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Macaroni
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The dark bay Sweetmeat son Macaroni was, like his sire, an undefeated winner at age three. Sire of four classic winners, three of which were fillies, he was, in addition to being an excellent filly-getter, an outstanding broodmare sire, the "nick" of his daughters with the Bend Or, a noted one. It is through his daughters that he is seen in pedigrees today.
Macaroni was born in 1860 at the Duke of Westminster's Eaton Hall. He was from the Pantaloon daughter Jocose, a filly bred by Duke from Banter, the latter the dam of Touchstone. Macaroni and five other yearlings had been ill with strangles, which delayed their training, and through the auspices of their respective stud grooms, the Duke made a deal with his new neighbor, Richard C. Naylor, a former Liverpool chemist who had inherited sufficient funds to establish a new stud at Hooton Park, near Chester, two years earlier. Naylor purchased the six Westminster horses as a group for £700 as part of his effort to establish his stud and his presence on the turf. One of the other youngsters was another Sweetmeat son, Carnival, who had a respectable, but modest career on the turf, although initially he appeared to be the most promising of the lot Naylor had purchased.
Macaroni grew to 15.3 hands, inheriting his dam's plain head. He was relatively short-backed, with a deep girth and sloping shoulder. He had upright pasterns and his cannon bones were longer than desired, but neither affected his way of going, which was described as "exceedingly free and fine."
Macaroni was sent to the Palace House Newmarket yard of James ("Jem") Godding, at a time when Newmarket Heath had fallen out of favor as a training ground for Derby contenders. Macaroni was started in the fall of 1862, his two year old year, beaten in a two-horse sweep at Newmarket for two-year-olds by Ambrose; he was ridden in this, and all his subsequent races, by jockey Tom Chaloner, who had won the Oaks for Naylor on Feu de Joie earlier in the year, and was to ride the winners of ten classic races before his death at the age of 47. Despite his unpromising debut, Naylor had great confidence in Macaroni, and quietly backed him to win £100,000 in the Derby of the upcoming year, prior to Macaroni's appearance on the turf in any races that season.
Macaroni began his unbeaten second season by winning a 300 sovereign sweep in a canter, by three lengths, beating the French LeGrange filly Valentine and four others. Despite this little victory, and probably because Naylor did not back his colt, in the 2,000 Guineas Macaroni went off at odds of 10 to 1, the French horse Hospodar, who had won Count Le Grange the Clearwell and Criterion Stakes as a juvenile, being the most favored at 5 to 4, and the Sweetmeat son Saccharometer going off at odds of 6 to 1. Macaroni won on hard ground by a length, and Saccharometer ran second, with the favorite out of the money. Sweetmeat, it should be remembered, who showed so well as a sire in this race, had been shipped off to Germany the year before, and was already dead.
In the Derby, held on a wet day, with terrible conditions underfoot, and a series of false starts that lasted for an hour before the field of twenty was away, Macaroni was again rated 10 to 1, with the favorite the Newminster colt, Lord Clifden. In this race Saccharometer fell, bringing down two other horses with him. Chaloner got Macaroni up to win by a head from Lord Clifden, with the good Young Melbourne colt, Rapid Rhone, third. Naylor won at least £70,000 from his early confidence in Macaroni, and despite his reputation for parsinomy, he gave Godding a £3,000 bonus for this win, and Chaloner £1,000. Macaroni had now shown he could win with widely different conditions underfoot.
Macaroni went on to win the Drawing Room Stakes at Goodwood by ten lengths, beating Escape and Gunner. That was followed by his five-length win of the Cup at York, beating Clarissimus and two others. His next race was the Doncaster Cup, beating by a length the good filly Queen Bertha, winner of the Oaks that year, and four others. His final race of the year was a walk-over for the Select Stakes at Newmarket, after which he was promptly retired to Naylor's stud at Hooton Hall. In 1875 he was purchased for 7100 guineas for the de Rothschild Mentmore stud, where he served as the chief stallion until his death in 1887.
Macaroni in the Stud
Macaroni's daughters were far better than his sons, both on the turf and in the breeding shed. Three daughters won the Oaks, and one, Lily Agnes, the Doncaster Cup. His only classic-winning son was MacGregor, who won the 2,000 Guineas, and his only other good older son was Macaroon, who ran second in the Cesarewitch, although he did get some good juvenile sons. He was an excellent broodmare sire, his "nick" with Bend Or noted by many turf writers.
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Lily Agnes was dam of Triple Crown winner Ormonde and others
Dual classic winner Spinaway
Camelia
| | Macaroni's first daughter to make a mark on the turf was LILY AGNES (1871), from Polly Agnes, by The Cure. She won the Northumberland Plate, the Great Ebor Handicap and the Doncaster Cup, despite having developed into a roarer.
Purchased by the Duke of Westminster for his Eaton stud, she was bred to Eaton sires Doncaster and then Bend Or, producing 1,000 Guineas winner Farewell (by Doncaster), the unbeaten English Triple Crown winner Ormonde (by Bend Or), the winners Ossory and Fleur de Lys, and Ornament, who became the dam of the multiple classic winning race mare, Sceptre.
SPINAWAY, a foal of 1872 from the classic winning mare Queen Bertha, was bred by Evelyn Boscawen, 6th Viscount Falmouth. She won both the 1,000 Guineas and the Oaks, and in the stud produced Busybody, who also won those two races, and who later produced the stallion Meddler and a number of daughters that bred on.
CAMELIA, born in 1873 in Count Frederic de LaGrange's stud in France, was out of Auracaria, who was also the dam of Rayon d'Or (St. Leger, St. James' Palace Stakes, and other races), Chamant (2,000 Guineas, Dewhurst and other races) and Wellingtonia. Camelia won the 1,000 Guineas, and then dead-heated for the Oaks with another French filly, Enguerrande, owned by Auguste Lupin; the stake was divided and Enguerrande walked-over for the nominal win.
BONNY JEAN, born in 1880 from the Blair Athol daughter Bonny Agnes, who was out of Little Agnes by The Cure, and thus closely-related in female descent to Lily Agnes, won the Oaks in a canter. She established a successful female family that spread to Europe and the U.S.
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In addition to these fillies, Macaroni got a great many successful broodmares. Included among them were TIGER LILY (1875) from the dam of Lily Agnes, Polly Agnes, who produced Ascot Gold Vase and Goodwood Cup winner Martagon (1887, by Bend Or), sire of three classic winners. Tiger Lily was also dam of Jersey Lily, who produced the Craven Stakes winner Guernsey.
WINDERMERE (1870) from the Birdcatcher mare Miss Agnes, won at age 2 and ran third in the 1,000 Guineas; in the stud she produced Kendal to Bend Or, leading sire in England in 1897 (later sold to Argentina), and Muncaster, who ran second in the 2,000 Guineas. She also produced the filly Rydal who was tail-female ancestress of top racehorses Pearl Cap and Troutbeck.
VISTA (1879) was out of King Tom mare Verdure. Her wins included Epsom's Great Metropolitan Handicap and Doncaster's Great Yorkshire Stakes. In the stud VISTA produced Bona Vista to Bend Or, who won the 2,000 Guineas and went on to sire Derby winner Cyllene, later two-time leading sire in England with four Derby-winning sons. VISTA was also the dam of SIR VISTO (1892, by Barcaldine), winner of both the Epsom Derby and Doncaster St. Leger, and Velasquez (1894, by Donovan), a top juvenile and later winner of the Champion Stakes (twice), Eclipse Stakes, and Princess of Wales's Stakes.
NAPOLI (1878), from the Thormanby mare Sunshine, placed second in the Prince of Wales' Stakes at York; in the stud she produced Orvieto (Sussex Stakes, Newmarket St. Leger and others) and Laveno (Jockey Club Stakes and Champion Stakes), both of whom were by Bend Or and who became useful sires.
LIZZIE AGNES (1878), also from Lily Agnes' dam, Polly Agnes, produced Ornate, dam of Austrian Oaks winner Liondelle, and to Bend Or produced Ortegal, a good producer. AGNETA (1879), from Voltigeur daughter Fair Agnes, won the Bretby Plate at age 3, and in the stud produced Steward's Cup winner Medora (1890), dam of the great stayer Zinfandel (Ascot Gold Cup, Jockey Club Cup and others). GARDENIA (1871), from Araucaria, and a full sister to Oaks winner Camelia, produced Golden Iris, who was second dam of the Grand Prix de Paris winner Sans Souci. LADY EMILY (1879) out of the Newminster filly May Queen, produced Doremi (1894) to Bend Or, dam of Rondeau, who was the dam of the highly influential sire Teddy. MARCIA produced Laureate, a winner of the Cambridgeshire.
Regarding Macaroni's sons, as noted above, MACGREGOR (1867) was his only classic winner, of the 2,000 Guineas, which he won easily by five lengths. The favorite for the Derby, he ran fourth. In the stud he sired Scot Free (1881), who also won the 2,000 Guineas, and the Craven Stakes; he also got Craig Royston, who sired Irish Grand National winner Royston Crow (1890). MACAROON (1874) from Margery Daw, ran second in the 1877 Cesarewitch. MACHEATH (1880, from Heather Bell) was a good juvenile who won the July Cup, the Middle Park Stakes and the Criterion Stakes. SURINAM (1870) won the Middle Park Stakes of 1872. WINSLOW won the Royal Hunt Cup of 1873. MOCCASIN (1874) was sent to Pierre Lorillard's Rancocas Stud in New Jersey, and became a moderately useful sire in the U.S.
--Patricia Erigero
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