THE THOROUGHBRED HOMES OF AUSTRALIA 141 



near Quirindi, is the Werribon Stud, and here The Sybarite, a half-brother to 

 the ill-fated Craganour, is located, with a number of well-bred mares. 



Branching off the Northern Railway line at Werris Creek, well outside 

 the Hunter District, and running inland towards the Queensland Border, is 

 Mungie Bundie, where Messrs. B. and J. P. Burgess have lately taken over 

 the stud run so successfully by Mr. John McDonald. Here, on very rich 

 country, is a grandson of Carbine in Mountain King, a successful sire, and 

 this year he has been joined by another colonial-bred horse in Kennaquhair, 

 one of the finest individuals and gamest horses who ever looked through the 

 proverbial bridle. 



Mr. D. Livingston, whose property, Boolaroo, is also in the Moree 

 District, has recently joined the ranks of yearling breeders, and he has made 

 an auspicious start by securing the imported Polymelus horse My Poppo, who 

 is siring good winners. The Yetman Stud, owned by Mr. G. W. Dight, is 

 farther north again, being practically on the Queensland Border. The well- 

 bred importation Chipilly, a son of Spearmint, and that great mare Pretty 

 Polly, is at the head of affairs at Yetman, and should help to strengthen the 

 house of Carbine in Australia. 



Back to Scone once more, and striking out across country towards the 

 Widden Mountain in the direction of Mudgee, we find a belt of country which 

 has no superior in Australia as a Thoroughbred nursery. Here is the home of 

 a famous family of horse-breeders, the Thompsons, and it was here such 

 famous stallions of the past as Lochiel, Grafton, Ayr Laddie and Maltster all 

 earned their undying crown of fame. Widden is now owned by Messrs. A. W. 

 and A. E. Thompson, and they, with their cousins, the Thompson Bros., of 

 which firm Herbert is the head, have been wonderfully successful horse- 

 breeders. Widden and Oakleigh are beautiful bits of country, and the 

 excellence of their paddocks has contributed a great deal to the success of the 

 numerous horses reared there. Herbert Thompson and his brother can lay 

 claim to be the largest breeders of the Thoroughbred in the world to-day, and 

 last year they sent down to the Sydney sales no less than seventy yearlings, all 

 of whom sold remarkably well. At Widden the premier stallion of New 

 South Wales, in Linacre, a well-performed son of Wolf's Crag, shares the 

 honours of the stud with the French-bred Kenilworth, a staying descendant 

 of St. Simon. Both these stallions have been remarkably consistent as w^inner- 

 getters, and if the grey Chrysolaus, the most recent addition to the stallion 

 strength, meets with the same success, his dual owners, the Thompson Bros., 

 and their cousins A. W. and A. E., will have no reason to regret having spent 

 3,600 guineas in acquiring him. The Widden and Oakleigh mares are a 

 wonderful lot, and are kept up to a very high standard by the retention of 

 the best fillies bred at the stud. In an article of this description it is impossible 

 to write of individual mares, for reference to the good producers owned by the 

 Thompsons would fill many large sized volumes. At Oakleigh are the English 

 stallions Gadabout, by St. Denis, Sir Dighton, by Bayardo, and Cooltrim, by 

 Flying Fox, and the Australian-bred Greenstead, by The Welkin (imp.). 

 The stud suffered a severe loss recently by the death of imported Tressady, a 

 successful son of Persimmon. 



Another Thompson holding is Canema, where Baverstock, a son of 

 Maltster, and Wakeful, is siring winners, his son David ranking as one of the 

 best stayers racing in Australia at the present time. Eaton Lad, by Orvieto, 

 sires his share of useful horses at Holbrook, near Widden, for his owner, T. A. 

 Harris. Leaving Widden behind us, and traversing the Bylong Valley, long 

 famous for the production of good cattle and horses, we get within close call 



