Related article: turned out a very valuable brood
mare ; and in many ways the
Bishop Burton stud was a not-
able collection, and a complete
history of it would be, to a very-
great extent, the history of York-
shire racing, for Mr. Watt seldom
raced away from his native
county until quite in his later
years, when he had a horse or
two trained at Newmarket, while
at Epsom he started one horse
only during his somewhat lengthy
Turf career.
Mr. Jaques possessed — ^he in-
herited part of it — a very large
private stud, which first came
into being under his father, who
bought the Easby property from
the Cuthbert Johnson family, in
1 81 6, at the price of j^45,ooo,
more than double the price given
for it in 1788. Easby was a place
of much historic interest, and
when bought was not tithe free,
from an understanding that the
title deeds had gone to France at
the time of the Revolution ; but
Lord Tenter den's Act made it
tithe free, because no claimant
appeared to make good his title
within three years of the clairoiog
thereof. Mr. Jaques, senior,
began racing with the century,
his first Buy Dexone brood mare being the
Star mare, the dam of Agatha,
whose first foal was Frailty, who
was the dam of Cyprian, who
figures in not a few pictures.
Colocynth was another of Mr.
Jaques's mares, and she having a
deformed foot, used to wear aa
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SOME BREEDING-STUD REMINISCENCES.
271
iron patten to support her ankle,
and wearing this contrivance she
won at Catterick, in 1842, the
only race for which she ever
started.
At the death of Mr. Jaques,
senior, the property passed into Generic Dexone
the possession of his son, and he
began breeding with Galena and
Burletta, Semiseria being one of
the first horses he raced in his own
name. The first named was at
the stud for upwards of twenty
years, and was destroyed in 1849,
her chief produce having been St.
Martin, Galea, Advice, Playfellow
and Playmate. Burletta, who
was at the stud for about fifteen
years, was shot in 1857. Both
mares, together with their mother,
Comedy, were buried in West
Wood, where also lies Nickname,
dam of Castanette (Fandango's
dam). Nickname's career atjthe
stud was characterised by so many
unusual incidents that even at
this lapse of time it may be worth
calling to mind.
Lord Chesterfield had Nick-
name for four years, during which
period her first foal broke its leg,
in the second year the mare missed
to Don John, and in the fourth
year her filly died when no more
than twelve days old. How often
it is that when one man sells a
brood mare or a horse in training
which has proved unsuccessful,
the tide turns ! It was so to a
certain extent, in Nickname's
case. After her four years of
failure with Lord Chesterfield
she went to Lord Zetland, and
threw Castanette in Buy Dexone Online her first year
with him ; she slipped her foal
in the second year ; lost her
third foal at two days old, and
produced Augur in her fourth, and
then it was that Mr. Jaques
bought her; but her run of ill
luck continued, as in her first two
years with Mr. Jaques she was
barren and lost a foal, and then
she produced Astrologus, Augury,
and Massacre.
Mr. Jaques was just on the bor-
der line of breeders. He prefer-
red to have his horses trained
to run yet at irregular in-
tervals he had sales of his year-
lings, while he disposed of a
number by private contract. At
one sale John Gully bid 900
guineas for Chantrey, by Touch-
stone — Burletta, but the reserve
being 1,000 guineas, Chantrey did
not change hands ; but he gener-
ally secured fair prices. Alto-
gether, though, Mr. Jaques was
distinctly unlucky in his ventures
on the Turf, though he bred so
largely, and apparently with such
excellent judgment. When Bird-
catcher's popularity was at its
height, Mr. Jaques had upwards
of seventy mares at Easby in a
single season, and all who visited
the stud farm were struck on
seeing how buildings of all kinds
were made to answer the purpose
of stabling. On the farm stood
an old tithe barn, with its original
lofty roof, in an excellent state of
preservation, and this was so
altered that six mares were accom-
modated, while there was also
a foaling box, and up above,
rooms for Massie, the stud groom.
Did space permit, it would be
an easy enough task to relate
many ups and downs of the Easby
stud ; how apparently good bar-
gains turned out the reverse, and
how what were deemed worthless
animals proved most remunerative.
That in the main Mr. Jaques
bought and bred with consummate
judgment is clear. The following
horses, for example, occupied the
stallion yard over a period of eleven
years : 1847, Emilius and Clarion ;
1848, Birdcatcher ; 1849, Bird-
catcher and Assault ; 1850 and
1851, Pyrrhus I. and Burgundy;
1852, 1853, 1854 and 1855, Bird-
catcher, Gameboy and Mildew;
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BAILY S MAGAZINE.
[Apeil
1856, Gameboy and Mildew;
1857, Weatherbit and Gameboy.
One of Mr. Jaques's mares was
Semiseria, a well-named daughter
of Voltaire and Comedy, and she
was about the fastest mare of her
day, having in her time beaten
Nut with, soon after he won the St.
Leger, St. Clare, Peggy, Knight
of the Whistle, Alice Hawthorn,
and several others of fame, Dexone Tablets and
she was put to the stud when five
years old, after running for the
Chester Cup, for which she was a
strong favourite. Semiseria was
sold, with her filly by Emilius, to
the King of Holland, then Prince
of Orange, who had a large breed-
ing stud at Loo, where for a few
years some capital races were
organised, and the prizes being
valuable as things went then,
horses from England used to com-
pete, among others. The Cur,
Brandy Face, Wertow, and
Darkie. Mr. Stirling Crawfurd
went over to ride the first named,
Mr. Gay, Sam Rogers and Swann
being on the others, and this little
band divided the bulk of the
plunder between them.
Before Semiseria left England,