view raw text
CHARLES OMALLYES LOSS • Syndicate Which Owned Him Had Given Up Insurance. ♦ Horse Worth Half Million as Property One of Eight Bought for 0,000 in a Group. BY E. E. COTJSSELI.. LONDON, England, April 10.— In 1908 the we!l-!;nown Irish breeder J. H. II. Peard purchased from the present Lord "Wavertree, then Colonel Hall Walker, a group of eight yearlings for which he paid 0,000. Every one of these eight youngsters won races, and three of them were smart. The best of the bunch was Charles OMalley, which Teard sold to A. P. Cunliffe, who a few years afterwards won the Derby with Aboyeur. Another of the batch was Ulster King, which Peard passed on to E. A. Wigan, while Captain Frank Forester bought Placidas, by Cyl-lene, and Bird i th Hand, by Gallinule. Placidas, by the way, was a good-looking individual, but had a rather sour temper. He was shipped to Brazil in 1912, the steamer experienced a heavy storm in the Bay of Biscay and Placidas, in his box, was swept overboard and drowned. Then his owner discovered he had overlooked the insurance ! Charles OMalley was undobtedly one of the best sons of Desmond, and his untimely death was a great loss for our bloodstock breeders. He had covered a mare when he slipped and broke his near hind leg. The unanimous veterinary opinion was that it was impossible to save him, and so Charles OMalley, or "Charless," as all Irishmen called him, had to be destroyed. WO INSURANCE OJT ACCOUNT OF RIOTS. Each proportion of 00,000 cost of Charles OMalley was insured, but last year, owing to the situation in Ireland, it was impossible to include in the policy cover against the risk of death of the horse from "riots and civil commotions." As the owners thought that was a greater risk than the natural one, the insurance was given up. It is therefore a heavy loss, apart from which the horses death has come at a most awkward time. Those who were sending mares to him have to secure nominations to other sires, and all the good horses arc booked full. Charles OMalley was from Goody Two Shoes, by Isinglass, and in conformation generally he took after the type of the sire of his dam. He won stakes amounting to 5,-000. He was speedy enough to win high class two-year-old events at Ascot and Goodwood, and ran Whisk Broom to a length for the Prendergast Stakes; as a three-year-old he defeated Rosedrop. the Oaks winner, and Magic in the Ascot Gold Vase, run over two miles, and he was third to Lemherg and Greenback in the Derby. He finished in front of Lemberg in the Grand Prix de Paris, in which he was fourth in a field of seventeen runners. Charles OMalley ran Wil-lonyx to a length in the Ascot Gold Cup as a four-year-old, and he was particularly unlucky to be beaten that day. He hated spurs ; in fact, since his offspring have been racing it has been generally found that few of them would race under the whip ; on the other hand, most of them run very generously when ridden with hands only. DOXOGHUES ASCOT CUP FAILURE. At Ascot, in 1912, Donoghue rode Charles OMalley with spurs in the Gold Cup ; he struck the horse before the start with the result that Charles threw his rider, giving Donoghue a rather bad fall and knocking him out for a time. Donoghue eventually got up and rode the race, and Charles OMalley was beaten a neck only. When Donoghue returned to the paddock he said to the owner of the colt, "When do we start?" and really did not know he had taken part in the race! This was a disastrous experience also for the owner of the horse, who had heavily supported him. Charles OMalley was a horse that took an enormous amount of work, and those most interested in him are convinced that he was really never fit ; he was always fourteen pounds and a beating in front of Ulster King, and it is quite safe to say that Charles OMalley was a much better race horse than his performances reveal. He began his career at the stud in 1913; he was located at Mr. W. B. Purefoys Greenfields Stud Farm, about six miles from Tipporary, and it was there he died. His offspring first appeared on the turf in 1913, and to the end of 1921 they had won 108 flat races worth 05. S92. This total was undoubtedly adversely affected by the fact that the first three years his stock were racing WM the war period, and during these seasons ; races were few and prizes small. He made the best use of his opportunities the first two years after the war, but in 1921 to some extent was a failure. There was, however, a redeeming feature last season, inasmuch as tix of his fifteen winners were two-year-olds. His son Charleville also ran second in the Cesarewitch. CHARLES OMALLEVS PRODUCE. The record of the Irish sire as a producer loliows : Year. Winners. Paces. Value. 1910 3 3 $ 3.007 1917 4 9 10.943 191S 9 13 1:3,067 lf 19 20 36 55,743 MM 15 27 87.005 MCI 13 20 25.992 Total G C5 103 05,852 , Charles OMalley had a large number of winners in other part3 of the world, and I I find that up to 1921 these had won fifty-nine ; races worth over 0,000. W. EL Coe has ; in his stud the filly Athlone, which is a full I sister to Zinovia. The average distance over • which Charles OMalleys stock, apart from i two-year-olds, have won fifty-four races was 5 aimost eleven furlongs. The best performers by Charles OMalley we have so far seen are Zinovia, Charlebelle i and lharmacie. All three are fillies. Zinovia - won the Cambridgeshire, and Charlebelle i the Oaks, while lharmacie was unbeaten as s a two-year-old and was regarded as one of f the best of the year ; Senhora, another filly, , was second in the Lincolnshire Handicap last t year, and Irish Lake won the Northumberland - Plate over two miles. There seems to have been a general impression - that few of the colts by Charles , I ; ; I • i 5 i - i s f , t - - - — _ - OMalley won races. This is not supported by the statistics, as the winning colts and i geldings are about equal in number. About two years ago Charles OMalley became the property of a syndicate of ten breeders, whose names are as follows : The Dowager Marchioness Conyngham, Lady Skyes, E. Bellaney, A. P. Cunliffe, :, James Daly, Jr., F. Dillon, the Hon. T. K. Laidlaw, D. Leahy, J. H. H. Peard and W. B. Purefoy. The purchase price was 00,000. Few breeders apart from those in the syndicate c were able to breed to the horse, and those e who secured the privilege had to pay a fee e of ,000. It must be confessed that this 1 high fee was scarcely justified by last years „ results, though yearlings by Charles OMal- ley have been fetching big prices since Zino-3 " via won the Cambridgeshire.