The Three Cardinal Lines 29 



The line of Mercury (sire of Gohanna, the only horse ever known to beat Waxy) 

 became extinct in 1890 and that of Beningbrough about 1898. 



From 1825 to 1840, the line of Beningbrough, through Orville and his two great 

 sons Muley and Emilius, was at the head of the English turf, Emilius heading the list 

 of winning sires for three seasons and Muley for one (1840) in which his son Little 

 Wonder won the Derby, but never did anything else worthy of note. Another excellent 

 son of Muley was Leviathan (who won two four-mile races at York under the name 

 of Mezereon, brought to America a few years prior to Margrave. His daughters bred 

 admirably to Glencoe and other stallions of the period between 1840 and 1855, but he 

 never had a son that was better than third-class as a sire. The line of Muley became 

 extinct in Ireland about 1890, but was gone forever, at least twenty years before that, 

 everywhere else. 



The line of Blacklock went down almost out of sight, every once in a while but 

 always managed to "bob up serenely" when least expected. It was always said Volti- 

 geur was a failure because he got only one classic winner, in Vedette, but the following 

 table shows that while he was never better than, fifth on the lists of Winning Sires, 

 he got some very good horses. 



STOCKWELL VOLTIGEUR 



Winners of the Ascot Cup 2 2 



Winners of the Doncaster i 3 



Winners of the Chester 2 i 



Winners of the Epsom 2 I 



Winners of the Gr. Yorkshire Stakes i 4 



Winners of the Cesarewitch Handicap 2 2 



Winners of the Great Ebor Handicap o 3 



10 16 



Of course everybody knows that Stockvvell surpassed all sires as far as the five 

 classical events are concerned, but how any man of common sense can call Voltigeur a 

 failure, after the above showing, passes my comprehension. People call Flying Dutch- 

 man a failure because he never headed the list of sires, but he was four times second, 

 twice to Orlando and once each to Newminister and Stockwell ; and third three times, 

 once to Touchstone and twice to Stockwell. Such alleged failures are susceptible of in" 

 vestigation. 



PoT-S-os, though only a moderate turf horse, was a good sire. He got Waxy, win- 

 ner of the Derby of 1793. with Gohanna (by Mercury) a good second; Nightshade, a 

 winner of the Oaks ; and Champion, foaled 1797, who was the first horse ever to win 

 both the Derby and St. Leger, this in 1800 of course. Champion was a total failure in 

 the stud and Nightshade produced nothing of note, but Waxy's male line has brought 

 forth more classic winners than any other three. It has endured from one decade to 

 another with more regularity than any other and while partially overshadowed by the 

 line of Hambletonian (through St. Simon and Galopin) since 1885, I am loth to be- 

 lieve that the overshadowing is in anywise permanent. The following table shows the 

 vast and far-reaching merits of Waxy as a sire, in every part of the world : 



