172 The American Thoroughbred 



though not the largest. Although I cannot recall his performances, I know he was 

 a race horse of high class and retired to the stud with quite a reputation, his sire 

 being already dead. He made but two seasons when he succumbed to an attack of 

 heart failure which had carried off both his sire and grandsire before him. Neckers- 

 gat, in the meantime, had been shipped off to a sheep station in Queensland to get 

 saddle horses for the "boundary riders" and a messenger was dispatched to bring 

 him back. The old red horse made his return trip of 1,200 miles all safely, and was en- 

 sconced in Rapid Bay's box at once. From that time out he was a prominent factor, 

 the best of his get being Dunlop, who won the Melbourne Cup of 1887 with 115 pounds, 

 two miles in 3 128 *4i, then the world's record for that distance. It has since been 

 beaten, by Newton in America and by Carbine on that same track, the latter being 

 by far the most meritorious of all three performances. But Neckersgat's career recalls 

 the Godolphin Arabian in England and the well-beloved Bonnie Scotland in America, 

 "Truth crushed to earth." 



Another good horse taken to Australia about that same period was Lord of the 

 Hills by Touchstone out of Fair Helen by Pantaloon from Rebecca (dam of Alice 

 Hawthorn, Annandale and The Provost) by Lottery. This horse was therefore a full 

 brother to Lord of the Isles, winner of the Two Thousand Guineas of 1855 and sire 

 of Scottish Chief ; and he was also a full brother to Lady Macdonald, dam of that 

 famous three-year-old filly Brigantine, by Buccaneer, who won the Oaks and Ascot 

 Cup, less than four weeks apart, beating Blue Gown and Formosa in the latter race. 

 As Blue Gown had won the Derby and Ascot Cup, and Formosa had won about every- 

 thing else in the previous year, it took a great three-year-old to beat two such horses 

 at weight for age. Lord of the Hills stood in New South Wales for 7, then 15 

 and then at 20, the largest fee ever paid in Australia up to that time. He made a 

 name for himself, and some of his get won big races, notably Glencoe, who won the 

 Melbourne Cup and other big events. I am afraid that the line of Lord of the Hills 

 is wholly extinct as I have heard of no good performances from any of his male-line 

 descendants in the last eighteen years. 



GRANDMASTER, by Gladiateur, out of Celerrima by Stockwell, was a horse very 

 much to my liking and was, beyond all doubt the best sire that the triple-crowned hero 

 of 1865 ever got. He was imported from England by W. J. Dangar (who also im- 

 ported that long-backed brute, Hawthornden) but was subsequently sold to Mr. John 

 Eales, of the Duckenfields near Morpeth. He certainly was as handsomely turned a 

 horse as one could wish to look at and, while there was a look of Stockwell about him, 

 there was a still stronger resemblance to the beautiful Pantaloon who was the sire 

 of his second dam, Slander, full sister to The Libel, paternal grandsire of Sir Modred. 

 He was about fifteen hands three inches high and was of good length and great depth 

 of barrel. His driving power was as good as one could ask and his disposition simply 

 perfect. He got some great winners, among whom was Paris II, the only horse that 

 ever won the Caulrield Cup twice; and that is beyond all cavil, the second biggest race 

 run in Australia. I never saw a much smoother-turned horse than Grandmaster, but 

 nothing that resembled himself could race a little bit. But whenever he got a ragged- 

 looking horse like Gladiateur, then look out for squalls ahead. I never saw his 

 son, Gibraltar, who won the A. J. C. Derby of 1892, but he was described to me as one 

 of the non-resemblers and the raggedest one of the lot; and the Lord help him if he 

 was any more so than Ensign, Paris II, Insignia and those that I saw win races there. 

 On the other hand he got a horse called Locksley out of Vesper by Yattendon, that 

 was as handsome a horse as one could wish to look at. Jim Mayo had him in the 

 same stable with Cardigan and we were always being told that the Mayo-Chambers- 

 contingent were going to bring off a big coup with Locksley but, when it came down 

 to the day of the race, it was the big chestnut son of Goldsbrough that did the trick 

 and Locksley stayed in the stable. But it was just as I said, nothing from Grand 



