NEW ZEALAND BLOOD

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 136, 6 December 1938, Page 15

NEW ZEALAND BLOOD

BOURBON'S LINES

STAYING SON OF TIPPLER

Bourbon, the sturdy little brown horse who won .the V.R.C. Handicap, I^. miles, at the recent Melbourne Cup Meeting, and who is generally conceded to have been unlucky not also to have beaten Catalogue in the Cup, .is easily the best stayer got by Tippler. Others who could go a middledistance were Nellie's Tip (Bendigo Cup), Dermid, Turbine, and Firboig. but none shone as a true stayer'as Bourbon has. .... Though bred on lines that suggest he would get a good percentage of stayers, Tippler will be remembered mainly for his brilliant sprinters. Several of them did well also at a mile. His best winners at this distance were Cathmar (A.J.C. Epsom), Closing Time (Villiers and C. M. Lloyd Stakes), Turbine (A.J.C. Grantham Stakes), Dermid, Hadrian. The Doctor's Orders, and Shakespeare. The reason for Bourbon's .superior stamina is undoubtedly-that he is out of about the best staying-bred mare that was ever mated with Tippler. This mare was Spearfoot, for whom Mr. Hunter White paid 400 guineas as a yearling. Spearfoot ran five times as a two-year-old, without gaining a place, and she was then put to Tippler. Bourbon is her second foal. FRAILTY INFLUENCE. Spearfoot descends from that famous fount of the No. 18 family, Manto, and she comes through the celebrated Frailty branch. Her own dam, Battle Scene, was bred in the Dominion in 1917 ' and she was a most successful performer, winning upwards of fifteen races in the South Island, including the^ C.J.C. Great Easter Handicap and Craven Plate. She was latef secured by the late Mr. Norman Falkiner, of New South Wales, and added to his Noorilim Stud. Frailty, the. ancestress of Bourbon, was bred in New South Wales in 1877 by Mr. Reynolds, and she was imr ported to New Zealand for the stud in 1879 by the Messrs. Morrin. This daughter of Goldsbrough was destined to play an outstanding -part in the Turf annals of the colony. She produced no less than twelve foals, only three of them being fillies, Of th 6 nine colts only two did not achieve some: measure of fame either on thd Turf or at the stud, those being Mbus* j quetaire and Astronomer. Frailty's other sons. Trenton (her first foal), Niagara, Cuirassier, Zalinski, Havoc, Lancaster, and Siege Gun, were all good winners, and they made the most of their opportunities at the stud. Trenton's sister Cissy, from whom Bourbon descends, founded a successful branch of the family, as did their half-sister Edith Cureton, by Castor. The first four foals that Mr. Thomas Morrin bred from Cissy were by Castor. She was then put to St. Leger and dropped the colt San Ilario. who was for some years at the stud in New South Wales. Returned to Castor, Cissy dropped the filly Circe, who was a first-class winner in Queensland. Cissy's sixth foal by:-Castor was the filly Helen Faucit, whom Mr. G. G. Stead added to his famous Grasslea Stud when she was a three-year-old. . Helen Faucit, the fourth dam of Bourbon, had only' four foals. The first two■.weue'th'e'^Multifdrni-.fil-lies,. Edna; Msfr.'. apd ~ElM,.Terrv, jana. the next,:.Wsas .the Multiform, colt Cor-.-oniform, winner of many c races in the Dominion. ■ ■■ ; - : ,' ' . ; '" MATINGS WITH! MARTIAN. Mr. Stead; put Edtta May to the/stud when she was also a three-year-old, and she had her first foal •at foot when Mr, Stead, died, early? m. .1908. Edna May later passed into the ownership of Mr. George Fulton, Who used her with a number of sires: In. 1914 and 1916 she was put to. Martian and dropped: the fillies Starlike and Battle Scene. Starlike won several races, but was not the fine performer her younger sister turned out to. be. Both mares were bought on their retirement to the stud by Mr. Falkmer, who paid 325 guineas for Starlike and 400 guineas for Battle Scene. Starlike and Battle Scene were fine types of mares and beautifully bred, but their progeny did not come up to expectations. Battle Scene was in foal to Paladin when she reached Noorilim. and she dropped there the filly Battle Din, who did not do much good in her early years on the Turf. Put to the stud, Battle Din dropped the Comus filly Curly, who .was a speedy mare. Battle Din returned to racing and showed her best form. The last foal Mr. Falkiner bred from Battle Scene was Bourbon's dam Spearfoot. Bourbon, the second of Spearfoot s foals, was sent Up to the Sydney yearling sales in 193(5, and he fell to a bid of 280 guineas from the Sydney bookmaker Mr. A. J. Matthews. Mr. Matthews, however, did not race the colt, Bourbon Was passed on to Mr. A. H. Freedman. and the young trainer W. H. McLachlan, jun.. who have for the last three seasons raced him in partnership. Bourbon did not win as a two-year-old, though placed in three of his six races. As a three-year-old he well paid his way, though he-won only two races. As a four-year-old this season he has already proved himself leading stayer in Australia, j

by Castor