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" " -■■ ■ — »w-.i ii -■■- . ■— ■■■ IRISH HALF-BRED JUMPERS t Music Hall, Grand National Winner, of Doubtful Ancestry. o Bar Sinister on Many Emerald Isle Winners of Classic English Steeplechase. 1ri»h naif sushi have t ut | sharp figure in the LivcilHM.l Crand NatioMl Btccpteefcase. Music- Hall, this years "iiiiier. is lrisli bred :iiid n it "f full UI«mm1. There is some shade alanit his pediice. His sire. Ilifionhall. was therotighhrtd by Oafisp iiiR l«i l --Lady Clifton, by Roscbery. He won the Kieat Yorkshire Handicap, the Xwthn— hr rlasil Plate and other races. But Molly, his dam. is neither mcntiniicd in the Hind Book as a brood mare nor in Racing or BlSCptechasing Calendar as a runner, or yet in Miss Priors Half-Bred Brad Book. Car she east hardly be the Molly mentioned in Miss Triors lMKik as fonled in INS*, and hy Whiteliine Kate Rellly. sister to The Jester, a half-bred haflSC whi.li wen the Ceaarewiteh in 1N7S. Tliere was ■ llioi-inslihied mare Molly, hy Cahin Boy — fllaase Dance, foaled in 189S. but she has had uo offspriuj; returned to licr. Iv.ieiidnl research shows that Music Hall w:i pntered for uis first race under the following description: Bay gelding, by Cliltonhall — Molly. hy 1lny Actor, bossrht from Mrs Blacker, Kin-Heagh, Newbridge, by Mrs. M. Rtokes, June 2.1. lJiin. off bind coronet white, six years. Play I Actor, f-alcl 1S70. was hy Sterling --Thalia, hy e«vuii»sl«r. Bred at tlie Vardley Stud, he passed into Lord Ilcssmores |M ssession. and ultimately lie« ainc a country stallion in Ireland. Musie Hall must nave sasas gaad Msadl farther back, hut nothing lore is known of his hrceding. KIRKLANDS SHORT PEDIGREES. I -— aKiikliind in 1»0" was a I rand National winner of extremely short pedigree. The ancestry of the Irish sires of a half-bred haras is illustrated l.y If III land! Be was by Kirkliam. dam by Perizonins, son of Bero Cornea, and was hied near Kilmalloek. County Limerick. J. T. Clancy discovered him and sont him to Krank Bihhy. Kirkham was tired in Australia, and Peclasnjsjs at the Bonehill Stud. Tamworth. England. rerizoniu- was sent to Ireland in his youth, and in due rewne ran third tor the- Irish Grand Military Steellechas". a race which dates fr-nn lS.ll. and has had far -reaching eoiiseouenees on the breeding of steeplpchasers in Ireland. At hat Usee, 1811, there were fewer than one hundred thoroughbred marcs in lrisli studs, and a dean -bred horse only rarely was seen as a boss pet tor in an Irish steeplechase or hurdle race. Rut as shires. Clydesdales, Hackneys and whatnot had not then been introduced into Ireland to gnj extent, the native-bred animals were capable of shewing a certaiat degree of speed and stamina, and a* his leavened up by luo it three crosses of the English litoroeajrhbrcd the mall tor crsss-cogntry work was, in many cases, escellent. The Irish Grand Military and gaVTasM races created a demand for horses bred in that way. HALF-BREDS WHICH WON NATIONAL. In addition to Kiiklaud. Irish lialthreds which have won the l, rand National in the !ast fifty years comprise Drumcree, Wild Man from Borneo. The Soarer. Iome Away. Ilex anil Gamecock. But lest Ireland should gain the idea that it holds a monop-ol in Grand National winner, which are not tlior-Mgbbred. it may be mentioned that lathfiiider. dams jiedlgree unknown. Zoedeae, Ilayfair. Pather tllljnn. G radon and loclhl.vn weie bred in England. I hen Here was the great New Zealand-bred "c;;mcl." Moifaa. whose pedigree ended with the hire of his granddam Further than that the sire of his dam was not in the Stud Book or qualified for entry. The America! .-bred Rubin compared with Moifaa wan -in aristocrat in pedigree, but owing to his Lexington tttriiiu on his dams side he does no! comply with the definition for inclusion in the Enrlisn Stud Book. His case is pretty much on all fours with that of the English-bred Poetblyn, whose outcross comes in through the sire of his dam. Fine Campagne. which was by King Crow from the thoroughbred mare Pousse Cafe. In half a century the tirand National has been • won fourteen times by horses which are not in the Stud Book, an I the plebeian incidence nUkgeS from Pathfinder, by Mogador. dams breeding unknown, to Rubio and Poethlyn, which were practically thoroughbred. The Soarer and Kirkland are comparable in pedigree purity with Music Hall.
