Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Monday 12 May 1884, page 3


LORD FALMOUTH'S RACEHORSES.

(Pall Mail Budget.)

The probability is that the so-called magpie colours of Lord Falmouth will never be seen upon a racecourse again; for though the sale of his horses in training does not take place till the end of April, and though many of them have intermediate en<mgenient8-notably in the rich sweepstakes at the Newmarket Craven Meetingtheir owner's present intention is not to run any of them, but to let his trainer prepare them for their future engagements. If Lord Falmouth adheres to this arrangement, we shall have the unprecedented fact of the favourites for the Two Thousand and One Thousand Guineas being put up to auction within a few days of the two races being run. This alone would make the sale a memorable one but there are besides in the catalogue many other lots for which fancy prices will be paid. The retirement of Lord Falmouth from the turf, coming so close as it does upon the deaths of men like Lord Stamford, Prince Batthyany, Count de Lagrange, and Mr. Gretton will be all the more severely felt, for he was a liberal subscriber to all the expensive weight-for-age sweepstakes and as he never made a bet, he had nothing to gain by " keeping" his horses, or running them when they were unfit with a view to some future handicap. If any fault is to be found with Lord Falmouth's racing policy, it is that he taxed their powers rather too severely, especially at two years old. Still, they always ran to win, so far as their owner and trainer were concerned and if upon one or two occasions when Charlbert was beaten at Newmarket previous to winning the Two Thousand Guineas Lord Faimouth's horses ran in a puzzling fashion, it never occurred to the most cantankerous of disappointed " backers" to denounce the

owner or the trainer.

Lord Falmouth's racing career may be divided into two distinct periods. The first extends from 1877 to 1879, during the greater part of which time he ran his horses in an assumed name, and had but scant success and the second from 1870 to the present day. Lord Falmouth, who had been trained for the Law, succeeded to the family estates in 1852 and five years later he had a few horses at Newmarket in the name of the trainer Goodwin. These were of no account and when he moved to John Scott's famous stable at "White wall, near Malton, Mr. Valentine, as he then called himself, did not for a year or two do much better. The first racehorse of any merit which he owned was Hurricane, a daughter of Wild Dayrell and Media, bred by Lord Portsmouth, with

whom he won the One Thousand Guineas

in 1862. Hurricane did badly in the Oaks ; but she won many other races, including a match in which she beat the winner of the Oaks, and has at the stud bred Atlantic. A compensation for

Hurricane's defeat in the Oaks wits accorded

to " Mr. Valentine " the following year, for Queen Bertha, a daughter of Kingston and Flax, with odds of 40 to 1 against her, came out and beat Marigold, the future dam of Doncaster. Queen Bertha has been even a greater success at the stud than Hurricane, having bred Gertrude, Queen's Messenger, Spinaway, and "Wheel of Fortune, and all of these are in the Mereworth paddocks. Hurricane and Queen Bertha are also still alive, but they are now so stricken in years that their owner will hardly care to sell them. After Queen Bertha had won the Oaks she ran second to Lord Clifden in a sensational St. Leger. For the next two or three years Lord Falmouth's horses were rarely successful, and he returned again to Newmarket, entrusting his horses this time to the care of Matthew Dawson, who had recently left the service of Mr. Merry and hired Heath House, his principal patrons being the Dukes of Hamilton and Newcastle. The latter was soon ruined, and when the Duke of Hamilton moved his

horses elsewhere, Lord Falmouth began to

increase his stud.

For the first year or two he was not more

fortunate at Heath House than he had been at White wall but in 1869 he won some races with a two-year-old called Kingcraft, by King Tom Woodcraft, who ran third to Frivolity and Sunshine for the Middle Park Plate. As a three-year-old Kingcraft ran third for the Two Thousand Guineas to Macgregor and Normanby ; but in the Derby Macgregor broke down, and King-craft won in a canter. That his opponents were rubbish, and that he is one of the

worst horses which have ever won the

Derby, Lord Falmouth himself will not deny ; but still he did win the Derby, and from that day may be said to date Lord Falmouth's extraordinary good luck. He has won during the last fourteen seasons close upon a quarter of a million in stakes and

when to this is added the value of the stock he has sold, and of that now in his possession, there must remain, after making a liberal allowance for the immense expense of training and breeding, a handsome margin of profit. Lord Falmouth won the One Thousand Guineas with Cecilia in. 1873 j and in the following season Atlantic won the Two Thousand Guineas, and would have won the Derby if he had not met with an accident. This son of Thormanby and Hurri-

cane is one of the horses which Lord Fal-mouth has sold well : Baron Schickler

bought him for his French stud at a high figure some years ago. Spinaway, by Macaroni-Queen Bertha, was Lord Fal-mouth's next lucky hit j for in 1875 this May won the One Thousand Guineas and the Oaks, besides eight other races and though young at the stud, she is already the dam of Busybody. Skylark, by King Tom -Wheatear, was a useful two-yearwithin the same season ; but he was not of ' quite the same class as Petrarch and Kisber in 1876, though he won many races.

W 1877 Lord Falmouth won his second

Derby with Silvio, who, like Kingcraft, must be esteemed a lucky horse, for if Chament had not gone amiss after winning the J wo Thousand there would assuredly have been a second French victory at Epsom, service, however, was a better horse than Aingcraft, and he won Lord Falmouth his

"rst St. Leger, his stable companion, Lady Slightly, being second ; just as, a twelve-month later, Lord Falmouth was first and second with Jannette and Childeric.

Lord Falmouth was just now in the heyday of his fortune for Jannette, who had soon all her seven races as a two-year-old, won in the year 1878 eight races out of ten, including the Oaks, the St. Leger, and the Champion Stakes, and it was no disgrace to rail second to such a mare as Pilgrimage for the One Thousand Guineas. While JanW ,Wi^ doing all this as a three-year-old, vin i ? Fortune was winning her six twoserious engagements; and in 1879 Wheel

of Fortune came out and won the One Thousand Guineas, the Oaks, the Prince of Wales Stakes at Ascot, and the Yorkshire Oaks ; breaking down in the Great Yorkshire Stakes, for which she never ought to have run. If Wheel of Fortune had been taken more care of she might have won the St. Leger ; but as it was she did well for Lord Falmouth, who in the same season had won the Two Thousand Guineas with Charibert. Although he won a great many two-year-old races with Bal Gal in 1880, this daughter of Cantonese turned out such a bad feared that she was worthless afterwards ; but such was not the case with her half-sister Dutch Oven, who, even more fortunate than Bal Gal as a twoyear-old, managed, after many defeats, to win the St. Leger, beating the winners of the Derby and the Oaks. The past season was also a very favourable one for Lord Falmouth, as he won the Two Thousand Guineas and other valuable prizes with Galliard and though that colt disappointed him-and many other people in the Derby, and could not be trained for the St. Leger, Busybody won him his first Middle Park Plate, and Harvester ran well enough to make him a favourite for the Two Thousand Guineas and Derby. Altogether Lord Falmouth has won the Derby twice, the Two Thousand Guineas and the St. Leger three times, the Oaks and the One Thousand Guineas four time, the Prince of Wales Stakes at Ascot three times, the Middle Park Plate once, and most of the other great twoyear-old prizes more or less frequently. But he rarely ran a horse in a handicap and it is a curious circumstance that he never won

any of the " Cup races" at Ascot, Goodwood, or Doncaster. Many may argue from this

that Lord Falmouth never succeeded in

breeding a thorough stayer and it would be a bold thing to say that they are wrong for Lord Falmouth's best three-year-olds, such as Silvio, Jannette, and Dutch Oven, were worthless as four-year-olds.

The two sales by which this great stud will be dispersed will vary very much in interest, for on the Monday of the Two Thousand week the horses in training alone will be sold and though these comprise twelve highly-bred two-year-olds, the only horses of any known abilities are Harvester and Busybody. The sale of the brood-mares, foals, yearlings, and sires in July will bring together purchasers from all parts of the globe and as the mares, some twenty-six in number, comprise such celebrities as Bal Gal, Cantinicre, Chevisaunce, Dutch Oven, Jannette, Lady Coventry, Lilian, Mavis, Palmflower, Spin-away, and Wheel of Fortune, most of them with foals at their feet, the " average " is likely to be remarkable.