HIGH-PRICED THOROUGHBREDS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9048, 25 March 1908, Page 7

HIGH-PRICED THOROUGHBREDS

From England comes the interesting information that the stallion J| Cyllene (by Bona Vista) has been sold > to a South American breeder for the sum of £25,000. This, it may be remarked, is the second occasion on which Cyllene has been sold ior a sum reaching to five figures, but the •amount recently paid for him falls ■short by some thousands of the sum 1 -he reached three years back, when jMr W. Bass bought him from Mr C. D. Rose, his breeder at £81,500. The sale of Cyllene encourages me to make an excursion into history, in -order to find some facts bearing upon •sensational prices paid for thoroughbreds in the past. It is nearly 44 3 ears ago that the Marquis of Hastings electrified the turf world by his purchase of Kangaroo for 12,00030v5. The colt had won three races off the reel in the early spring, -and it was after Kangaroo's victory over the Duke of Beaufort's Koenig (a hot favourite) and a big field in the ill-omened Newmarket Biennial Stakes that the Marquis secured him lor what was then, and for some .years afterwards regarded as a sensational price for a racehorse. Not till 1872 was Kangaroo's figure exceeded, and then for the stallion Blair •Athol, who was purchased at the .gale of the Middle Park Stud, in July, 1872, for 12,500 guineas. Three years later this sura was surpassed, the late Duke of Westminster giving £14,000 to the late Mr Robert Peck for Doncaster, whom the vendor had previously acquired ior £IO,OOO. It can be said with the utmost security that "the head of the House of Grosvenor" never made a bargain than in the purchase the chestnut son of Stock well and for Doncaster sired the Derby winner Bend Or, from whom in direct desocnt came Ormonde, Orme, and Flying Fox. Not until 1890 was Doncaster's figure equalled. Count Lehndorff in that year paid £14,000 for the Derby dead-heater, St. Gatien, who for a long time stood at the Graditz Stud. From 1890 to the present day prices fov the best stallions, mares, and also youngeanimals of fashionable blood have gone on increasing, and in September, 1891, the late Sir J. Biundell Maole paid £15,000 for the triple crown winner Common. Scarcely had tho sensation caused by this big deal subsided when the news was cabled from America that St. Blaise, who in 1885 had gone to Mi Lorrilard's stud had been sold by auction P for £20,000, which was the opening and closing bid for the son of Hermit. In 1892, Ormonde, whom the Duke of Westminster had parted with three years previously for £12,000, again changed hands, his South American purchaser, Don Juan Boucau, selling him to Mr J O'Brien Macdonough, the Califcrnian breeder, for the collossal sum of 150,000 dollars, or £31,250. This was an unlucky deal for the Ameri :an, for the •son of Bend Or proved a pronounced failure in the land of the Stars and Stripes. Even here, however, finaiity :in the matter of high prices was not .yet reached, for in 1900, M. Edmond Blanc, at the sale of the late Duke of Westminster's horses in training, •easily beat all previous records by paying the collossal sum of 87,500 /guineas for Flying Fox. The following list bearing upon sensational . "V ptifes will, no doubt, be perused ' with-, interest Flying Fox, by ( Orme," "'"lfyrs, £39,375; Diamond , .Jubilee, by. St. Simon, Byrs, £31,500; Cyllene, by Bona Vista, lOyrs, £31,500; Cyllene, by Bona ' Vista, 14yrs, £25,000; Ormonde, by < .ißend Or, 9srs, £31,250; Ormonde, i by Bend Or, 6yrs, £12,000; Jardy, •by Flying Fox, 4yrs, £80,000; Val "d'Or, by Flying Fox, 4yrs, £28,000; .Sceptre, by Persimmon, 4yrs, £25,000; Sceptre, by Persimmon lyr, £10,500; Rock Sand, by Sainfoin, 6yrs, £25,000; Duke of Westminster, by Orme, 2yrs, £22,050; Galtee More, by Kendal, 4yrs £21,000; Ard Patrick, by St. Florian, 4yrs, £21,000; St. Blaise, by Hermit, llyrs, £20,000; Gouvern--■ant. by Flyirg Fox, Syrs, £20,000; Kendal, by Bend Or, lOyrs, £18,000; .Kendal, by Bend Or, 18yrs, £10,500; Bona Vista, by Bend Or, Byrs, £16,458; Adam, by Flying Fox, ■4yrs, £16,000; Meddler, by St. •Gatien, 3yrs, £15,225; Meddler, by ( A'St. Gatien, £11,000; Pietermaritz- ( %.burg, by St. Simon. Byrs, £15,750; < *• by Isonmy, 3yrs, £15,000; Matchbox, by St. Simon, 3yrs, I . .£15,000; Watercress, by Springfield, 17yra, £14,200; St. Gatien, by j Rotherhill or The Rover, ; lOyrs, ■ £14,000; Doncaster, by Stockwell, -syrs,£<4,ooo; Doncaster, by Stockwell, syrs, £10,000; Hamburg, by -Hanover, £14,000; Hamburg, by Hanover, £12,000; Carbine, by Musket, 9yrs, £13,650; La Fleche. by St. Simon, Byrs, £13,230; Blair Athol, by Stockwell, llyrs, £13,125; Kangaroo, by Hobbie Noble, 3yrs, -£12,000; Nasturtium, by Watercress, 2yrs, £IO,OOO. • ;