Family C-4: Gipsy

Gipsy, a black mare by Rous' Emigrant, was bred at the Charles Smith's Clifton Stud (see also Family C - 3) on the Hawkesbury River. Smith was the most prominent breeder and owner of racehorses in the 1830s and '40s, standing some of the most significant of the early stallions in Australia, including Steeltrap, Rous' Emigrant, The Doctor, Theorem, and Emancipation at his famous Bungarribee Stud (Cumberland county), and at Abbotsbury, Bayly Park at South Creek, and Clifton, all properties purchased over the course of around fifteen years. After her family rose in prominence, an attempt was made to determine Gipsy's breeding -- it was asssumed she was a thoroughbred because the mares at Clifton, as far as was known, were all "purebred" -- and an elderly groom who had worked for Smith stated he believed her dam to be by Bay Camerton, from a mare by Steeltrap. This could never be confirmed.

Gipsy was purchased from Smith by John Beit and taken to New Zealand in 1844 or 1845, and was sold to Mr. Tinline, an early owner of racehorses in New Zealand (one of his horses, Cannon-ball, ran in the first recorded race in Nelson in February, 1843). Gipsy was raced by Tinline at Stoke, one of the principal early centers of horse breeding and racing in New Zealand. In the first meeting held there in 1845, carrying 9 st.-10 lbs., she beat Quilp in the Forced Handicap, and Raffen in the Scurry. The next year she "won the principal races so easily as to deprive them of all interest." In 1847 she beat the New Zealand-bred colt Il Barbiere (1842, Figaro-imp. mare by Emilius) in a weight-for-age race, although he trounced her in a race the next year.

Gipsy was covered four years in succession by her former rival, Il Barbiere, producing four winners: the chestnut colt Young Barber (1847); a brown filly, Gipsy Queen (1848); the black fillies Zitella (1849), and Zingara (1850). After that she produced a black filly, Zingaree, by Glendon (1851), and finally, the brown filly Meg Merrilies, by St. George in 1852, after which she died. Gipsy Queen and Meg Merrilies established successful branches of the family in New Zealand, largely developed in the stud of J.W. Mallock, with five New Zealand (formerly Canterbury) Derby winners prior to 1890 descending from them, most of them by Traducer.

Gipsy's daughter Zingara (1850, by Il Barbiere), was a first class runner for Henry Redwood, "father of the New Zealand Turf," winning races at all distances over the Nelson course, which was located close to Redwood's first stud farm at Hednesford. Redwood took her to Australia to race, where she dead-heated for first in the Australian Plate and won two other races. She was sold there, along with two other horses Redwood had successfully raced in Australia -- Zoe and Chevalier -- for £1000 each to Judge Alfred Cheeke of Sydney. At Mount Druitt Farm at South Creek, St. Marys, co-owned by Cheeke and the famous trainer-owner John Tait (owner of The Barb, see Family 3), she produced Dundee (1861, winner of the first big Randwick miles -- the AJC Doncaster Handicap and the AJC Epsom Handicap), and Coeur De Lion (1866, winner of the VRC Flying Stakes). Her grandaughter, Gitana went back to New Zealand, where her son, Gipsy King (1884) won the DJC Dunedin Champagne Stakes in 1887 and the Dunedin Cup in 1888; Gitana's grandson, Ivanoff (1903) won the CJC Canterbury Welcome Stakes as a juvenile.

One Gipsy Queen descendant, New Zealand-bred Calumny (1869), won the New Zealand Derby in 1872, and, after being taken to Australia, won the VRC Newmarket Handicap in 1875. In Australia she established a successful branch of the family, which included Cross Keys, who won the Adelaide St. Leger in 1903, and the famous Brisbane sprinter Auction (1936).

This family is still active in New Zealand and Australia, with recent winners including 2003 New Zealand Derby winner Cut the Cake, and Hello Dolly, winner of the 2001 WRC Fayette Park Prized Stakes and twice winner of the Hawkes Bay Challenge Stakes (2000, 2001).

Notable Descendants