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Dixie
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Dixie was one of the influentail American daughters by imported Sovereign. Born during the Civil War, and she never raced, but she became an important producer, dam of winners, and she established a good line of American-bred mares that led to such American greats as Rough n' Tumble, War Relic and Sword Dancer.
Her sire, Sovereign, had been bred at the Royal Stud at Hampton Court. He was purchased by American Wade Hampton II, and imported into South Carolina. Injured, he never raced, but he became an influentail sire, especially of racing fillies and broodmares. The first American-bred, American-owned horse to win a race in England was his daughter, Prioress.
Dixie was bred by Kentuckian J.G. Boswell, from St. Mary, by Hamlet. St. Mary's dam, Vamp, had been imported into the U.S. by Elijah H. Boardman of Huntsville, Alabama, who brought twenty mares into the U.S. from England, including Vamp. She was from Lord Sligo's stud in Ireland, where her dam, the Waxy mare Wire, had been taken by Sligo from England. Wire was a sister to the important stallions Whisker and Whalebone, all of them out of the great producing mare, Penelope. St. Mary's sire, Hamlet, was a son of Consol, by Lottery. Consol, a great weight-carrier and distance runner in England, had been imported by Boardman, who bred Hamlet. A Consul son, who was brought into the U.S. in-utero in 1835 by Boardman, was Shamrock, a good runner seen in American pedigrees through his daughter, Hennie Farrow (dam of Mollie McCarty, Flood and Shannon), and Consul's daughter, Miss Foote, was a great racemare.
At age six, Dixie was traded for some cotton land in Arkansas, becoming the property of Major Barak Thomas, a lawyer who had served during the Civil War and who had raced Hegira, in partnership with his brother, Clarence. From her Thomas bred Hira, a winner in Kentucky, and later the dam of the great stallion Himyar.
For Thomas Dixie bred fifteen live foals between 1864 and 1882. Her first foal, Florac, a filly of 1864 by imported Mickey Free, became the dam of Kentucky Oaks winner Florimore. Her second foal, of 1866, the bay colt HERZOG (by Vandal), was a great runner in "the west," (Kentucky, Cincinnati and Tennessee) that many considered the best of his era. He won mostly mile and two-mile heats, beating all the competition, losing only once in his short career at age three, to Versailles, whom he beat ever after. Nick-named "The Crop-Eared Flier," having lost the top of his ears to frostbite, he was likened to Norfolk as a runner by old-time horsemen. He died at age three, having caught a cold that developed into pneumonia in Cincinnati in the fall. |
Her son Fireball
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Her next foal was FIREBALL (1867), a grey colt by Lightning. After Fireball came her bay daughter AUREOLA (1868), by War Dance, a great broodmare sire. Aureola was a good runner, plagued first by founder, and second by a green osselot, but, in the hands of trainer Charles Littlefield, she ran second in her second outing as a juvenile in a handicap purse at Saratoga. At age three she started several times, winning a handicap at Jerome Park (New York) in the fall of that season. Thomas switched trainers, then, and venues, moving her to back to Kentucky to run. At age four she won her first outing in successive mile heats, and the next day she set a record for two-miles, running successive heats in 3:37-3/4 and 3:35-1/4. She was became the dam of five winners, which included the Metropolitan Handicap winner Aureolus. 1808 Travers stakes winner Dorant also descended from her. |
Dixie's daughter WAR REEL, born in 1870, was a sister to Aureola. War Reel produced Queen Ban (1880) and Lady Frazer (1887), both by King Ban; Rough n' Tumble descends in tail-female from Lady Frazer, and Queen Ban was fourth dam of the champion filly Friar's Carse (1923), dam of War Relic (sire of Relic and Intent), War Kilt, Speed Boat (dam of CCAO winner Level Best, also third dam of champion Sword Dancer and fourth dam of Belmont Stakes winner Hail to All), Black Carse (fourth dam of Fit to Fight), and other daughters that bred on.
Another daughter, HEARSAY (1875, by Australian), also bred on: the unraced Dinah Did (1919, by Colin), was a tail-female descendant who produced He Did (1833, by Victorian), a winner of 18 races in 51 starts to age seven, including the Santa Anita Derby, the Carter Handicap, and the Interborough Handicap.
Dixie died while foaling a Himyar colt, which also died, on March 9, 1883. By that time, Maj. Thomas' 250 acre farm north of Lexington had been named Dixiana, in honor of his great foundation mare.
--Patricia Erigero
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