Chapter IX.. The Great Men of Old.

The Great Men of Old.

And now that we have these accurate records to our hands of all our turf history since 1865, and with the Stud Book giving us the family tree of our thoroughbreds, so far as it can be obtained, from the present day back to the times of King Charles the Second, we can so easily, from that high perch of knowledge, take a quick, bird’s-eye view of the happenings of our own brief days in Australia. Shortly before this era of historical accuracy dawned upon our thoroughbred history, certain importations of blood stock took place which have left a deeper mark upon our annals than any other events since the arrival of the mare Manto.

It was in 1860 that Mr. Hurtle Fisher procured, from England, a stallion and several brood mares, and formed a breeding establishment at Maribyrnong. This is an estate composed of flats and rising ground, hill and dale, on the banks of the Saltwater River, within an easy morning’s ride from the main streets of the Victorian capital. Here Mr. Fisher built, high up upon a convenient and commanding eminence, excellent stabling for his valuable imported stud, and a house for his manager. It was an ideal spot, beautifully laid out, and so substantial that the main buildings stand to-day with every appearance of having only been erected yesterday. The mares which Mr. Fisher imported were from the bluest blood of the day, carefully chosen, with the soundest judgment, and regardless of expense. His stallion was one of the best-known horses in England, a mighty winner, a great stayer. This was Fisherman, a brown horse, by Heron out of Mainbrace, by Sheet Anchor out of a Bay Middleton mare. He had won upwards of sixty races, most of them over a distance of ground, and although, when you trace his blood lines carefully out, you might be led to believe that they are scarcely those of a stayer, yet he undoubtedly did possess that quality in a marked degree, and so, too, did the stock which he left behind him.

The names of the mares which accompanied Fisherman on his long voyage conjure up to every turfite a vision of romance, recall the time when our best turf traditions were in the making, and bring back to the memory hundreds of races lost and won. Gildermire, Marchioness, Juliet, her daughter Chrysolite (foaled after landing), Rose de Florence, Coquette, Cerva, Nightlight, Gaslight, Omen and Sweetheart formed the kernel of the stud. The lastnamed mare, by the way, was dropped in Victoria, her dam, Melesina, having been imported by Mr. Rawdon Green, who sold her to Mr. Fisher. She was but a short time in the possession of the latter, but it was whilst the mare was at Maribyrnong that she produced Mermaid to Fisherman, and Mermaid was the dam of Melody, the dam of Melodious, the mother of the immortal Wallace. Unfortunately, times then became bad for Mr. Hurtle and his brother, Mr. C. B. Fisher. Many people were speculating heavily in land during the ’sixties, and, as is usual in all booms, the few who were lucky became rich very quickly, whilst the great majority whom fortune did not favour went to the wall.

The entire Maribyrnong Stud came to the hammer on April 10th, 1866, the sale realising nearly £28,000. Prices were considered high, but were such lots with the same reputation put up to auction to-day, say, by the Messrs. Tattersall at Newmarket, England, probably a couple of them alone would bring in that sum. As it was, the two-year-old Fishhook fell for three thousand six hundred guineas, Seagull for nineteen hundred, and Lady Heron for fourteen hundred. But prior to the great sale the name of Fisher had, in conjunction with one or two others, dominated the turf.

And we find during the five decades or so that have elapsed since then, that but a few owners, a few breeds of horses, stand in the limelight during each period, and leave their influence for good or ill for all time.

Contemporary with the Fishers, however, there was quite an abundance of sportsmen whose names, even after the lapse of all those years, seem to be as familiar to us as are those of the magnates of their day in the Old Country, the Merrys, Graftons, Albemarles, Falmouths, Hastings, Westminsters, Portlands, Bowes and Peels. Listen to them as they are told, and see if they do not stir a chord within you, awakening afresh dear and stirring memories of the olden time, of those days gone by in which we fondly believe that there were many giants.

Andrew Town, John Lee and his brothers, C. Baldwin, John Tait (“Honest John”), the Rouse family, T. Ivory, E. De Mestre, P. Dowling, Hector Norman Simson, James Wilson, William Pearson, W. C. Yuille, H. J. Bowler, Rawdon Greene, F. Tozer, and George Watson. What teams the Fishers had, as well as old John Tait!

From Maribyrnong’s massive gateway there used to emerge each morning to their work, a string containing Angler, Fishhook, Rose of Denmark, The Sign, Lady Heron, Kerosene, Smuggler, Sea Gull, Bude Light, Sour Grapes, Ragpicker, The Fly, and for a brief day only, the beautiful Maribyrnong.

This colt, who afterwards took his sire’s place, fractured his near foreleg in the Derby, his only contest. His life was spared, however, and he made an enduring name at the stud.

John Tait was a worthy rival of the Fishers. We see him, in ’66, winning with the mighty Barb, then a three-year-old. Mr. John Daly, until of late the handicapper to the A.J.C., a man of the soundest judgment, and with a prolonged experience, asserts with confidence that this black Sir Hercules colt was the superior even of our more modern Champion of Champions, Carbine. Volunteer, a brown horse by New Warrior, was a big winner for Mr. Tait, and ran a dead heat with Tarragon in the three-mile championship. They ran it off, and Tarragon won. Fireworks, a very great horse, and one with the curious distinction of being the Victorian Derby winner of 1867, as well as of the same race in 1868, was another of Mr. Tait’s winners whose name lives for ever. Honest John did not keep his horses to look at. Fireworks won the Derby on November 1st, and ran second to Mr. Fisher’s two-year-old Fenella on November 2nd—beaten a head. On November 30th he was third to Mr. De Mestre’s Tim Whiffler in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes, 1½ miles, at the Complimentary Meeting. Later in the day he came out again and won the Galatea Stakes, two miles, beating Glencoe and a fine field of horses. Tim Whiffler ran, but smashed into a post, and was pulled up. On New Year’s Day Fireworks again won the Derby, and was saddled up for the very next race, the Midsummer Stakes, one mile and three-quarters. His starting price was even money, and he won easily by two lengths from ten opponents. In February Fireworks crossed the Straits and won the Launceston Champion Cup, pulling double, from Tim Whiffler, Strop, The Barb and two others. Next day he walked in for the Tasmanian Leger, and in March did the same in the V.R.C. race of that name at Flemington. At Randwick Glencoe beat him in the A.J.C. St. Leger, but both horses were in the one ownership, and Mr. Tait declared to win with Glencoe. At the same meeting, however, this great son of Kelpie took the All-Aged Stakes, one mile, the Autumn Stakes, and the Randwick Handicap, each a mile and a quarter. Races certainly were not run out from pillar to post in the ’sixties as they are to-day, and it would be not only impolitic, but impossible, to race a three-year-old in 1922 as John Tait used his Fireworks. Nevertheless, the three-year-old career of the colt must for all time be considered a very marvellous one. In the Cup of ’69 The Barb was allotted the handsome weight of eleven stone seven, his stable mate (Glencoe) was eleven stone, Mr. Fisher’s Ragpicker was set to carry seven seven, whilst the minimum of the handicap was his filly, The Fly, with five stone seven. The handicappers of the day were Captain Standish, Mr. William Leonard and Mr. Hurtle Fisher himself. This could not occur to-day. If it were possible, and the handicapper’s horse came home a winner, the vast crowd in its indignation would throw down everything and would not leave one stone standing upon another. But the circumstance remains an everlasting memorial to the unimpeachable integrity of the gentlemen who officiated in an honorary capacity in those times.

Of the three, Mr. William Leonard is still with us, and still continues to watch a race with the enthusiasm of youth. But this ancient history is altogether too absorbing. Were our pen to have its head, it would most assuredly bolt with us, and we would career round the course until sundown, and therefore we must pick up our reins and proceed more steadily upon our way. We were arguing that the different decades were dominated by groups of sportsmen, certain breeds of horses, and we have not yet definitely left the starting barrier of ’66.

From 1866 until well into the ’seventies, the same group of sportsmen were still ruling the roost, the same breeds of horses were carrying on their respective lines. The stock of Fisherman, through Maribyrnong, of Sir Hercules, through Yattendon, and of Kelpie, through Fireworks, were even yet the mainstay of the breed. But fresh names, both of men and steeds, were, of course, creeping in. Old Mr. James Wilson, with his Dinah and Musidora lot, came, held sway for many years, and is succeeded by his son, young James. The Chirnsides, too, stepped forward, and did an immense deal for the turf when they brought out three shiploads of blue-blooded mares and young ones, straight from the breaking-up sale of old Sir Tatton Sykes’ stud at Sledmere. Many of the mares are landmarks in the modern stud book, but the purchases of Mr. Tom Chirnside might have even been more successful had they been effected at another time. Old Sir Tatton had his own ideas on breeding, and he indulged more in the rearing of the thoroughbred horse itself than in the racehorse pure and simple. The comments of the Press of the day, made upon the arrival of the ships bearing their precious burdens, inferred that the mares landed were very good-looking indeed, but that most of them were more like weight-carrying hunters than racers. Unconsciously, the critic was paying them the highest compliment which was possible. The blue jacket and black cap of the house of Chirnside are still carried to victory every now and again by the horses owned, and, for the most part, bred by Mr. Andrew. The colours are a symbol of everything that is fair and square. The period extending between 1875 and the early ’nineties is brilliantly illuminated by the name of the Hon. James White.

No one in Australia has ever carried on his racing business with the same amount of success. He was a keen student of breeding. He gave his stud his personal supervision. He was served by trainers of the greatest ability and integrity, and his head jockey was second to none. Mr. White was almost invincible in the great two-year-old and classic races of his day, and many of the great handicaps also fell to his string. You have only to read the long roll of names in order to have the glories of the blue and white banner of Kirkham brought vividly to your mind. Chester, Martini Henry, Nordenfeldt, Trident, Ensign, Dreadnought, Palmyra, Segenhoe, Iolanthe, Acme, Sapphire, Uralla, Cranbrook, Bargo, Volley, Spice, Titan, Carlyon, Morpeth, Matchlock, Abercorn, Volley, Victor Hugo, Rudolph, Singapore and Democrat. After his death, which came all too soon, so long as his own blood remained unsullied by other hands, the stock which he left behind him continued to win great events. But Fennelly, his first trainer, died before his time; Tom Hales, his great rider, did not long survive his master; but Tom Payten, who succeeded Fennelly, only went West during the last twelve months.

Mr. White stuck to the old Sir Hercules blood and Fisherman as long as he lived, although he was wise enough also to come in on the flood when the strain of Musket first began to make its appearance; and he was such an exceedingly acute judge that he always took advantage of any other lines that he believed would suit his individual mares. Chester was a Yattendon (Sir Hercules). Mr. White bred from him Dreadnought, Abercorn, Cranbrook, Carlyon, Uralla, Titan, Acme, Victor Hugo and Spice. From Fisherman (Maribyrnong) came Palmyra, Segenhoe, Bargo, Iolanthe, and Trident was from the same horse through Robinson Crusoe and Angler. Ensign (Derby) was by Grandmaster, a son of Gladiateur; Democrat was a Gemma di Vergy, Sapphire a Drummer, and the remainder of White’s famous winners were all from Musket or his sons, and included Martini Henry, Nordenfeldt, Volley, Matchlock, Rudolph, Singapore, whilst Morpeth was his single well-known winner by Goldsbrough.