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STALLIONS OF CENTURY AGO Seemed to Have Lived Longer Average Age of 79 Recorded Was Twenty-Three Years. The age to which a thoroughbred stallion lives, unlike the case of the human being, seems to be merely a matter of constitution, remarks a writer in the London Sportsman. He goes on to discourse interestingly on the subject. "Some stud horses have greatly exceeded the average age, which, according to statis- tics got out a few years back on the an- j thority of the Stud Book, is no more than a fraction over sixteen years," he says. "A j century or more ago stallions seemingly j were longer lived than nowadays, for according to the obituary list in Volume I. fifth edition of the Stud Book, the average age of the seventy-nine stallions whose deaths are therein recorded was only a couple of months under twenty-three years. The I record age was thirty-three, attained by Matchem, by whose aid the line of the Godol-phin Barb was destined to be carried on. "Through Melbourne and his son West Australian, the latter of whom was the first winner of the Triple Crown, the Matchem family achieved great distinction in the middle of last century. Others that lived to what nowadays would be regarded as an exceptionally ripe old age were Sampson 32, Bay Bolton 31, Ranthos 31, Ruler 30, Young Marske 23, Partner 29 and Jalap 29. "Matchems great stud rivals, Eclipse and King Herod better known as Herod, were much younger when they ended their careers, Eclipse being quite worn out when he died at Cannons Middlesex, in February, 1789, at the age of twenty-four, while Herods death took place at Netherhall, Bury, when he was only twenty-two. "Marske, the sire of Eclipse, on the other hand, was 29 when he died in Oxfordshire In 1779. Until Eclipse commenced his spread-eagling career on the turf, Marske was considered an indifferent stallion, and after the death in 1765 of the Duke of Cumberland, he was sold to a farmer for a trifling sum. Mr. Wildinan, the purchaser of Eclipse, subsequently bought Marske for the bagatelle of 20 guineas, and after Eclipse had made him famous he was sold to the Earl of Abingdon for 1,000 guineas, and stood at his owners seat at Rycot, Oxfordshire, at a fee of 100 guineas and 1 guinea the groom. "Seldom has there been a better example of nothing succeeding like success, for, prior to the advent of Eclipse, Marske had been covering country mares in Dorsetshire at the modest fee of half a guinea. "But for Marske there would have been no Eclipse line, the nowadays dominant line, of which not only the Stockwells, Galopins and St. Simons, but also the Isonomys, Sterlings, Blair Athols, Rataplans and all the offshoots of Touchstone inclusive of Orlando, Newminster, Lord Clifden, Hermit, etc, are tail-male decendants. MEMUEliS OF ECLIFSE FAMILY. Coming to latter-day members of the Eclipse family were Galopin and his greatest son, St. Simon, each of which reached the age of twenty-seven. Rather curiously several of the most famous sons of St. Simon were comparatively youthful when they went to the happy hunting grounds. Persimmon, perhaps the greatest of them all, was only fifteen when he died, following an accident in 190S ; Desmond was seventeen, Florizel II. elder own brother to Persimmon was eighteen, and William the Third was nineteen, while St. Frusquin, the great race horse and stud rival of St. Simon, was twenty-one. "St. Frusquin, by the way, left worthy successors behind him in England in St. Amant and Greenback, while in the Argentine, his sons St. Wolf and Dusty Miller, are going strong. The longest lived of St. Simons sons, apparently, was St. Serf, which had attained the nowadays rare age of twenty-eight when his death took place. Collar was nineteen when he was destroyed in 1914. "Turning to the sonomy branch of Sterling Birdcatcher, Mr. Fred Grettons great race horse and stallion sire of Isinglass, winner of the record sum of 57,455 in stakes, died at the comparatively early age of sixteen years, whereas Isinglass was twenty-one, and another of his famous sons, Gallinule, was twenty-eight when the end came. "Another long-lived descendant of Bird-catcher via Stockwell was Bend Or, which reached the age of twenty six and died only a year before his best son, Ormonde, which expired in the States in 1901 at the age of twenty-one. The Bend Ors as a rule last out well, and Ormondes son Orme in turn lived until he was twenty-six, but the lat-ters good son Flying Fox was only fifteen when his death took place in France in 1911. "Another Stockwell horse that lived to a good age was Springfield sire of Sainfoin, which was twenty-five. Sainfoin was twenty-four, whereas his grandson Rock Sand sire of Tracery, etc., was only fourteen when he died in 1914. Another of the Stock-wells that was not only a great race horse but lived to a good age was Minting, whose defeat in the Two Thousand by Ormonde caused Mat Dawson to go home to bed. Foaled in 1883, Mr. Vyners champion was chloroformed in 1909 owing to infirmity. He was by Lord Lyon, which was considered to be rather a failure at the stud till he sired Minting in his old age. "The Musket line of Touchstone has produced some good stayers, not only as regards their racing ability but also in the matter of longevity, for Carbine winner of the Melbourne Cup under the record weight of lOst 511bs, and sire of the Derby and Grand Prize of Paris winner, Spearmint was twenty-nine, while Trenton was twenty-four."
