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ROMANCE OF THE GRAY HORSE Great Horses of That Color Fig ¬ ure in English Turf History Hotable Doings as Sires and andSacers Sacers Since Gimcracks GimcracksBeginning Beginning in 1764 There is always a certain amount o ro ¬ mance or call it sentiment if you will in the presence of a gray in any race and it may be of interest to briefly review the grays which have been prominent in great races in times gone by byIn In the first place it must be noted that every gray horse or mare of the present day can be traced back to either Alcocks Arabian or to the Brownlow Turk The first of these was imported into England prior to 1750 was first owned by a Mr Alcock and ultimately came into the pos ¬ session of the Duke of Ancaster He was the first sire imported prior to 1750 to which a Derby winner could be traced in direct male descent Aimwcll 1785 J B Robert ¬ son ascribes this transmission of gray as not being due to an actual inheritance of the color gray but to the inheritance of a factor inhibiting the production of color in the hairs He writes and without exception every gray thoroughbred in the world has inherited the inhibitory factor from one or both of these sources through an unbroken line of gray ancestors ancestorsThe The first great gray race horse was Gim crack described by Lady Sarah Bunbury as the Sweetest little horse that ever was He was by Cripple by the Godolphin Ara ¬ bian dam GodolphLn Blossom by Crab by Alcocks Arabian His first race was at Epsorn on May SI 1761 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 Count Lauraguais who took him to France to win a bet that no horse could travel twenty two and onehalf miles in one hour This he did and returning to England went on win ¬ ning at such places as Wisbech Ascot Marl borough and Wells and was beaten at New ¬ market Wantage by another gray and at Odsey 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 winning until he was 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 perpetu ¬ ate his fame that the Gimcrack Club was founded in 17G7 17G7FROM FROM HOLLANDAIE TO GTJ5TAYUS GTJ5TAYUSThe The first classic to be won by a gray was the St Leger of 1778 which was taken by Sir Thomas Gascoignes gray filly Hollan daise a daughter of Matchem Virago a gray and in 1798 this same owner again took the race with Symmetry which was by Deipini son of Highflyer dam Gray Countess by Blank a daughter of Hib 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 another of Mambrinos stock ran up to Aim well a direct descendant of Alcocks Arabian in the male line Once more back to the St Leger the race of 1794 was unique in history as four of the eight starters were grays These were Prior Brilliant Allegro and a gray filly by Deipini and they finished in the order named behind Beningborough In 1802 Scotia by Deipini a gray won the Oaks and in the Derby of 1806 Hector was third to Paris and in 1SOO Lisette by Hamble tonian was in a similar position behind Ash ton for the St Leger starting at the nice price of 20 to 1 In 1818 Raby 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 grandsires quarter of the pedigree has gray ancestors in all of the other threequar ¬ ters He traces back through Virago to the Alcock Arabian through Grey Countess to the Alcock Arabian and through the dam of Election to Skim a gray son of the Bolton Grey Starling In the following year Pro ¬ fessor a son of Comus dam a gray mare ran third at longer odds than 1000 to 5 to Theodore for the St Leger LegerTHIIEE THIIEE GREAT GllAYS IN CLASSICS CLASSICSThe The next year of interest is 1829 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 Derby was a gray son of Whalebone Exquisite and a gray son of Gustavus in Alington was also in the field fieldIn In 1832 the Figaro filly ran third to Mar ¬ grave for the St Leger starting at 50 to 1 and fn 1833 Grey Momus by Comus was third for the Derby to Amato after winning the Two Thousand Guineas from Bamboo and afterward won the Ascot Gold Cup of which to datehe is the only gray winner Grey Momus traces back to that great mare Faith a gray by Pacolet also a gray which won the Doncaster Gold Cup as a fouryear old beating Fortitude and others in 1783 The only other gray that has taken this race the Doncaster Cup was Chanticleer in 1848 and he was second the following year to Van Tromp for the Emperor of Russias Plate at Ascot AscotIn In 1S53 Warlock a roan son of Irish Bird catcher won the St Leger and the Great Elbor Handicap and from then until Grey Friar beat Silvio and Belphoebe which after ¬ ward took the Thousand Guineas Derby and St Leger at Newmarket in 1877 no gray showed up prominently This horse traced directly back to the Brownlow Turk and his line is almost extinct in England EnglandAfter After Grey Friar 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 and at Good ¬ wood and in 1894 took the City and Subur ¬ ban and the Portland Plate This horse traced directly back to the Alcock Arabian and his line is carried on today by his son Senseless whose dam is Senses by Raeburn and Clydebridge dam Jersey by St Simon The next gray was the unlucky Holocauste which starting second favorite to Flying Fox for the Derby of 1899 the last by tho way that was started with a flag fell just after passing Tattenham Corner and broke his fetlock Sloan his jockey and others always declare that but for his accident ho would have emulated the feat of Gustavua and won a second Derby for the grays Ho was by Le Sancy the sire of Tagale dam of Tagalie Le Samaritain and Nabot all grays graysJIOI JIOI IIERODE A NOTABLE GRAY GRAYThe The next to be mentioned is Roi Herode by Le Samaritain which will go down to fame as the sire of The Tetrarch This horse was unplaced to Calomel for his first race at Paris on October C 1906 and as a threeyearold his best was two seconds one when second to Querido for the Prix du President at MaisonsLaffitte with horses like Eider and Beppo behind him and tho other when second to Anemone II for the Prix Royal at Paris In 1909 he was sec ¬ ond to Amadis for the Doncaster Cup with Dean Swift Lagos Dark Ronald and others behind him and fourth for the Newbury Autumn Cup His success on the race course was never equal to the success he has al I ready attained at the stud for in The Te ¬ trarch he sired one of the finest twoyear olds of the century Roi Herode was also tho sire of King John winner of the Irish Derby in 1918 and Tudea winner of the Irish Oaks in 1918 and Abou Ben Adhem AdhemIn In 1912 the performance of Gustavus was repeated in fact eclipsed by the perform ¬ ance of that wonderful Gray Tagalie as she not only won the Derby but put the One Thousand Guineas also to her credit Be ¬ sides being the second gray to win the Derby it must be noted that only four fillies had previously won it itTAG TAG AWES GRAYNESS OF ANCESTRY ANCESTRYTagalie Tagalie can be traced directly back to Virago to which Gustavus traced his color in the tail female line and which goes back in turn to Alcocks Arabian Tagalie is one of the many exceptions which go to dis ¬ prove the 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 numbering pedigrees the produce being No 1 his sire No 2 his dam No 3 and his grandparents Nos 4 5 6 7 and so on ad infinitum Alcocks Arabian is No 436732 in Tagalies pedigree and she has obtained her color through eighteen indi ¬ viduals vidualsThe The Tetrarch retired to the stud an un ¬ beaten horse He won seven races to tho value of 56680 in his twoyearold days was the hottest autumn favorite 2 to 1 for the following years Derby that has ever been known and just when all looked abso ¬ lutely plain sailing for a Triple Crown ho met with his accident and Ills owner Cap ¬ tain McCalmont and his trainer Mr Persso were robbed of a great chance of winning a Derby Adair Dighton in Bailys Maga ¬ zine
