4.8 The American Thoroughbred 



yl that year. Mr. Allison is palpably in error when he states that iryrrhus the First 

 was imported into America. 



Great Herod horses began to be scarce about that time but in 1858 a tall and 

 ragged-looking three-year-old made his appearance and won the Queen's Vase at 

 Ascot, carrying off the Ascot Cups of the next two years and about two dozen Royal 

 Plates varying from two to three miles. His name was Fisherman and he belonged 

 to a Mr. Starkey, who afterwards sold him to old Tom Parr. Fisherman was by 

 Heron out of Mainbrace by Sheet Anchor (son of Lottery) from a mare by Bay Mid- 

 dleton, from Nitocris (sister to Memnon (St. Leger 1825) from Manuella (Oaks 1812) 

 from Mandane, the dam of Lottery aforesaid. Fisherman will be found at greater 

 length in the Australian chapter of this work. 



PHRYNE, by Touchstone out of Decoy by Filho da Puta, was foaled in 1840 and 

 a full sister to Flatcatcher, who defeated Surplice in the Two Thousand of 1848 and ran 

 second to him in the Derby. Phryne belonged to the Marquis of Westminster, who 

 mated her four times with Pantaloon, producing Elthiron, The Reiver, The Hobbie 

 Noble and Windhound. Elthiron won the City and Suburban and was sold to France ; 

 The Reiver was second to West Australian in the St. Leger of 1853; The Hobbie 

 Noble was a good deal the best two-year-old of 1851 and was the all-winter favorite 

 for the Derby of 1852, won by the little Irish pony, Daniel O'Rourke, by Birdcatcher. 

 I have no performances of Windhound, but he was mated with Alice Hawthorn and 

 was undoubtedly the true sire of Thormanby, who won the Derby of 1860 in which 

 so much was expected of the American colt, Umpire, by Lecompte out of .dice Car- 

 neal, dam of Lexington. I say this because I was told that Melbourne (given as one 

 of the two sires of Thormanby) got no foals in that year from any of the mares 

 with which he had been mated singly. 



THORMANBY was, beyond all cavil, the best horse that ever came from the male- 

 line of the beautiful Pantaloon, whom Admiral Rous styled "The First Gentleman of 

 Europe." Thormanby won five races off the reel at two years old, winning the Derby 

 at three, but was defeated by St. Alban's (a great horse with an unusually bad set of 

 legs for a son of Stockwell) in the Doncaster St. Leger. In the next year Thormanby 

 won the Ascot Cup at weight-for-age, the three-year-old Fairwater being second and 

 Parmesan third. A month later came the Goodwood Cup for which Thormanby was 

 favorite at 9 to 4. He carried 132 pounds, The Wizard (winner of the Two Thousand 

 and second to Thormanby in the Derby) 128, while Optimist, winner of the Ascot 

 Stakes, had 112, and Starke (who had won the Goodwood Stakes of the year before) 

 had only 122 and he six years old. A more severe race was never run at Goodwood, 

 Starke winning by a neck from The Wizard, with Optimist third and Thormanby last. 

 There was a good deal of crowing over this event in the American papers on account 

 of two American-bred horses running first and third, but over thirty years later, I 

 dined with Mr. Richard Ten Broeck as a guest of Hon. Harry Thornton, the Bayard 

 of the California turf. In the course of conversation, Col. Thornton was speaking of 

 Starke's victory when Mr. Ten Broeck replied : 



"Well, sir, I have seen a good many races and I have seen a good many tired 

 horses after the races ; and Starke was the worst distressed horse I ever saw in my 

 life. Nothing but Fordham's wonderful riding saved him for the Wizard was giving 

 him two years and four pounds and for an instant it looked as if he had Starke 

 beaten." 



Later on, somebody said something about Iroquois' Derby and St. Leger victories 

 and Mr. Ten Broeck said : 



"There has never been a first-class American horse sent to England unless Mr. 

 Keene's Foxhall was one. If Iroquois had struck any such horses as Thormanby and 

 The Wizard, he might possibly have finished third but no better. I have not yet taught 

 myself to believe that Iroquois was any better horse than my Umpire, who was fourth 



