another masterpiece from Thiselton!!!
(19 September 2013)
David Thiselton
It is well documented that the famous 18th century racehorse Eclipse is now dominating the male ancestry of the thoroughbred breed to such an extent that the sire lines of the two other founding stallions, Herod and Matchem, are in danger of disappearing.
Eclipse was conceived 250 years ago in 1763, when Prince William, the Duke Of Cumberland, sent his mare Spilletta, a daughter of eight-times leading stallion Regulus, to his own stallion Marske.
He was born the following year and currently rates as the most important thoroughbred in history, considering that an estimated 95% of the today’s thoroughbreds descend from his sire line. In layman’s terms, that means that he will be found on the top line of the pedigree chart of 95% of the world’s thoroughbreds.
Eclipse’s sire line began rising at the end of the 19th century. Before that the overwhelmingly dominant line was that of Herod. Herod was born six years before Eclipse and was also bred by the Duke of Cumberland.
Herod’s influence began fading with the demise of the Lexington and Glencoe sire lines. However, he is still recognised as one of the three founding sires of the modern thoroughbred along with Eclipse and Matchem.
This trio of sires represent the three “founding fathers” of the breed, the Darley Arabian, The Byerley Turk and the Godolphin Barb.
These founding fathers were brought to England from the Mediterranean Middle East around the turn of the 17th century and bred to the stronger, but less precocious, native horse. The result was an animal that could carry weight with sustained speed over extended distances.
In order to be registered as a thoroughbred, a horse’s sire line has to descend from one of the three founding fathers, and Eclipse, Herod and Matchem are the three stallions that have carried these lines through.
Eclipse’s male line descends directly from the Darley Arabian, and similarly Herod is from the Byerley Turk and Matchem from the Godolphin Barb.
Indian Ridge, who died in 2006, was the last stallion of any importance from the Herod sire line. He was second on the leading sires list for Britain and Ireland in 1995, thanks chiefly to his brilliant daughter Ridgewod Pearl, and was a regular in the top ten until his death.
South African fans will remember Indian Ridge as the sire of Linngari, a dual Group 1 winner, who also won Group races for Herman Brown in Dubai. Indian Ridge has a few well supported sons at stud such as Compton Place and Sleeping Indian, but none as successful as himself.
Herod’s sire line has died completely in the USA, despite the Lexington and Glencoe cross having proliferated American pedigrees in the second half of the 19th century.
Lexington was the great-great grandson of one of the most important USA thoroughbred imports, the British-bred Diomed, who was the winner of the first ever Epsom Derby, while Glencoe was a British-bred import himself.
Matchem, bred by John Holmes of Carlisle, was the earliest of the three foundation sires, having been born in 1748.
The Matchem sire line’s chief flag bearer these days is the USA-bred, Tiznow, who was the American Horse Of The Year in 2000 and twice winner of the Breeder’s Cup Classic. Tiznow has produced two champions himself and 45 stakes winners in all.
There have only been two South African Champion Sires in history that have not come from the Eclipse sire line and they only won a single title each.
The 1944 champion, Boveney, and the 1950 champion, Montrose, both came from the Matchem sire line. Montrose produced the dual Durban July winner Milesia Pride.
The USA-bred Honour And Glory, a shuttle stallion between the USA and Argentina, is from the Matchem sire line and produced the Mike de Kock-trained Honour Devil, winner of the UAE Derby, who now stands in Canada.
The reason for the dominance of the Eclipse sire line today is largely due to the saturation of Northern Dancer and Mr Prospector line sires. Earlier, Eclipse’s sire line had dominated through the likes of St Simon, Hyperion, Nearco and others.
Ironically, Eclipse was never the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland, although he finished second eleven times, usually behind Herod. However, as a racehorse he was invincible and is considered the first true great of the thoroughbred breed.
Upon the death of The Duke Of Cumberland in 1765, he was bought by a Smithfield meat salesman called William Wildman for 75 guineas. He was so temperamental as a young horse that Wildman considered gelding him, but fortunately for the stud book he was spared. He did not race until he was five, when Wildman took him to Epsom for a £50 Plate to be run in three four mile heats.
After he had won the first heat easily the legendary Irish gambler Colonel Dennis O’Kelly predicted he could place all five horses in the correct order in the second heat. After the wager was accepted O’Kelly made the forecast that would find its way into sporting folklore, “Eclipse first, the rest nowhere”.
The term “nowhere” in those days applied to a horse that had finished “a distance” (240 yards) behind the winner. Eclipse duly won by a distance.
A month later O’Kelly bought a half share in him for 650 guineas and eventually the other half for 1000 guineas, after a game of chance about the price.
Eclipse went on to become a legend under O’Kelly’s guidance and was never extended in his unbeaten eighteen event career.
His jockey was John Oakley, supposedly the only one who could handle his temperamental demeanour and his running style, in which he held his nose very close to the ground.
Eclipse was retired when it became impossible to find any opposition. An autopsy concluded that the reason for his tremendous speed was his exceptional heart room. His skeleton stands today in the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket.
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