"MATCHEM" "HEROD," AND THEIR DESCENDANTS. 285 



Royal Mare, to which both the maternal grandsire and the paternal grandam of 

 Eclipse belong, and the second place in the same list is held by the descendants of 

 Tregonwell's Natural Barb Mare, of whom three strains occur in the pedigree of 

 Herod, including his sire Tartar. But of the difficulties of the " Figure system " I 

 shall have more to say later. 



Returning to descendants in tail-male, we find that of the winners of the Derby, 

 Oaks, St Leger, Two Thousand, and One Thousand, between 1878 and 1897, 'ess 

 than 6 per cent, can be traced either to Herod or to Matchem, while Eclipse is 

 actually responsible for 88' i r. At no time was Matchem superior, on this calculation. 

 The highest point he reaches is 15-27 per cent., between 1798 and 1817, to the 38-88 

 of ffervd and the 45-69 of Eclipse. Only once is Eclipse anywhere but first, and then 

 also it is Matchem who is last. For, from 1 778 to 1797 the winners traceable to Herod 

 are 48-21 per cent., to Eclipse 39*28, and to Matchem 12-5. This looks bad enough ; 

 but if we consider the statistics of English classic winners from 1878 to 1897, so f ar 

 as their dams are concerned, we shall find the following proportion in the male 

 descent of those dams, viz., Eclipse, 71 per cent. ; Herod, 19; Matchem, 10. These 

 figures, taken in combination with the first percentages, must, I fear, finally condemn 

 the future usefulness of Matchem blood, in spite of the fact that Melbourne and Young 

 Melbourne mares were in their day so good ; the latter especially through their union 

 with Her/nit ; for it would now be practically extinct in England but for Solon, sire of 

 Barcaldine and Fhilammon, and some descendants of Nutwith ; though West 

 Australian in France (through Bagdad and Ruy Bias], Australian Peer at the Anti- 

 podes, and imported Australian, in the United States, are still preserving the strain 

 in lands far distant from its origin. 



In 1758 was foaled Herod, a bay horse, by Tartar out of Cypron, the grand 

 daughter of Flying Childers, whose sire was the Darley Arabian. Tartar was grandson 

 f J*gS> who was by the Byerly Turk out of a Spanker mare. There is more of " the 

 unknown quantity " in his pedigree than in those of Matchem or Eclipse. Even if we 

 accept Clumsy (sire of Fox), we can hardly assert anything about the Sister to Mixbury, 

 who was Partner's clam ; while as to both Snail and Shield's Galloii'ay Marc we 

 know absolutely nothing. Nor are things much better if we turn to Cypron's origins, 

 for Grey Grantham's dam is quite unknown, and so is the breeding of the mare out 

 of whom he got the Confederate Filly. I cannot help pointing out, in this connection, 

 that Matchem, the purest in Eastern descent of the three great sires dealt with in this 

 volume, is also the one whose blood has shown most symptoms of decay ; Herod 



