SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



a hot favourite, although the field was a 

 very large one. His feet, however, were not 

 adapted for getting through dirt, and as there 

 had been much rain for three days before 

 the Derby, the going was very bad. The 

 account of the race tells us that 'The 

 Dutchman' was in front at the mile post, 

 but appeared anything but comfortable when 

 struggling through the mire. After Tatten- 

 ham Corner was passed 'he seemed alto- 

 gether confused and muddled in the deep 

 and holding ground, and perfectly inactive 

 in comparison with his two-year-old move- 

 ment.' The upshot was that Hotspur, who 

 went over the dirt like a swallow, passed him 

 in the straight, and was in front until within 

 three strides of the judges' box when Marlow 

 struck the Dutchman, and the last stride gave 

 him the 'short neck' victory. The horse 

 won all his three-year-old engagements, and 

 in the following year took the Emperor of 

 Russia's Plate (which did duty for the Ascot 

 Cup for a few years) and also won at Good- 

 wood, but at Doncaster he was beaten half a 

 length for the Cup by Lord Zetland's Vol- 

 tigeur, who had that year won the Derby, 

 and who, two days before he beat Lord 

 Eglinton's horse, had won the St. Leger, 

 after a dead heat with Russborough. 



Voltigeur was bred by Mr. Stephenson of 

 Hart, in the county of Durham, and was 

 sent up to Doncaster as a yearling, but 

 no one would give two hundred for him, 

 and after awhile he was sent to Aske, * on 

 loan or liking' to Mr. Billy Williamson, 

 Lord Zetland's brother-in-law. He quickly 

 won two or three trials, and so easily did he 

 beat all that could be pitted against him that 

 Lord Zetland gave the ^^1,500 asked for 

 him, with a further contingency of ;^500 on 

 each of the great events. As a two-year-old 

 Voltigeur only ran once, winning an insig- 

 nificant stake at the Richmond (Yorkshire) 

 meeting. He came to Epsom with a mod- 

 erate reputation, and a few days before the 

 race the Epsom touts gave him so bad a 

 character that he went back to 30 to i in 

 the betting, having stood at a much shorter 

 price some time before. He won easily 

 enough, and at Doncaster he took the St. 

 Leger, after a dead-heat with Russborough ; 

 walked over for the Scarborough Stakes, and 

 finally beat The Flying Dutchman by half a 

 length in the Doncaster Cup. 



It is worthy of note that Voltigeur was 

 the first Derby winner of the King Fergus 

 hne of Eclipse, which line has in its much 

 later removes been most conspicuous in the 

 great Epsom race. 



In 1 85 1 a good horse in Sir Joseph Haw- 



ley's Teddington, who with his dam only 

 cost his owner ;^25o — with a contingency 

 if he won the Derby, and who was bred 

 by a blacksmith at Stamford, won for the 

 Kentish baronet the first of his four Derbys. 

 In the following year Mr. John Bowes, a 

 Durham squire of large fortune, who had 

 previously taken the race with Mundig and 

 Cotherstone, won his third Epsom prize with 

 Daniel O'Rourke, probably the smallest horse 

 who has ever won the race. According to 

 The Druid he was only fourteen hands three 

 inches when he won, but he reached fifteen 

 hands two inches a year later. The course 

 on this occasion was terribly heavy, and it 

 has always been understood that Hobbie 

 Noble, who was one of two favourites at 

 the start, had been drugged. Amongst the 

 unplaced lot in this race was the famous 

 Stockwell, a much greater and a more re- 

 markable horse than the winner in every 

 way, but who was, unfortunately, amiss on 

 the Derby day, and unable to give his proper 

 running. 



Stockwell was perhaps the best racehorse, 

 and certainly the most successful sire ever 

 bred in the county of Surrey. He was bred 

 by Mr. Theobald at Stockwell, within half- 

 a-dozen miles of the centre of the City of 

 London, and he takes his name from what 

 was then a suburban village, but is now a 

 dreary waste of bricks and mortar. As a 

 racehorse he did well, being one of the 

 giants of his day ; amongst his victories were 

 included the Two Thousand Guineas and 

 St. Leger. It was as a sire, however, that 

 he made his great name, and long before he 

 died the soubriquet of ' Emperor of Stallions ' 

 had been conferred upon him. 



Stockwell is a connecting link in the tail 

 male descent of the Birdcatcher line of 

 Eclipse, and to this day his family is con- 

 testing the honours of the stud with those 

 of Blacklock and Touchstone. Whalebone 

 was the last winner of the Derby before 

 Stockwell, in this particular direct line, and 

 Whalebone sired Sir Hercules ; Sir Her- 

 cules sired Birdcatcher, and his son. The 

 Baron, was the sire of Stockwell, whose line 

 has been chiefly carried on by Doncaster, 

 winner of the Derby in 1873, and then 

 through Bend Or, winner of the Derby in 

 1880 ; Ormonde, winner of the Derby in 

 1886; Orme, who could not run for the 

 Derby; and Flying Fox, who won for the 

 late Duke of Westminster in 1899. 



Stockwell sired three winners of the 

 Derby: Blair Athol, Lord Lyon and Don- 

 caster ; and in Lord Lyon's year he was 

 also the sire of the second and third horses. 



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