bob10
7th September 2014, 06:28 PM
Well, I have a story for you. Yes, long winded, wouldn't be me if it wasn't. But I think it is a good one. I have a soft spot for racing stories, my Dad , gone now, & his brother both held training licences. Dad's brother numerous times, if you get my drift, Bob
From the book, The best Australian yarns, by Jim Hayes.
" The man who like lot 41
There was a battling trainer in Sydney who was addicted to studying bloodlines. Born in Australia, Bendigo, lived most of his life in New Zealand before returning to Sydney as a trainer. Spent a lot of time reading auction catalogues, didn't have the budget to do much else. He could look at a horses breeding & make an assessment of its ability, while ignoring the racing history & results achieved by its immediate forebears. A horses pedigree is a jumble of names. But to this trainer, a horses family tree was a treasure map, showing showing how certain great ancestors DNA, in conjunction with with that of certain others, can produce an alchemy of characteristics and innate abilities unseen by those without the sixth sense & knowledge on how to spot such things.
One day, while browsing a New Zealand auction catalogue he noticed a yearling offered for sale as the despised last of the day, Lot 41. The last few lots are not horses that the auctioneer expects to do well in the sale ring. The sire of this lot was bred in England, but his breeder got rid of him for 100 guineas as a yearling. Trained by Tom Hogg, only ever ran 3rd in a poor selling class race & Hogg got rid of him to Australia , where he was trained in Sydney by Peter Keith. The horse only managed one win at Randwick & that was a dead heat, not a stand alone win. Keith got rid of him to breeder Paddy Wade who stood him to stud at Wagga Wagga. Even there the horse could not attract mares from local owners & so Wade decided to get rid of him to a New Zealand breeder & sold him for half of what he paid for him
This battling trainer, though, perusing the family tree of the race track failure , saw he was a grandson of two champions, sires Bend Or & Spearmint. He also had the blood of the great St Simon & well known champion sire Galopin on both sides of his family tree. Having Spearmint as a grandsire meant he also had the blood of champions Carbine & Musket in his veins.
All this aroused the battling trainers interest.
The mother of the yearling for sale damaged a shoulder as a young horse, & raced only once , at 5, & performed poorly. She was left in the paddock & forgotten by her owners until they heard a local stud was looking for second rate mares to be served by a poorly performed cast off stallion brought over from Australia. So her owners got rid of her for 60 guineas.
The battling trainer looked a little further; he looked at the dam's mothers bloodlines. He ignored the fact that this mare was also an abject failure on the track & a failure at stud , being culled from the breeding stock of the Trelawney Park stud at the age of 15, & sold for 20 guineas, having produced no foals of consequence. It was not even known if she was in foal at that time she was sold for 20 pounds, but she was. The battling trainer noticed the 20 pound reject had the Musket blood on her dam side. He became obsessed by lot 41 in the catalogue for the 1928 Trentham sales, & implored his brother in NZ to attend the sales & buy the colt no matter what he looked like, as long as he was sound.
Long story shorter, the trainer could not afford to buy the horse at auction , he had to convince one of the owners he had trained a few horses for to pay for the horse. Long story shorter, when the horse arrived in Sydney it was seasick, broken out in pimples , ugly, over-tall, under developed awkward & gangly. It was such a poor looking creature the owner refused to pay for its feed & training & the battling trainer was forced to lease the horse himself, & train it & race it in his own colours.
The 20 pound reject was an old mare called Prayer Wheel, & her poorly performed daughter was a small black mare named Entreaty. The race track failure & breeding reject who sired lot 41 was Night Raid. The battling trainer was Harry Telford , & lot 41 was the chest nut horse called Phar Lap. Bob
From the book, The best Australian yarns, by Jim Hayes.
" The man who like lot 41
There was a battling trainer in Sydney who was addicted to studying bloodlines. Born in Australia, Bendigo, lived most of his life in New Zealand before returning to Sydney as a trainer. Spent a lot of time reading auction catalogues, didn't have the budget to do much else. He could look at a horses breeding & make an assessment of its ability, while ignoring the racing history & results achieved by its immediate forebears. A horses pedigree is a jumble of names. But to this trainer, a horses family tree was a treasure map, showing showing how certain great ancestors DNA, in conjunction with with that of certain others, can produce an alchemy of characteristics and innate abilities unseen by those without the sixth sense & knowledge on how to spot such things.
One day, while browsing a New Zealand auction catalogue he noticed a yearling offered for sale as the despised last of the day, Lot 41. The last few lots are not horses that the auctioneer expects to do well in the sale ring. The sire of this lot was bred in England, but his breeder got rid of him for 100 guineas as a yearling. Trained by Tom Hogg, only ever ran 3rd in a poor selling class race & Hogg got rid of him to Australia , where he was trained in Sydney by Peter Keith. The horse only managed one win at Randwick & that was a dead heat, not a stand alone win. Keith got rid of him to breeder Paddy Wade who stood him to stud at Wagga Wagga. Even there the horse could not attract mares from local owners & so Wade decided to get rid of him to a New Zealand breeder & sold him for half of what he paid for him
This battling trainer, though, perusing the family tree of the race track failure , saw he was a grandson of two champions, sires Bend Or & Spearmint. He also had the blood of the great St Simon & well known champion sire Galopin on both sides of his family tree. Having Spearmint as a grandsire meant he also had the blood of champions Carbine & Musket in his veins.
All this aroused the battling trainers interest.
The mother of the yearling for sale damaged a shoulder as a young horse, & raced only once , at 5, & performed poorly. She was left in the paddock & forgotten by her owners until they heard a local stud was looking for second rate mares to be served by a poorly performed cast off stallion brought over from Australia. So her owners got rid of her for 60 guineas.
The battling trainer looked a little further; he looked at the dam's mothers bloodlines. He ignored the fact that this mare was also an abject failure on the track & a failure at stud , being culled from the breeding stock of the Trelawney Park stud at the age of 15, & sold for 20 guineas, having produced no foals of consequence. It was not even known if she was in foal at that time she was sold for 20 pounds, but she was. The battling trainer noticed the 20 pound reject had the Musket blood on her dam side. He became obsessed by lot 41 in the catalogue for the 1928 Trentham sales, & implored his brother in NZ to attend the sales & buy the colt no matter what he looked like, as long as he was sound.
Long story shorter, the trainer could not afford to buy the horse at auction , he had to convince one of the owners he had trained a few horses for to pay for the horse. Long story shorter, when the horse arrived in Sydney it was seasick, broken out in pimples , ugly, over-tall, under developed awkward & gangly. It was such a poor looking creature the owner refused to pay for its feed & training & the battling trainer was forced to lease the horse himself, & train it & race it in his own colours.
The 20 pound reject was an old mare called Prayer Wheel, & her poorly performed daughter was a small black mare named Entreaty. The race track failure & breeding reject who sired lot 41 was Night Raid. The battling trainer was Harry Telford , & lot 41 was the chest nut horse called Phar Lap. Bob