File:Breeder and sportsman (1891) (20223202749).jpg

Title: Breeder and sportsman
Identifier: breedersportsma191891sanf (find matches)
Year: 1882 (1880s)
Authors:
Subjects: Horses
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : (s. n. )
Contributing Library: San Francisco Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: California State Library Califa/LSTA Grant

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280 %\xz ^xfttHtv and j&ptrrtswait. Sept. 12 SUWARROW. A Pen-and-ink Portrait of tbe Victoria Derby Winner of 1879. The spring months of Australia are September, October and November, for in that land of snn and flowers everything is just the reverse of what it is in America and England. One of the loveliest parts of the colony of Victoria iB the broad expanse of prairie known as the Werribee Plains, about twenty-6ve miles from the great bustling city of Mel- bourne; and one of the most successful of the old-time squires of Werribee was Mr. C. A. Finlay, a man who dearly loved a good horse as the best and most faithful of man's appointed servants. One day in November, 1876. just as Mr. Finlay was concluding a hearty breakfast, his old Yorkshire groom poked his head in at the dining-room door and said; "Pleese, zar. t'auld meer ha' gotten a foal." "What old mare?" "T'broon one ye bought o' Maister Chirnside." inary exercise. Had he been trained at that age he wonld have been a great performer, for he matured very early and soon lost all that looseness of build that characterizes a oolt. At three years old be was christened Snwarrow and placed in the hands of a competent trainer. He made his first appearance in the Cm I field Guineas of 1879, and did not show prominently in the race. In November of the same year the great V. R. 0. meeting came on, which is the national holi- day. It begins on a Saturday and is run on alternate days, the following Tuesday being the day of the great Melbourne Cop, while the featnres of Thursday's race are the Victoria Oaks and the Canterbury Plate, the latter being a dash of two and a quarter miles, with weight for age. Derby day dawned bright and fair, with not a speck of cloud over the Maribyrnong hills as the long and struggling masses wended their way to Flemington by all sorts of con- veyances, for there was no railway to the coarse in those days. On the card of the day was to be found tbe name of Suwarrow, bat there was little business done about him at just as game, and had a great deal more speed, so he won as he liked, pulling up six lengths in front of that clever colt First King. His later victories were the V. R. C. Mares' Pro- duce Stakes and the Geelong Winter Handicap. In the Can- terbury Plate he also beat Wellington, who afterwards won the Champion Stakes, three miles, and who had won the V. R. C. Derby of 1878. In 1880 Suwarrow was sold to Mr. Samuel Gardiner, of Melbourne, who had just established a breeding farm at Bundoora, on Darebin creek, about eight mile3 east of Mel- bourne. That gentleman bad bred some good performers already and, on his retirement from mercantile affairs, pur- chased some of the best mares in the South Continent. To the utter astonishment of all bis friends and the publio, he persisted in saonficing these splendid mares to two worth- leea stallions that had raced in his colors—Quambone and Tubal Cain—while the inferior mares of the farm were mated with Snwarrow and The Marquis, the latter a wiDn^r of the great St. L?ger of 1S62 and the Two Thousand Guineas of
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SUWARROW, BY SNOWDEN "Oh, yen mean Phizgig," said Mr. Finlay; "well, what is the foal like?" "He be an'orse foal, zur, and ai ne'er saw an 'igher-formed in my loife; bat such a wee 'an as he is," replied the old groom. Mr. Finlay'a delight was in race-horses, but his heart almost sank within him as he beheld the tiny thing that stood up beBide tbe brown mare and Dodded his head wist- fully at the new-comers. "He's a tiny little fellow but such a beauty. He'll be a dark brown one like bis mother," eaid Mr. Finlay. "Naw, naw, maister; he'll be a gray like 'tauld horse, his feyther," replied the gioom. The old tyke prognosticated truly. By the time that the youngster was eighteeu mouths old he was an iron-gray, with hoofs as black and tough as buffalo horns, and legs as strong and tirni as marble pillars. Mr. Finlay did not believe in twi -year-old racing, and so the oolt got nothing bat prelim- PHIZGIG, THE PROPERTY OF W. 0'B. MACDONOUGH 8 to 1, while money was poured in by the handful on Petrea and Lord Burghley, the latter of which stripped beautifully for his preliminary canter. There were but five starters, and the flag went down at the second attempt. Suwarrow's jockey handled him in a masterly manner, holding him in tbe third place till a mile of the journey had been traversed, when his jookey called on him, and he dashed to the front with a burst of speed that defied all competition, and he crossed tbe score an easy winner by five lengths. The weights oarried were 122 on the colts and 117 on the fillies. The great Melbourne Cup of that year was won by Darriwell, with Sweetmeat seoond and Suwarrow third. Suwarrow's owner, being determined to send him out for the Canterbury Plate, to be run two days later, the jockeys on the other horses knew, from the speed developed by Snwarrow in tbe Derby, that there was no use iu attempting to make a wailing race with him. So they pushed ont boldly at onoe and tried to kill him off with rapid pace, but the little gray horse was MENLO PARK, CAL. the same year. He was imported to Australia by Mr. W. E. Dakin, who afterwards trained Darebin for Mr. Gardiner, In spite of all these disadvantages, Snwarrow got several good horses, among them Plenty, Nihilist, Suwarrow's Son and Snowfoot, the latter one of the best mile horses of bis day. Last year Mr. Gardiner's monetary affairs were in a very bad condition, owing to the collapse of the Melbourne "land boom," in consequence of which he shipped over to San Franoisoo several of his stallions, Suwarrow being one of the number Tbe veteran, although the eldest but one of the lot, Btood the journey beBt of all and played about tbe sand lot at the Nevada Stables likeakittea. A few days after landing, Snwarrow waB sold to Mr, William MacDonough, owner of the California Hotel and Theater, who at once re- moved him to his beautiful farm near Menlo Park, where he will henceforth reign as lord of the harem, Mr. Mac* donough is constantly making purchases of the very best

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