Family B-3: Perion Mare

Lavant and her progeny, members of this family, were admitted to the General Stud Book in March of 1969, after months of agitation by various members of the racing community, including the Council of Thoroughbreed Breeders Association. This was congruent with a change in the conditions for admittance, which were published in Volume 36 (published February, 1970), which stated admission to the GSB was to be allowed first, if a horse traced in "all points of its pedigree to strains already appearing in pedigrees in earlier volumes of the General Stud Book," or second, if it could be proved "satisfactorily eight 'thoroughbred' crosses consecutively including the cross of which it is the progeny and to show such peroformances on the Turf in all sections of its pedigree as to warrant its assimilation with 'thoroughbreds'." The sticking point in barring admission of this family was the fact that Lavant's third dam, Verdict (see below), was by the half-bred stallion Shogun (HB-1), which disrupted the requirement of eight "pure" crosses in the family's pedigree. However after the aformentioned pressure, and the undeniable fact that this was a high-class family of flat racers that once again called into question the rigidity of admission rules and the definition of a thoroughbred race horse, Weatherby's stated: "On this occasion we feel that Lavant and her progeny are a strain which should be assimilated with thoroughbred strains and have decided to admit Lvant and her produce..."

Lavant's son, So Blessed, and her daughter, Lucasland, had both been top sprinters in England in the 1960s, and further, eight of ten mares in direct descent to Lavant had been winners, with their progeny having won such races as the Oaks, the July Cub, the Cambridgeshire, the Coronation Cup, the Ascot Gold Cup, and other important races, and included two colts that had placed second in the Derby Stakes. The family has continued its winning ways since, with the 2004 classic winning filly Attraction its most notable recent member.

The family has its modern roots in a mare by Perion, foaled in the 1830s. Perion, by Derby winner Archduke (son of Sir Peter), had run second in the 1832 Derby. She produced a daughter by Melbourne, who was "a famous mare of Tom Dawson's, winner of races." Dawson was a famous north country trainer based first at Brecongill, Middleham, Yorkshire, and then at Tupgill, Yorkshire: he trained four classic winners, including Pretender, who won both the Two Thousand Guineas and the Derby in 1869, and the fillies Our Nell and Blue Bonnet, who carried off the Oaks and St. Leger, respectively, in 1842.

The Melbourne mare bred fifteen foals for Dawson and Tom Hewett of Gibside Park, Gateshead, Yorkshire, five of them winners, including Birdhill, winner of Goodwood's Stewards' Cup and eleven other races and later, in the Duke of Beaufort's stud, a sire of some winners on the flat and many good hunters. Five of her daughters bred on. Isabel, by Hobbie Noble, ran unplaced in her three races for Captain Coates; in the stud she produced five winners for W.B. Van Haansbergen of the Woodlands in Co. Durham, including St. Vincent, by Lord Clifden, a winner of five races worth £1,160; Jessie, winner of Bilbury's Champagne Stakes and several other races; and Mackintosh, by Macgregor, who won first prize at the Clonmel show in Ireland at age four, and was later sire of good steeplechasers and hunters.

Another daughter of the Melbourne mare, Nelly Rose, by Newminster, was sold to John Dawson, Tom Dawson's younger brother, also a trainer--of Derby winner Galopin and dual classic winner Petrarch, among many others--who trained at Compton, Berkshire, and then at Newmarket. For Dawson she produced four winners, including Julia Lex (later called Our Nell), a winner of five races between the ages of two and six, later dam of Saucy Nell, a winner on the flat who also won and placed in a number of shows as a broodmare, and produced a series of first place winning hunter foals and yearlings. Other Nelly Rose daughters, both by Tibthorpe, were Rosebud, winner of some small hurdle races and steeplechases, and Tib, dam of Curzon (see below).

The Melbourne mare also produced Queen Bee, sister to Nelly Rose, by Newminster, who ran second and third out of five races at age three. She bred three foals for Lord Middleton at Malton, Yorkshire, after which she was sold to William l'Anson, and later ended up in the stud of W. Van Haansbergen in Co. Durham. Beeswing was Lord Middleton's hunter for four seasons, and won a number of first prizes and cups as a hunter broodmare at shows in Yorkshire and in the 1888 Royal show, along with her produce at those events; most of Beeswing's progeny for a couple of generations were used as hunters in Yorkshire, often by Lord Middleton.

The most influential daughter of the Melbourne mare was Polly Johnson, later called Maud. She won thirteen of forty-four races, including Worcester's Flying Stakes as a juvenile. At age four while running in a selling race at Ascot she was claimed by the Earl of Coventry. She won two races for him the following season and then was retired to Croome Court stud in Worcestershire. A branch of her familyremained at the Coventry stud, with La Maudite (won three races, including the Croome Handicap at Worcester), Wrangle (by the Lecomte son, imported Umpire; won five races, six hurdle races and five steeplechases), Parting Shot (unraced dam of six winners on the flat and over fences), and Finale (see below) all serving as broodmares there, and Finale's daughter, Cambridgeshire Stakes winner Verdict (see below) passed to Coventry's daughter, Lady Barbara Smith, for whom she produced a series of winners and yearlings that brought high prices in the sales. The family today descends from this excellent runner and producer.

Notable Descendants