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Lanercost
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Lanercost, although barely remembered now, was a famous and popular north country stayer, the pride of Cumberland, followed from course to course in his first racing season by a clique of Cumberland horsemen who travelled in merry companionship in a hired coach. Sold to Scotland, he quickly became the pride of that country's racing fraternity. He ran for four seasons, ages three through seven, racking up twenty-two wins, four walk-overs, and nine places in forty starts, unplaced only five times, which includes a dead-heat with the famous Bee's Wing, where he did not opt for the run-off. In fact, he met Bee's Wing -- to whom he was later bred -- a number of times, the two horses being the focus on the turf of a rivalry between the two north country factions of Northumberland and Cumberland, even though all those contests took place after he was sold to Scotland. As a stallion he got a great many winners, but with the exception of two classic horses, few were high-class, and he was sold to France at age sixteen. His two most promising sons were sold overseas, their bloodlines eventually lost to wars and poor timing, and while his sire line persisted for several generations in England, it effectively ended with his great-grandson, the excellent Cup horse Tim Whiffler.
Lanercost was bred by John Wood, a tenant of the Earl of Egremont's, at a farm near Cockermouth, in the Allerdale borough of west Cumbria. His dam, Otis (1820), had been bred by Egremont from an Election mare that had been put to Bustard (1801, by Buzzard), a winner of a gold cup at Newmarket and other races. Otis was purchased by Wood for £15 and went to the stud at age four, produced her first foal in 1825, and, after twelve others, died in 1841, still in Wood's ownership. Of her offspring, Lanercost was by far her best, but a half-sister, Tyro (later Nurse, by Neptune), established a long-lived branch of this female line that included the Grand Prix de Paris winner Northeast (1905, by Perth) and Prix du Jockey Club winner and stallion Stuart (1885, by Le Destrier), and more recently, Bronzerullah (1958, by Fair Ruler), a winner of the Saratoga Special in the U.S.
Lanercost's full sister, Otisina (1837, by Liverpool), produced two good daughters, Hybla (by The Provost) and Donna (by Hetman Platoff), both of which extended the female line into the present; Hybla became the dam of Epsom Derby winner and stallion Kettledrum and of Epsom Oaks winner Mincemeat (1851, by Sweetmeat), in turn dam of One Thousand Guineas winner Tomato (1861, by King Tom). The female line extending from Otisina includes numerous classic winners in England, France, Italy, and the U.S.: Alydar's Best, Ugolino da Siena, Tom Fool, Dust Commander, Border Minstrel, Hula Dancer, and Balladier are just a few representatives of this family.
Lanercost's sire was Liverpool (1828, by Tramp), whose dam, a mare by Whisker, was out of the great broodmare Mandane. Liverpool's dam was a half-sister to Oaks winner Manuella, to St. Leger winner Altisidora, to the excellent Lottery, and to the good stayer and stallion Brutandorf. Liverpool was owned as a stallion by John Ramshay, the steward of Naworth Castle, Cumberland, for the Earl of Carlisle. Ramshay had a small, but successful stud of thoroughbreds and "cocktails," the latter used mostly as hunters, at Naworth Barns, at the castle, and also was a well-known breeder of prime West Highland cattle.
Liverpool, bred by Mandane's owner, Richard Watt, of Bishop Burton, Yorkshire, was a game distance horse that won some good races during his four seasons in the turf, passing through several hands. His turf triumphs included a punishing two mile Produce Stakes Handicap at York and Doncaster's Gascoigne Stakes -- after a dead-heat with the St. Leger winner Chorister -- at age three Newmarket's Port Stakes at age four, and York's Gold Cup and Preston's Stanley Stakes at age five. Liverpool stood at Naworth Barns and also served mares at Middlethorpe, Yorkshire. He was sold for £2,000 to the French government at age sixteen, scheduled for export after the 1844 season, but died in December from complications of injuries due to a fire in May at Naworth.
Liverpool was a useful sire, with offspring that included good juvenile winners, a classic winner, and older sprinters and stayers that won important races. In addition to Lanercost, he got Idas (1845), a winner of the Two Thousand Guineas and St. James's Palace Stakes; Moss Trooper (1839), winner of the two-mile Northumberland Plate for Ramshay at age four; A British Yeoman (1840), a successful juvenile winner of Doncaster's Champagne Stakes and Two Year Old Stakes and several other races at Newcastle and other northern venues, later a successful jumper sire; Calypso (1837) a winner of the Northumberland Plate; Sir Abstrupus (1840), who took Goodwood's Steward's Cup (6 furlongs) at age four; Full Sail (1842), a winner of Epsom's Woodcote Stakes as a juvenile; Ramshay's "iron-legged" Naworth (1837), a winner of various distance races; and a son born in France, also called Liverpool (1843), that won the Prix du Cadran (4,000 meters), the Prix de la Ville de Paris, and the Prix des Haras.
Liverpool also got some good broodmare daughters, such as Espoir (1841), the dam of Oaks winner Brown Duchess, Park Hill Stakes winner Battaglia, and Epsom's City and Suburban handicap winner Ethelbert (1850) ; Executrix, dam of the great north country staying mare Inheritress (1840, Northumberland Plate, Ayr Gold Cup, numerous Queen's Plates, Liverpool cup, Cheshire Stakes, Chesterfield Handicap, Wolverhampton Gold Cup, etc. etc.); Jamaica, dam of the two-mile Ascot Gold Vase winner Cariboo (1847, also second in the Goodwood Cup), of the perennial runner-up Yellow Jack (1853, second in the Epsom Derby, Goodwood Cup and other top races), and of John Davis (1861), winner of the Great Yorkshire Stakes, Great Northampton Stakes and other races; and Bee's Wax, dam of Chesterfield Stakes winner Hydromel (1855) and Goodwood Stakes winner The Roman Candle (1854).
Otis was one of the few thoroughbred mares Liverpool saw during his first season at Naworth Barns, and Lanercost, born in 1835, was his first thoroughbred foal. Landercost was not particularly attractive as a youngster, described as having a coarse head and neck, "the latter of which assumed a ewe shape in many of his stock," and his thin-soled feet were prone to abcess. Ramshay purchased the colt from Wood when he was a yearling for 120 guineas. He was "an enormous feeder" that became "thick and fat" and was frequently submitted to sweating in heavy hoods and quarter pieces, as was still common among some trainers during that era. He "passed his life in great eating and great work." When grown, according to The Druid, "he had all the requisites of a racer -- fine arched loins and a beautiful back, with the best of legs if they had not been afflicted with corns."
As a racer, "Lan," as he was called, was a heavy puller who "always had his head on the jockey's arms." His thin soles caused persistent problems, and to save them he was "vanned" in a horse-drawn cart to many of his meets. Some famous racehorses had companion cats, but Lan had a dog when in training with William I'Anson at Yorkshire. When Lanercost was sold in 1841 and went to trainer John Scott's barn at Pigburn, the dog "...missed him very much after a few weeks' severance; and, as if he knew that Lan had gone never to return, started off on a voyage of discovery, and eventually discovered his box at Pigburn [where the dog had never been before]. The meeting between the old friends was an affecting one, and they had to coax the dog out of the stable with a cat; but he wouldn't leave the yard, and paid John Scott out for the 'cat trick' by destroying all his ferrets in the loft above Lanercost's box....When travelling with the horse no stranger dared to approach the box, and his canine opponents seldom survived their engagements."
Lanercost on the Turf
A tearing nag was Sharpe's Canteen,
but now't to old Springkell;
Then Chassé was a ganner,
and Inheritor as well.
A tougher mare than Modesty
the Border never crossed,
But Cumberland just banged them all
with Ramsay's Lanercost.
Ramshay sent the overweight two-year-old Lanercost to Tom Dawson, who was training the Scottish Lord Eglinton's horses at Middleham, Yorkshire, and Lanercost was quickly schooled there to try with Aimwell, a promising horse in the stables, however, "...his being hurried on for this purpose did him no good. Indeed, he wintered very badly, and ought to have been in his stable instead of being sent to Catterick Bridge [to race early in his three-year-old season]." Although owned by Ramshay, and racing in his colors, he ran in the name of his nominator, James "Jim" Parkin -- a Cumberland sportsman and associate of Ramshay's -- in his first four races at age three, and was ridden in those races by Harry Edwards, who had jockeyed Liverpool for Ramshay, but had since given up racing and become a veterinarian. Parkin, a typical amateur sportsman of means, would hire a coach, pack it with his cronies, and follow Lanercost to his various races to bet and cheer "his" horse on.
Lanercost's maiden race was the Claret Stakes at Catterick Bridge in April, 1838, over two miles. He was not fit, and was third to Jenny Jumps. In June he easily won the Newcastle St. Leger, beating St. Martin and four others. After this, he was transferred to the care of Mat Dawson, and in September, appeared in Doncaster's St. Leger, where Lanercost, having won a trial with St. Andrew in fast time, started third favorite to Don John and Ion (who ran first -- by twelve lengths -- and second respectively). He ran third, but went unplaced. Three days later he won the one mile Scarborough Stakes, beating his sole opponent, Appleton Lad.
After Doncaster he was purchased by Scotsman W.R. "Willie" Ramsay of Barnton, Scotland, for £1500. Ramsay, son of an enormously wealthy Scottish merchant, was a well-known Scottish sportsman and some-time M.P. for Midlothian, who delighted in taking the reins of the Defiance mail coaches -- locally referred to as the Ramsay Coaches -- to Perth. He was a noted hunting enthusiast, serving as M.F.H. for the Linlithgowshire and Stirling hounds, as well as owning racehorses and serving as steward for a number of northern races. In addition to Lanercost, he owned Inheritor, a weight-carrying stayer that won two Liverpool Cups and other races, The Doctor (owned contemporaneously with Lanercost), Vestment, Despot, and other good horses.
Ramsay had Lanercost brought to Gullane ("the Malton of Scotland"), on the Firth of Forth, to be trained by William I'Anson, Sr., who at the time had his horses at George Dawson's stables -- the Dawson sons, Mat and Tom, moved back and forth between Middleham, Yorkshire, and Gullane in the 1830s and early '40s, before setting up their base in Yorkshire, with forays as private trainers for various northern worthies. When I'Anson began training Ramsay's horses, he took over the Gullane stables of another old Scots trainer, F. Quarton. Ramsay would later give I'Anson Sr. the famous broodmare Queen Mary, who was owned by Ramsay in her racing days, and from her I'Anson bred her excellent daughters, Blink Bonny and HARICOT (by Lanercost); Haricot's daughter Caller Ou, and Blink Bonny's Triple Crown-winning son, Blair Athol. I'Anson, like the Dawsons, soon left Gullane for Yorkshire, where at Malton his son, William, Jr., also became a noted trainer.
Lanercost's first race with his new owner and trainer was in October at the Royal Caledonian Hunt and Western Meeting at Ayr, with jockey John Cartwright in the saddle. He won the Caledonian St. Leger (1 mile-4 furlongs), and three days later won the Queen's Guineas Plate over four miles, beating St. Martin in both races. At Dumfries ten days later -- where he was to meet St. Martin again -- he took a wrong step during his morning exercise, and he pulled up sore with a filling back tendon; I'Anson had the lad on Lanercost "whip into a neighbouring stable," and was able to get the swelling down sufficiently to send Lanercost onto the course. Cartwright's instructions were to try to bluff a compromise out of the opposition, St. Martin's owners, who did not know about the leg, and walk the horse forward when the race began, but, if the race continued, to pull up when the pace picked up. St. Martin's connections, however, turned him around, conceding the race, and the lame Lanercost took the walk-over for the two-mile, £50 race. That was the end of his three year old season: four firsts, a third, a walk-over, and one not-placed.
At age four, 1839, he ran fourteen times, winning nine times, placing second four times, and unplaced once. He started this season poorly, his thin soles causing him trouble. He got a stone bruise prior to his first race, which stopped his preparation for it. He started anyway, with "quite festered" soles and lame, and ran unplaced to Charles XII and fourteen others in the two-mile Tradesmen's Cup at Liverpool. The next day, still lame, he ran against his stablemate, The Doctor, to "make a field" in the three-mile Hooton Stakes, coming in second. The following day he was sound and fit enough to win the Grosvenor Stakes (1 mile-6 furlongs), beating Antigua.
In early September he went to Ayr to run in the two mile Gold Cup, which he won, beating St. Bennett and others. Back home in Yorkshire, he was used as a trial horse for Ramsay's Easingwold, who was preparing for the St. Leger (he ran unplaced), and was on the same day as the trial, walked some miles to Borough Bridge enroute to Doncaster. At Doncaster he won the Four-Year-Old Stakes (1 mile-4 furlongs). Two days later he met Charles XII again, in the Doncaster Cup, where he was barely beaten into second place, with Bee's Wing third and Emancipation last.
He was then "vanned" to Liverpool -- one of the first horses to travel in a cart, made by Ramsay's master joiner from his estate -- pulled by other horses. At Liverpool he was second to the grand stayer Melbourne, giving him four pounds, in the two-mile Palatine Handicap Stakes, beating Medea, La Sage Femme and Clinker. He met the top race mare Cruiskeen two days later in the Heaton Park Stakes (1 mile-4 furlongs), giving her 39 pounds, and was second, beating seven others.
Lanercost was then shipped by sea to Glasgow, and went to Cupar to run at the Royal Caledonian Hunt and Fife. There he won the Fifty Pound Plate (two miles, beating Bellona) and, two days later, the Queen's Guineas (4 miles) again, this time beating Malvolio (by Liverpool) by a length, giving away gobs of weight to Malvolio. He was then vanned to Kelso to take the Berwickshire Gold Cup (2 miles-4 furlongs), ridden for the first time by William Noble. Noble also jockeyed him to a win in the two-mile Gold Cup at Dumfries and a Fifty Pound Plate over two miles run the next day.
Lanercost had been nominated to the inaugural running of the Cambridgeshire Stakes (1 mile-1 furlong plus) at Newmarket, and was "shipped" south from Dumfries in his three-wheel van, pulled by cart horses. One of the team broke down, and Lanercost spent a long journey of 340 miles in his "travelling stall," where "there was hardly room...to swing a cat." He arrived so cramped that he could barely trot, and was sweated heavily in his Newmarket box, after which he "was so fresh that he tried all he knew to go through a shopfront when being led through High Street to the Heath on the Cambridgeshire day." Despite all this, he won the race, beating Mickleton Maid (second in the Cesarewitch that year) and Hetman Platoff -- who had gotten into a speed dual with the mare -- and nine others. He carried 8 st.-9 lbs. in the race, 11 pounds more than Hetman Platoff, and the heaviest weight carried in that race until Foxhall won it in 1881. Seeing Lanercost immediately after the race, Lord George Bentinck exclaimed, "What a wonderful animal this is; he neither sweats nor blows!"
At age five, 1840, he ran eleven times, winning seven times, taking one walk-over, running second once, and unplaced twice. In early May he was unplaced for the Tradesman's Purse at Chester, carrying the crushing weight of 9 st.-9 lbs. He went on to win the Irvine Cup at Eglinton Park -- then an important venue -- a week later, beating such good horses as Zohrab and The Potentate, and the following day took a one mile sweepstakes at the same course, beating The Hydra. Next up was Newcastle in July, where he won the two-mile Gold Cup, beating the great Bee's Wing by a short head (she carried one extra pound). This was a famous north country race, commemorated by The Druid a few years later:
Game Lanercost was in his box,
His foals hard by at romps;
And I pictured for them victories
Like War Eagle's and Van Tromp's
I remembered how their sire's sides
And Newcastle pockets bled,
When he challenged Bee'swing for the Cup
And beat her by a head.
Back in Cumberland, at Carlisle, he won the two mile-two furlong Gold Cup, and the four mile Queen's Guineas the following day. At Goodwood two-and-one-half weeks later, he ran second to Beggarman in the two mile-5 furlong Goodwood Cup, giving him eleven pounds, beating Hetman Platoff, Dey of Algiers, Charles XII and five others.
He went back to Scotland in October. At the Royal Caledonian Hunt, Kelso, he won the one mile-four furlong Roxburgh Gold Cup, beating Bee's Wing by half a length and receiving a pound from her; the same day he took the grand mare on in a £50 plate over 1-1/2 miles, for which they ran a dead-heat. I'Anson declined to participate in the two mile run-off, giving Bee's Wing the victory. Bee's Wing went on to run in and win a £50 plate over 2-1/4 miles --her third race that same day! Two days later, Lanercost won the four mile Queen's Guineas. Lanercost's last race of that season was the Gold Cup at Dumfries, where he beat Charles XII.
In 1841, when he was six years old, Lanercost raced five times. He won twice, took a walk-over, was second once, and third once. In April at Eglinton Park, he took a walk-over for the Irvine Cup, and the next day won a sweepstakes over one mile, beating his sole opponent, Assegai. In June he went to Ascot; there, in the Ascot Gold Vase, carrying 9 st.-9 lbs.he ran into trouble, being bounced by Zeleta and then Miss Stilton, and could only run second to the three-year-old Satirist (who would go on to win the Doncaster St. Leger), carrying 7 st-3 lbs (34 pounds less than Lanercost), with five others in the field. Two days later he won the Ascot Gold Cup (2 miles-4 furlongs), making all the running, beating Flambeau, St. Francis, the former Derby winner Bloomsbury, and three others. He was the first Scottish-owned horse to win the race. Twelve days later he was at Newcastle, where the wear of his two previous races and the constant travels put him third and last to Bee's Wing and Calypso (also by Liverpool).
This was his last race for Ramsay, who sold him to Yorkshire breeder, sportsman and horse dealer Thomas Kirby (one-time owner of Orville) for £2,800, with a "contingency" for sending two mares to him without fee. He had been sold "stripped of everything but his shoes--not even the halter in."
"No one expected to see him out again in '42," said The Druid, but Kirby had sent him to the great trainer John Scott at Malton, Yorkshire, where he trained at the old Pigburn racecourse, near Badford, and he did run three times at age seven. His first race was Chester's two mile-two furlong Tradesmen's Plate in May, where he met the four-year-old Alice Hawthorn in her first big race, and giving her an unbelievable 51 pounds, was second to her by two lengths, beating Vulcan and twenty others, including Satirist (Doncaster St. Leger winner in 1841), Cruiskeen and Retriever. The next day at Chester, with no opponents in sight, he took a walk-over for the Dee Stand Stakes (2 miles). Then he was taken back to Ascot to run in the Gold Cup for the second time. The race was won by the inimitable Bee's Wing, with The Nob second, and St. Francis third -- Lanercost ran, "as if his back were broken," fifth and last. Lanercost had been the favorite for the race, and was "got at" the night before the race, poisoned, although the culprit was never identified and a vague story about a sailor hanging around his box was bruited about. Lanercost was sent to Liverpool to run in the Cup a month later, but "the poison was...still lurking in his system, and he broke out into such a black sweat the day before, that he was sent home to Yorkshire, and the Turf knew their great modern four-miler no more."
Lanercost in the Stud
Lanercost was retired to stud at Kirby's Stables at Murton, Yorkshire, and also served mares at Rawcliffe Paddocks in York. Kirby kept his fee low -- 15 guineas -- and did not impose a limit on the number of mares he saw. "Lanercost might, like Orville, be said to have 'received all Yorkshire' at his paddocks and it was perhaps owning to this cause that he could not hold the place he won in 1847, with VAN TROMP, WAR EAGLE, and ELLERDALE." It was the belief of a number of commentators that the indiscriminate overuse of Lanercost caused his youngsters to be small and "weedy." Despite getting two classic winners and other good runners, he was generally considered a failure at stud -- especially after his good start with the crop of 1844 and his subsequent "picked mares of England" in 1847-48 -- something Kirby took pains to contradict in his published stallion ads for Lanercost:
"N.B. A report which was circulated last year, that Lanercost could not get a race-horse, has at last proved to be false, for he has got nine or ten 2 years old winners this year, which is more than any other stallion has got." [advertisement, Racing Calendar, 1847; in fact, he had 12 juvenile winners of 24-1/2 races in 1846]; and
"It may be seen in the Racing Calendars for 1848, 48 and 50 that Lanercost got more winners than any other stallion in England" [advertisement, Racing Calendar, 1852].
He actually was not a complete flop in the sire's lists through 1853. In 1848, 1849 and 1850 he was leading sire in Great Britain, as far as number of winners is concerned, but they were, with several exceptions, winners of races of low value, and so he is not seen at the top of the list of champion sires, based on earnings. From 1850 through 1853, he was sixth (actually, fourth if HARICOT's earnings are included, which they should be), twelfth, fifth and third (with Melbourne and Orlando first and second), respectively, on the sires list, with progeny earnings. But, like many big, staying weight-carriers of the time, "...it was found that his stock did not ripen early, and were not nearly smart enough for two-year-old races, and such a discovery is now-a-days fatal to a horse. Thirty years before, he would have been invaluable."
Kirby "was amazingly fond of him [Lanercost]." He would, said The Druid, "...stand...looking at him day after day with visitors, and then out would come his 'There! It's my opinion -- and I've seen a many horses in my time -- but I never seed one, tak him altogether, that please me mair than Lanercost.' A pause regularly ensued, only thus broken again in the same monotonous tone -- 'And thou'll recollect, I had old Orville."
But by 1851 Kirby had Lanercost's son, VAN TROMP at Murton, at a fee of 15 guineas (by then, Lanercost's fee was a mere 10 guineas), and Lanercost was leased to Lord Exeter and was taken to stand at Hampton Paddocks. Kirby had turned down an offer of a reported £3,000 from the French government for Lanercost in 1846, after VAN TROMP won his maiden race -- the Mersey Stakes -- at Liverpool, and turned the French representative down again after a bonus of £500 was offered if VAN TROMP won the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster (which he did). Lanercost's sire, Liverpool, as noted above, had been slated to go to the French in 1844, before the fire at Naworth, and their interest had only increased since the advent of VAN TROMP. Since Lanercost could not be had -- at that time -- the French instead bought Gladiator, to the everlasting glory of French breeding.
However, in 1853, at a considerably reduced price of £480, Ernest le Roi, acting for the French government stud, purchased Lanercost, age 18, and he was sent to the Emperor's stud at Chantilly; he also spent time as a sire at the government stud in Paris. While not a blockbuster sire in France, as in England he got some good runners, including a classic winner.
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1847 Derby with Lanercost sons second and third : Left to right --War Eagle (2nd), Cossack (Winner), Van Tromp (3rd). Four other Lanercost sons ran in this race, in which 32 horses started; Mr. Martin, by Lanercost, came in fourth.
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Lanercost's first foals -- and his best -- were the crop of 1844. It included the excellent stayer and classic winner, VAN TROMP, Doncaster Cup winner WAR EAGLE, the staying Cup and Royal Plate winning mare ELLERDALE, THE SWALLOW, CROZIER, MR. MARTIN, and CIRCASSIAN MAID.
WAR EAGLE (1844, from Valentine, by Voltaire) was a leggy 16.1 hand tall dark bay raced by Edward Bouverie of Delapré Abbey, Northamptonshire. He had a good turn of speed, which his jockey Sam Mann put to use in the Doncaster Cup of 1847, where he hung close to The Hero until Mann "touched him with the spur," and he surged ahead to win.
As a juvenile WAR EAGLE ran twice, winning Newmarket's Steppingly Stakes, and running second to Saddle in Newmarket's Canaletti Stakes, both in October. At age three he won four races, including a £50 sweepstakes at Newmarket, and the Doncaster Cup, and was second to Cossack twice: in the Newmarket Stakes over the Ditch Mile in the early spring, "one of the fastest races ever seen," and in the Epsom Derby, where he failed to get up to Cossack at the stand, and was beaten by a length, with Lanercost sons VAN TROMP and MR. MARTIN third and fourth. At age four he won two races, including the Trial Stakes at Ascot, and was second to Peep-o'-Day Boy in the Chester Cup. He got a small crop of British foals in 1850 before he was sold to Prussia at age six, that year. He had some influence on the Trakehener breed through daughters born in east Germany. His dam, Valentine, also produced WAR WHOOP (1850), second in Newmarket's Chesterfield Stakes, to the cover of Lanercost.
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Van Tromp
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VAN TROMP (1844) was the first Lanercost foal out of Barbelle (by Sandbeck). Barbelle's female family had been owned by the Vansittart family for several generations, and Henry Vansittart, heir to a fortune based in the East India Company, had gained Kirkleatham, a Yorkshire estate, through his marriage to the widow of Sir Charles Turner (owner of Hambletonian and Beningbrough). Barbelle, a short-legged 15 hands tall mare with "springy wire-hung action," went on to produce a number of other foals, first for Vansittart and then for the Earl of Eglinton. The best of these was the unbeaten juvenile and dual classic winner The Flying Dutchman.
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VAN TROMP was 15.2 hands, with a clean, small head, a "good shoulder, great depth of girth, muscular arms, strong back and quarters...good hocks, bone and feet." He had an "excellent" temperament, and when racing, proved to be game and "not at all deficient in speed." He was Lanercost's best running son, but he was described as "not the best of foal getters," and was sold to the Czar Nicholas for 2,000 guineas in 1853.
He raced for four seasons, ages two through five. The "very model of a Cup horse," he won ten races plus a walk-over and a compromise, placed second once, and third twice; he was never unplaced. Purchased by the Earl of Eglinton for 300 guineas as a yearling, and racing in his colors, as a juvenile he won the Mersey Stakes at Liverpool, beating eight others, including Lanercost daughter MAID OF MOTHERWELL, who was third. At Goodwood he won the Lavant Stakes, beating nine others, and then in the fall at Doncaster, he won the Champagne Stakes, beating Planet and five others. His last race of the season was a scheduled match against Eothen, also age two, at Newmarket Houghton, where he received a 50 sovereign compromise.
At age three VAN TROMP was third to Cossack and WAR EAGLE in his first race, the Derby Stakes at Epsom. At Newcastle he won the North Derby, beating four others, and the Gateshead Stakes, beating one other colt in a canter, "held hard," by four lengths. He then went to Liverpool, where he won the St. Leger Stakes, beating Lanercost's daughter, THE SWALLOW, who was second, with Executor, who would win the Liverpool July Cup the next year, last. At Goodwood he was second by a half length to Planet in the Racing Stakes, with Venison's son, Red Hart third. Taken to Doncaster, he beat Cossack and Eyrx, Planet, THE SWALLOW, and three others in the Doncaster St. Leger, winning by two lengths. Also at Doncaster he took a walk-over for the Gascoigne Stakes, with all the opposition scared away. After his St. Leger win, his then trainers -- the Brecongill Yorkshire brothers Tom and John Dawson -- were treated to a gala dinner for 100 people, sponsored by neighboring trainer John Fobert at his Spigot Lodge home in Middleham, Yorkshire, to celebrate the victory.
In 1848, age four, his season started at Goodwood, where he won a 300 sovereign sweep, beating Cossack by over 100 yards, and then, carrying by far the highest weight at 9 st. - 3lbs., he won the Goodwood Cup, beating with eight others in the field, including Chanticleer and Cossack. At Doncaster in the fall, he was third and last for the Doncaster Cup, which was won by Chanticleer, with Lanercost's good daughter ELLERDALE second. He ran once at age five, taking the 2-1/2 mile Emperor of Russia's Plate (Ascot Gold Cup), beating Chanticleer, Cossack and Collingwood in a fine race of excellent runners. Thomas Kirby purchased him, and he went to stud at Murton.
VAN TROMP made the top twenty in the sire's list of progeny earnings in England three times, after he was exported: eighteenth in 1854; thirteenth in 1855 with twelve winners, and fifteenth in 1856. His best were Vandal (1852, Great Ebor Handicap and other races), Vandermulin (1853, Lincolnshire Handicap and other races -- "for magnificence Vandermulin has scarcely a peer"), Boer (1851, a 300 guineas sweepstakes at Newmarket and other races), and the mare Zeta (1853, Doncaster's Filly Stakes, Northumberland Plate -- "the best-looking and gamest Van Tromp mare"). His lesser winners included Dame Judith (1852, Richmond's Wright Stakes, Manchester's Trafford Handicap), Englemere (1852, Visitors' and Tradesmens' Handicap at Rochester and many other races at minor venues), Benhams (1852, Racing Stakes at Northampton, Belvoir Castle Stakes, and others).
VAN TROMP hardly got a start at stud before Kirby -- perhaps reflecting on Lanercost's loss in value --sold him to Russia, where he had long-standing contacts; VAN TROMP reportedly was a successful sire there and is seen as broodmare sire of several winning juvenile fillies in that country. His English-born son, Ivan (1851, from Siberia by Brutandorf), a moderately good three-year-old, stood alongside Stockwell at the Stockwell Stud in Tadcaster for 5 guineas, and in 1857 was sold to Ireland, where he got some winners, including Irish Derby winner Selim (1863), and Goodwood's Stewards Cup winner Fichu (1866). Ivan also sired some good jumpers, includng Zuleika (1865, from the half-bred Arab Maid), who ran to age ten and won ten good steeplechases in Ireland and later bred multiple winners of steeplechases and flat races; Ivan's son, Blue Peter (1860) got the 1874 Irish Grand National Steeplechase winner Sailor.
Another VAN TROMP son, Van Galen (1853, from Little Casino by Inheritor), a "respectable" juvenile that broke down early at age three, got Manchester Cup winner Ploughboy (1864), and more importantly, the terrific stayer Tim Whiffler (1859, from Sybil by The Ugly Buck,), who was the last great horse in the Lanercost branch of the Tramp sire line.
Tim Whiffler, at age three, could hardly be beat in the premier stayer's races, winning the Ascot Gold Vase, Ascot's Royal Stand Plate, the Goodwood Cup, the Chester Cup and the Doncaster Cup. Tim Whiffler got a few crops in England, but with his offspring showing little promise, he was sold and imported into Victoria, Australia, by John Moffat in 1871. In Australia he proved to be a highly influential sire through his good daughters, Idalia, taproot mare in Family C-5), Sybil (1873, winner of the Australian Cup over 18 furlongs), Nellie (1876, winner of three good races, including the AJC Derby, taproot mare of Family C-1). Tim Whiffler also got VRC Australian Cup winner Pollio (1876), Melbourne Cup winner Darriwell (1874), the latter the sire of some winners, and Briseis (1876), the Australian "Queen of the Turf" in her time.
Also in Lanercost's first crop was ELLERDALE (1844, from a mare by Tomboy, also the dam of COLSTERDALE), bred and raced by Captain (later Admiral) O.V. Harcourt of Swinton Castle, Masham. Like her sire, ELLERDALE was a grand stayer and weight-carrier, and she also had speed. Schooled by one of Lanercost's trainers, Tom Dawson, as a juvenile she won York's Gimcrack Stakes, but could only run fourth in VAN TROMP's Doncaster Champagne Stakes. At age three she took seven good races, including the 1-1/2 mile Great Yorkshire Stakes at York, Doncaster's Park Hill Stakes, and the Roxburgh Cup at Kelso, and was third to the Venison daughters Miami and Clementina in the Epsom Oaks, after setting the pace. At age four she won four times, including the Stamford Gold Cup, the Richmond Gold Cup, and the Queen's Plate at Lincoln, was second to Maux in the Great Ebor Handicap and to Chanticleer, in the Doncaster Cup (beating VAN TROMP), and was third to The Cur and Dacia in the Cesarewitch, carrying the heaviest weight in a field of 29 others. At age five she won three times.
She was then retired to Harcourt's stud, where she became a famous broodmare in her own time, producing two classic winners -- Derby winner Ellington (1853, by The Flying Dutchman) and Oaks winner Summerside (1856, by West Australian). She also produced Ellermire (1852 by Chanticleer), another good staying mare that won Liverpool's Stanley Stakes and the County Plate at York and was second in the 1855 Doncaster St. Leger; Waredermarske (1854, by Birdcatcher), another good stayer, Gildermire (1855, by The Flying Dutchman), winner of Doncaster's Champagne Stakes at age two, and of the North of England Biennial at age three, and second in the Epsom Oaks that year; and Harcourt (1861 by Stockwell), winner of the Bilbury Stakes and later a stallion. Her female line was very successful, and included Ascot Gold Vase winner Elland (1862, by Rataplan), the grand American gelding Roamer (1911 by Knight Errant), and Derby winner April the Fifth (1929, by Craig an Eran); the family persisted longest in Poland, where the mare Gaff (1916, by Javelin) established a hugely successful line of Polish classic winners.
Another good filly in Lanercost's 1844 crop was CIRCASSIAN MAID (from Miss Clifton, by Partisan), raced by Edward-Lloyd Mostyn. She won Chester's Wirral Stakes, a Two Year Old Sweepstakes at Newmarket Houghton, beating five other youngsters, Shrewsbury's Wynnstay Stakes, and Wrexham's Champagne Stakes, placing in several other races, including second in an all-age handicap sweep at Newmarket, beating nine others, including some three-year-olds. In the stud she bred Don John (1859, by Wild Dayrell), a winner of five small races, and his brother, the stayer Dusk (1859), a winner of ten races, including the Stamford Gold Cup, the Ascot Biennial, and four Queen's Plates, and later a useful sire. Her tail-female line includes Irish Oaks winners, Two Thousand Guineas winner Arctic Storm (1959), and Hungarian classic winners.
Other juvenile winners from Lanercost's first crop included James Meiklam's SUSANNAH (1844, from Modesty by Malek, later dam of the good racer Raby), winner of Newton's Drawing Rooms Stakes and placed several times, and DELORAINE (1844, out of Florence by Velocipede), a winner of the Competition Produce Stakes at York and second in the Post Stakes at Catterick Bridge. HELIAS (1844, out of Hygeia by Physician -- also dam of Coheiress) won Richmond's Easby Stakes; he was sent to Italy at age four. LADY SHREWSBURY (1844) won two small races at Eccles and Gorton Hall.
LUMINOUS (1844) was the first foal out of the "racing parson" Rev. King's mare Moonbeam, by Tomboy. She won three races at age two, including the Filly Sapling Stakes at York, and the Blankney Stakes (3/4 mile) and Bromlow Stakes at Lincoln. Moonbeam also bred LOUP-GAROU (1846), GLEAM (1847), CONSTELLATION (1848), HERSCHEL (1849) AND CLAIR DE LUNE (1850) to the cover of Lanercost, and was dam of the One Thousand Guineas winner Manganese (by Birdcatcher). Constellation was sold to France in 1852.
James Merry's MAID OF MOTHERWELL (1844, from a St. Patrick mare) won five juvenile races, including the Produce Stakes at Newcastle Upon Tyne by two lengths, the Corby Castle Stakes at Carlisle, the Two Year Old Stakes at Ayr, and the Bowmont Stakes at Kelso. She was sold to Australia in 1851.
CROZIER (1844) was the second foal of the dual-classic winning mare Crucifix, Priam's most brilliant offspring, and later a highly successful broodmare whose foals included Derby winner Surplice, Royal Hunt Cup winner Chalice, and the stallion Cowl. CROZIER, a good-tempered 15. 3. hand high bay, was a good stayer, but very lazy. He was bred by Lord George Bentinck and first raced by him and then by Edward-Lloyd Mostyn, who purchased all of Bentinck's bloodstock. At age two CROZIER won a stakes at Newmarket Houghton and was second in Doncaster's Municipal Stakes, and at age three, while beat in a produce stake at Ascot by Trouncer, he reversed the order two days later in a sweepstakes. He was eventually sold to stud in Ireland, where he got a son, Crusader, that was also a stallion in Ireland.
The last good winner in Lanercost's 1844 crop was THE SWALLOW (1844, from L'Hirondelle by Velocipede). Raced by Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, as a juvenile she won the Grand Stand Stakes at Chester, beating two others. At age three she won Chester's Dee Stakes, beating Adminstrator by a head, and was second to Red Hart in Ascot's Welcome Stakes (beating Oaks winner Miami), and second to VAN TROMP in the Liverpool St. Leger Stakes. In the stud her best was Gamekeeper, a winner of five races to age six, including the Great Ebor Handicap, and later a modest stallion. L'Hirondelle also produced ESCAPE (1845) to the cover of Lanercost. He won the Stand Plate at Epsom at age four.
Other good English-bred Lanercost sons included THE SWISS BOY (1845, from a Comus mare) winner of the Manchester Cup and the Newton Gold Cup, both 1-1/2 miles, the Borough Cup and the Newton St. Leger at age three; GARRICK (1846, out of a Velocipede mare), winner of Ascot's New Stakes as a juvenile; SNOWSTORM (1846, from Rebecca -- the dam of Alice Hawthorn -- by Lottery), winner of the 1 mile-6 furlong Great Yorkshire Handicap at Doncaster; the "irritable" COLSTERDALE (1848, out of ELLERDALE'S dam), winner of the Queen's Royal Plate at Carlisle, the Liverpool Summer Cup and other races through age six; and PANTOMIME (1850, out of Burlesque, by Touchstone), who ran through age seven, winning the Brighton Stakes and York's Great Ebor Handicap, and second in the Great Northern Handicap at York, among other placings.
Of Lanercost's English sons, only a few were useful in England, and the sire line there petered out. COLSTERDALE, who ran mostly over two miles at various northern venues, first for his breeder, Captain Harcourt, and then for several other owners, and at the end of his career for jockey-trainer John Osborne, stood at stud at the Owmby Paddocks in Brigg for a fee of 10 guineas, then, when Sir Tatton Sykes paid 300 guines for him, at the famous Sledmere paddocks in Yorkshire, and finally at Ashgill, when John Osborne bought him at the Sledmere sale. Despite a weak race record -- six wins and a walk-over, five seconds and five thirds in thirty-two starts over four seasons --he was the one remaining Lanercost son contemporary turf writers thought had the best chance for success at stud, with VAN TROMP AND WAR EAGLE already exported. But he was "an utter failure at the stud; for, considering the chances he had, the little pig Lecturer was but a poor return for opportunities wasted and money lavished upon him." COLSTERDALE had a horrible habit of picking at his skin, and had a "half playful, half mischievious" way of snapping at grooms.
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Lanercost's grandson Lecturer
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Of COLSTERDALE'S sons, "the little" Lecturer (1863, from Algebra by Mathematician), purchased from Sledmere with his dam for 70 guineas by C.W. Fitzwilliam, was a wonderful stayer that won the Cesarewitch, the Ascot Gold Cup, Ascot's two mile Queen Alexandra Stakes, and the Queen's Plate at Northampton, among other races. Lecturer later got Camelion (1872), winner of the Jockey Club Cup, and Aldrich (1871), who won the City and Suburban Handicap, but neither horse was of much use in the stud. COLSTERDALE was also the sire of Ascot Gold Vase winner Young Rapid (1861, out of a Hampton mare), and of Treasure Trove (1863), winner of the Lincolnshire Handicap and Epsom's 2-1/2 mile Great Metropolitan Stakes. He was thirteenth on the sires list in 1866, and twentieth in 1867.
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COLSTERDALE also was used as a hunter sire, with a gelded son, The Cure, a moderately good winner of steeplechase handicaps, and one of his half-bred daughters, Lady Sykes (1863) won five races and later bred two winners, including Jessica (1878, by The Mallard), a winner on the flat, over hurdles and in steeplechases, including one in France. A COLSTERDALE daughter from the half-bred Mrs. Taft, Fairy Land (1866) won eighteen hunters' flat races. A COSTERDALE daughter, Saucepan (1862), was sent to Australia where she bred Melbourne Cup winner Haricot (1870, by Ladykirk) and his sister Irish Stew (1872), winner of the Brisbane Cup. A COLSTERDALE scion in Australia, The Englishman (1877, by Lecturer and out of Zelpha, by Fitz-Roland), imported in-utero, became a useful sire in South Australia, getting two SAJC Derby winners, a Perth Cup winner, and a number of good mid-distance runners.
Lanercost's son LOUP-GAROU, who stood at stud at Cawston Paddocks, and then at Defford Stud, Pershore, in 1857, at Chippenham in 1858, and at Southern Hill, Redlands, near Reading, in 1859, got winners, but the best ranking he ever achieved on the sire's list was nineteenth in 1861. He got some good juveniles, including The Coroner (1853), winner of Ascot's Trial Stakes and the Stockbridge Derby the next year; Lambourn (1854), winner of Chester's Molecomb Stakes, and second in Chester's Lavant Stakes and Doncaster's Champagne Stakes; Lupellus (1857), winner of Epsom's Two Year Old Stakes and Doncaster's Hopeful Stakes and second in the Woodcote Stakes, and his brother, Lupus (1858), winner of the Ascot Biennial at ages two and three. LOUP GAROU's best runner was his daughter Fairwater (1858, from The Bloomer, by Melbourne), second in the One Thousand Guineas and the Ascot Gold Cup and third in the Epsom Oaks at age three, winner of Liverpool's Summer Cup, and third in both the Ascot Gold Cup and Epsom Gold Cup at age three, and winner of the Great Northampton Stakes at age four; she later bred The Bay of Naples (1972, by Macaroni), winner of the 1875 St. James's Palace Stakes, and Eu de Vie (1875, by Marsyas), winner of the 1878 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood and later winner of the Champion Steeplechase at Aintree.
Lanercost's son MR. MARTIN (1844, from Miss Martin by Voltaire) was sent to the Cape of Good Hope in 1852, and made his way to Victoria, by way of India, in 1859. He got Australian and Lanercost in Australia, neither of which made marks as stallions.
Another Lanercost son, often overlooked, was BONNIE DUNDEE (1848, out of St. Leger winner Blue Bonnet, by Touchstone). His best was a second in Goodwood's Ham Produce Stakes at age two. He was purchased by Federico Plowes, and, along with the Harkaway son, ELCHO, was imported into Argentina, probably in 1853, where both stallions were used to upgrade native-bred mares for racing, and both directly and indirectly contributed to the establishment of racing in Argentina. BONNIE DUNDEE's half-bred daughter is the taproot of Argentine Family Ar - 1, from which sprang a number of Argentine classic winners through the twentieth century.
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Catherine Hayes
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CATHERINE HAYES (1850), from Constance, by Partisan, was, along with PANTOMIME, the last of the good runners bred by Lanercost in England, and his second classic winner. Reportedly a "very sweet-tempered mare," she was "wide in the hips, and her hocks were very close together. Her action was easy, graceful and sweeping; and no horse ever crept so beautifully up the Epsom Hill." Owned by Sir John Don-Wauchope, she was sent to Mat Dawson for training, and "...was always a great favourite," and like her sire, a great weight-carrier, but she did not have his ability over a distance.
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CATHERINE HAYES was unbeaten at age two, running against some high-class horses. She won her first race, for juveniles, at Warwick, beating Ethelbert and five others. At Salisbury she won a stakes, beating Michaelmas Maid and Ireland's Eye (later a City and Suburban winner) and four other youngsters. Stepping up to Goodwood, she beat a high-class field, "...a very remarkable performance, as she won very easily under the top weight of 8 st.-7 lbs., giving Rataplan 11 lbs., Ethelbert 13 lbs., and Pantomime 13 lbs; while, to Dagobert she conceded 2 lbs." In this race there were twenty-three other youngsters; Elspeth and Psaltery were second and third. Her last race of the season was at Brighton, where she took a walk-over.
CATHERINE HAYES debuted at age three in the Epsom Oaks, which she won by two lengths, beating Dove, a filly by Don John, One Thousand Guineas winner Mentmore Lass, and thirteen others. She was sold to Lord John Scott (Wauchope's sometime racing partner) after this race, and sometime around this period "caught a cold across the loins, which greatly affected her spine and crippled her action. She was never the same mare afterwards..." Still, at Ascot she won the Coronation Stakes, giving the second place runner, Mayfair, half a stone. At Goodwood she ran second to Cobnut in a handicap sweep, beating two others, and at Brighton was second in the Biennial, beaten by Sittingbourne in a canter, with two others in the race. She failed to place in the Cesarewitch, won by Haco. At age four she was unplaced in the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot and Goodwood's Stewards' Cup, but did win a race against the colt Pharold, at the Goodwood meet, which was her last race.
She bred two foals for Scott, both of which were modest runners, and then, when Scott dispersed his stock in 1857, was sold to trainer Dawson's client, sportsman James Merry, in foal to Birdcatcher. Merry determined to breed her to The Baron, who had been exported to France, and so CATHERINE HAYES was shipped, pregnant, to France, where she dropped her Birdcatcher filly, Cantatrice (1858), and was bred to The Baron and shipped back to England. Cantatrice stayed in France until age two, when she, too, was brought back to England. CATHERINE HAYES' foal by The Baron, born in 1859, was Costa: he won Newmarket's Mottisfornt and Chesterfield Stakes in 1861, and at age three won a Free Handicap, the Dee Stakes and Berkshire Stakes at Newmarket.
CATHERINE HAYES' best foal was the brilliant Belladrum (1866, by Stockwell), who unfortunately was a roarer. He won seven races as a juvenile, including the Woodcote, New Ham, Molecombe and Troy Stakes. The next season he ran second by half a length to Pretender in a very fast Two Thousand Guineas, but was left behind at the start in the Derby and was never in the race. He went to stud in Ireland, where he got Ballyroe (1872), placed once at age two in four starts, and then dam of the great Barcaldine.
CATHERINE HAYES' daughter Cantata (1862, by Wild Dayrell), produced two classic winners in Germany -- Deutsches Derby winner Hymenaeus (1860, by Lord Clifden) and Zwietracht (1870, by Camerino), winner of the Preis der Diana and the Henckel-Rennen. CATHERINE HAYES also bred Albani (1870, by Thormanby), winner of the Nassau Stakes, who was sold to France, where she was the dam of Folle Avoine (by Favonius), a good producer that bred the Prix Kergolay (3000 meters) winner Fripon (1883, by Consul) and two daughters that were good broodmares. Fripon was later a useful sire in France, getting Alpha, Illinois, and Le Pompon, all good runners; Le Pompon was a successful stallion in France, sire of classic winner Gouvernor, the unbeaten Prestige (1903, the sire of the great Sardanapale) and the good runner Biniou (1904, sire of four classic winners in Germany).
Some other English daughters of Lanercost included TUSCAN (1845, from Belinda by Blacklock), winner of the Gimcrack Stakes as a juvenile; KATHLEEN (1847, out of Croppy, by Priam), second in the Epsom Oaks of 1850; HARICOT (1847, from Queen Mary, by Gladiator); and COUNTESS OF ALBEMARLE (1847, from a Velocipede mare), winner of Chester's Mostyn Stakes as a juvenile.
HARICOT was properly attributed to Mango or Lanercost, but contemporary turf writers seemed to have no doubt she was by Lanercost. Her dam, Queen Mary, was purchased by Willie Ramsay as a yearling, and fell in her only race, "and was never quite sound afterwards." Ramsay gave her to I'Anson, who put her to Lanercost while he was at Rawcliffe Paddocks, and the next year she dropped HARICOT. HARICOT won ten races at age three, her first season, including the Gold Cup at Stirling, the Lincoln Handicap, and the Manchester Cup. At age five she was beaten by a head in York's The Flying Dutchman Handicap by Voltigeur, who was giving her 32 pounds, and was third in both the Goodwood Cup and the Great Ebor Handicap, beating some good horses. The next year she won the Cumberland Plate and then the North Staffordshire Handicap, carrying the top weight. As a broodmare for I'Anson, she produced Cramond (1857, by Derby winner Andover), winner of York's Convivial Stakes as a juvenile, and some other races, and the higher-class Freeman (1869, by Kettledrum), winner of the Chester Cup, the Goodwood Stakes, and Ascot's Queen Alexandra Stakes -- all two miles or more -- but her best foal by far was the outstanding race mare Caller Ou (1858, by Stockwell), winner 44 races, including the Doncaster St. Leger, and numerous Royal Plates (31 of them) and Cups.
HARICOT'S daughter Lady Langden (1868, by Kettledrum, and so sister to Freeman) produced the important stallion Hampton (1872), a Doncaster and Goodwood Cup winner, and Sir Bevys (1876), who won the Epsom Derby. Another daughter, Scarlet Runner (1861, by Orlando), has a tail-female line replete with high-class winners and stallions, including To Market (1948), Deputy Minister (1979), General Assembly (1976), and Riverman (1969). Caller Ou also left a successful tail-female family, which included Oaks Stakes winner Perola (1906), Two Thousand Guineas winner Right Tack (1966), Argentinian and South African classic winners, and Poethlyn, a Grand National Steeplechase winner.
Lanercost's daughter KATHLEEN producted three good runners: The Rap (1857, by West Australian), winner at age three of the Ascot Biennial and the Stockton Gold Cup; Carisbrook (1859, by Stockwell), winner at age three of Ascot's St. James's Palace Stakes and Prince of Wales's Stakes, the Ascot Derby and Ascot Biennial, and the Newmarket St. Leger, and Sweet Katie (1861, by Stockwell), born in Count Renard's Silesian stud in Prussia, and winner of the Preis der Diana there. Sweet Katie would produce a series of good winners, including Deutsches Derby winner Amalie von Edelreich (1870, by Buccaneer), Henckel-Rennen winner Waisenknabe (1872, by Buccaneer), and Union-Rennen winner Flibustier (1867, by Buccaneer), the latter an influential stallion in Hungary that continued the Wild Dayrell-Buccaneer sire line for several generations in Europe. Through another daughter, La Traviata (1859, by West Australian), that accompanied her to Silesia, KATHLEEN was second dam of another Deutsches Derby winner, Bauernfanger (1868, by Grimston) and Grosser Preis von Baden winner Hochstapler (1870, by Savernake).
COUNTESS OF ALBEMARLE bred on through her Stockwell daughter, Maud (1859), exported to the U.S. and the dam of the great American sprinter and significant sire, Alarm (1869, by Morris' Eclipse), and of daughters whose descendants included 1877 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Clover Brook (1874), the pre-war Austro-Hungarian star, San Gennaro (1914), and more recently American Derby winner Fast Hilarious.
TUSCAN did not breed on, but two of her sisters did: LEGHORN (1847) was tail-female ancestress of many good winners, including Two Thousand Guineas winner Le Ksar (1934) and the great late 19th century runner Dolma Bachtche; and PINK BONNET (1844) established a many-branched tail-female family that included the legend Exceller (1973) and his half-brother Capote (1984) and the good runner and stallion Broad Brush.
Lanercost's daughter PSYCHE (1847, out of Queen of Beauty by The Saddler) produced Ophelia (1859, by The Cure), a winner of the Newmarket Handicap; her line bred on through the early twentieth century. BELSAY (1848, out of Garland, by Langar) produced Glenbuck (1856, by The Flying Dutchman); he won the City and Suburban Handicap at age three, and through daughters her line bred on through the end of the 19th century. PRUDERY (1848, out of Modesty, by Malek, and so sister to SUSANNAH) bred some winners, including Prince Arthur (1861, by Weatherbit), a good juvenile and winner of York's Sapling Stakes. PATIENCE (1849, from Billet-Doux by Gladiator), a Rawcliffe Paddocks product, produced Lasaretto (1862, by Newminster), a winner of St. James's Palace Stakes and Virtue (1865, by Stockwell), a winner of Doncaster's Champagne Stakes at age two; Virtue was second dam of Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Prix Royal Oak winner Gamin (1883, by Hermit).
Lanercost's daughter STELLA (1850, from Estelle by Brutandorf) was sent to Ireland and bred some hunters and Columbus (1864, by Colonist), a winner of the four-mile Royal Whip at the Curragh. JAQUENETTA (1850, out of a Pantaloon mare) produced Spicebox (1856, by Sweetmeat), winner of a number of races, including Goodwood's Chichester Handicap and the York Gold Cup. FRECKLE (1852, out of a Mulatto mare), had two long-lived tail-female branches descend from her, one, coming from her grandaughter Svenska (1888) included a number of classic winners, such as Never Too Late (1957), Ribocco (1964) and his brother Ribero (1965), and Bey. LITTLE HANNAH (1848, out of a Phoenix mare) produced Willie Wright (1856, by Burgundy), the winner of Newcastle's North Derby; she also established a successful female line, with top class winners in New Zealand and Australia, including Melbourne and Wellington Cup winner Kiwi (1977), and a branch that went to the U.S. A number of other British Lanercost daughters are seen in the tail-female line of still extant female families.
In France
Lanercost went to the French national stud when he was age eighteen; there are no foals by him born after 1863, so it is likely he died in 1862-63, at around age twenty-seven or twenty-eight. He did not make as much of a mark as some other imported English stallions from that period, such as The Baron, or even Ion, or the good native-bred French stallions came to the fore during this period, such as Fitz-Gladiator (by Gladiator). Still he got a French classic winner -- GUSTAVE -- and some other high-class runners.
In his first crop, of 1855, when he saw some very good mares, he got CHEVRETTE, GOUVIEUX, and COSMOPOLITE. CHEVRETTE was from Nativa, by Royal Oak. Nativa had been the champion juvenile in France, winning three big races at that age, and taking the Prix de Diane and the Prix du Cadran and the rich Prix des Haras Royaux at ages three and four; she had already produced Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Nancy (1851, by Master Waggs) and her brother, Nat, also a winner of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains. Like her dam, CHEVRETTE was a good juvenile, winner for Comte Frédéric de Lagrange of the Prix du Premier Pas, beating seventeen youngsters, including the Criterium winner Balagny and the future Prix de Diane winner Etoile du Nord; de Lagrange took her to England, where she ran three times and won once, a handicap sweepstakes, that same year. CHEVRETTE bred on for a couple of generations, but her tail-female line died out.
GOUVIEUX, out of imported Fatima, by Elis, was raced by le Grande Ecurie, a racing partnership established by Comte Frédéric de Lagrange and Baron Nivière. He was a more than useful juvenile, placing second to Tonnere-des-Indes in the Poule de Deux Ans, beating Goelette and other good youngsters. At age three, considered one of the best of his year, he won the Poule des Produits (later Prix Daru), beating Tonnere-des-Indes, La Maladetta, and other good horses, and also beat those horses in the Prix de l'Empereur (Grande Poule, later Prix Lupin), and won or placed in other good races. At age five he won three races, including the Prix Impérial at Longchamp. De Lagrange and Nivière took him to England in 1861 and '62, and in 1862 he won the Northamptonshire Cup, but was disqualified when his rider, Harry Grimshaw "repeatedly struck" the winning jockey during the race, as was the winner, whose jockey was convicted of "foul riding." In 1863 GOUVIEUX was purchased by the Administration des Haras for 5,000 francs when le Grande Ecurie was disbanded and its horses sold at auction. He did not have a significant career as a sire of racehorses.
COSMOPOLITE, bred by Paul Daru, was the third good foal in Lanercost's 1855 crop. He was out of the Epirus mare, Julia, who was sold to France in 1852, carrying a Footstool foal. This weight-carrying, versatile horse was gelded early, apparently because he had a "light neck," a typical -- and unappealing -- characteristic of Lanercost offspring. This "horse of all work," racing in France and England through age seven for Baron Nivière -- as part of le Grande Ecurie string -- won at all distances on the flat, from 5 furlongs to two miles, often in high class races, and was also a famous steeplechaser, trained by Tom Jennings.
COSMOPOLITE did not enter training until age five; he won races at Baden, and the steeplechase at Hereford, among other races in England. At age six, running in England, COSMOPOLITE won eight races and took a walk-over in nineteen starts, and placed second three times. His wins included the two mile Great Warwickshire Handicap, Doncaster's one mile Chesterfield Plate, Fitzwilliam Stakes (one mile), and Corporation Plate (7 furlongs-214 yards), and Newmarket's Eastern Counties Railway Handicap (5 furlongs-140 yards). At age seven, in England, he took at walk-over in Liverpool's Trial Stakes, won Liverpool's Sefton Handicap (five furlongs), after a dead heat, and followed that by running third in the Trial Stakes at Warwick a week later.
Lanercost's French-born son FORTUNE (1856) was from Fraudulent, by Venison, who had dropped Little Harry, an Ascot Stakes winner, in England, before being purchased by le Grande Ecurie and sent to France; in 1858 she would produce the excellent racing filly Finlande (by Ion), later a successful broodmare. FORTUNE was a high-class runner; he was second to Black Prince in the 1859 Prix du Jockey Club, and that same year second to Geólogie in the Grand Prix de la Ville de Bade.
GUSTAVE (1857), was out of the Inheritor daughter, the French-bred Bounty, a grandaughter of that important broodmare Ada (1824, by Whisker), the dam of the famous Poetess that later produced Prix de Diane winner Hervine and the great stallion Monarque. Bounty had won the Poule d'Essai and the Prix de Diane in 1852. Bred and raced by Nathan de Rothschild, Gustave won the Poule d'Essai, beating a good field, and the Prix du Printemps. That year Rothschild took him to England, where he ran second to Sweetsauce in the Goodwood Cup. He retired to the Rothschild stud, where he did not make much of a mark as a stallion. His sister, TAFFARETTE (from Lanercost's first 1855 French crop), was later dam of Premier Mai, a winner of the Prix de la Fôret.
Lanercost also got MAGENTA (1859, from Corysandre), a good steeplechaser trained and ridden by the legendary steeplechase trainer Harry Lamplugh. He raced for five years over jumps, 1863-1867, winning over seventeen chases, and placing second more then ten times. His wins included the Prix de la Tourelle at Vincennes (twice), the grand steeple-chase de Rouen, the Prix du Chateau at la Marche, the Prix de l'Empereur at Vincennes, the Grand Military at la Marche, the steeple-chase d'Amiens, and many other important races over fences in France.
Lanercost's influence on French breeding was limited, and more than one turf writer bemoaned the early gelding of COSMOPOLITE. None of Lanercost's French-bred sons were of any account as sires, and most of his French daughters failed to carry on beyond a few generations. One French daughter, however, CERES (out of Bathilde, by Young Emilius), from his last crop of 1863, did send his blood forward through the tail-female line. She was second dam of Favorite (1879, by Wellingtonia), a winner of the Prix Morny, and of Prix de Reservoirs winner Franche Comte (1888), the latter third dam of the German classic winner and influential sire, Ferro (1923). CERES was also tail-female ancestress of Fra Diavolo, winner of the Grand Criterium, the Grand St. Leger de France and the Coupe de Paris, later a useful steeplechase stallion in France.
Lanercost was a great racehorse, a source of heart and stamina that continued through the generations of his sons and daughters, particularly with his son, VAN TROMP, and through him, his great-grandson TIM WHIFFLER. But neither TIM WHIFFLER nor Lanercost's grandson LECTURER, another sturdy and successful stayer, could get a son to continue the line, and it was left to Lanercost's daughters and the daughters of his sons to carry his great qualities forward.
--Patricia Erigero, with special thanks to Tim Cox for clarifying Lanercost's race record and that of Colsterdale's and Cosmopolite's |
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