance between Shakespeare and Eclipse Besides which even strong resemblance is not always a proof of immediate descent and plenty of instances are on record in which the family likeness has to be traced back to a remote ancestor It should not be omitted that in Shakespeares pedigree there is an extra cross of the Da ley Arabian ArabianLeaving Leaving the question of pedigree for a moment let us consider the performances of Marske and Shakespeare Marske was by no means a great winner though he began well by winning the Four yearold Subscription at Newmarket and then gave five pounds and a beating in a match to a dun horse of Lord Trcnthams which it is now impossible to identify After this he was beaten twice at even weights by the famous Snap a fact which estab ¬ lishes his class His next and only other appear ¬ ance in public was in a fouryearold plate at New ¬ market in which he was unplaced unplacedShakespeares Shakespeares record is certainly better than Marskes so far as we can judge at this distance of time He was second in a fouryearold plate at Newmarket second in a 2K plate at Durham won a 2oO plate at York and His Majestys Plates at Guildford and Lincoln He also won a U50 plate at Newmarket and was second in the first heat of a 500 sweepstakes but was withdrawn on account of a breakdown This on the face of it is a better record than that of Marske but I cannot find that he ever came across a horse of the stamp of Snap in the whole of his career and Marske made Snap gallop gallopMARSKE MARSKE BETTER SIRE THAN SHAKESPEARE SHAKESPEAREWhen When we come to examine the pedigrees of the two horses closely we find that in spite of the fact that Shakespeare has double the amount of Darley Arabian blood that Marske lias the latter is the better bred horse For lie has five crosses of the Lister Turk and that great horse Bay Bolton is also found iu his pedigree Bay Bolton was by Grey Hautboy and the Hautboy blood also comes iu through Snake which was famous at the stud though he was never trained and through Grey Wilkes which was the granddam of Squirt the sire of Marske Nor is Hautboy the only1 source in which the DArcy blood is found for Miss DArcys famous Pet mare comes into the pedigree and she was from a Scdbury mare and was the dam of Grey Wilkes Undoubtedly Marske was the better bred horse of the two twoAnd And it is when one comes to look into their stud careers that the superiority of Marske is most clearly shown Ask the ordinary student of rac ¬ ing history what are the great horses of which Shakespeare was sire and it will go hard if he can find you one at all I have only been able to find two Mr Carvers Pinchcr and Mr Ellis Diana botli horses above the average a long way Pinchcr won plates 250 ones principally at Chclmsford Canterbury Heading Bedford twice Barnet Ludlow Bath Epsom and Ipswich the Gold Cup at Ipswich Kings Plates at Guildford Lincoln and Newmarket and Lichfield and also several matches Diana won a hunters subscription at Nottingham the Grantham Stakes Plates at Chesterfield Grantham and Lincoln two Kings Plates at Newmarket and the Belvoir Cup Both must be said to have been good performers performersBut But turn to the stock of Marske He knows but little of the history of our thoroughbred who whon that horse is mentioned does not call to mind Young Marske which in tiie only race in which he ever took part dislocated a fetlock a quarter of a mile from home and won notwith ¬ standing Shark which won nineteen of the twenty nine events for which he started and whose win ¬ nings amounted to 80000 an enormous sum in the eighteenth century Hcphestion Leviathan a good winner and the sire of a good winner in Lord Hamiltons Alexander Desdemona Narcissus Pre ¬ tender Garrick and that great mare Masqiicrade which commenced her career by winning a sweepstakes at Newmarket and ended it six years later by giving twentythree pounds and a sound beating to Sir John Lades Bet Bouncer Alto ¬ gether she won twentysix races and matches among which were a couple of Kings Plates at Newmarket NewmarketAnd And docs not all this tend to show that we may confidently accept the statement or tradition call it what you will that Marskc was the sire of Eclipse For we have the success of Eclipse at the stud as further evidence in favor of his being a son of Marske It would be tedious to dwell on their great successes but it may just be mentioned that of the first five Derby winners he was the sire of three to wit Young Eclipse Saltram and Serjeant Voltigeur in Bullys Magazine
