Disraeli (horse)
{{Short description|British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse}}
{{Infobox racehorse
| horsename = Disraeli
| image_name =
| caption =
| sire = Galopin
| grandsire = Vedette
| dam = Lady Yardley
| damsire = Sterling
| sex = Stallion
| country = United Kingdom
| colour = Bay
| breeder = Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Baronet
| owner = Wallace Johnstone
| trainer = John Dawson
| record = 6: 2-1-0
| earnings =
| race = Champion Breeders' Foal Plate (1897)
2000 Guineas (1898)
|awards =
|honours =
|updated=
|death_date={{death year and age|1911|1895}}}}
Disraeli (1895–1911) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a juvenile in 1897 he showed considerable promise by winning the Champion Breeders' Foal Plate at Derby Racecourse and then finishing second in the Middle Park Plate. In the following spring he recorded his biggest win in the 2000 Guineas but disappointed when favourite for the Epsom Derby and later ran unplaced in the St Leger. He made no impact as a breeding stallion in France.
Background
Disraeli was a "good-looking, well-set-up"{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP18980106.2.4|title=Sporting Items|pages=2|date=6 January 1898|publisher=The Press|website=Papers Past}} bay horse bred at the Sledmere Stud in East Yorkshire by Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Baronet. As a yearling he was consigned to the Doncaster sales and bought for 1,000 guineas by Wallace Johnstone.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18971014.2.91|title=Talk of the Day|date=14 October 1897|pages=31|publisher=Otago Witness|via=Papers Past}} The colt was sent into training with John Dawson, the younger brother of Mathew Dawson, at Warren House stables at Newmarket, Suffolk. Dawson had established his reputation in the 1870s when he trained Galopin and Petrarch.{{cite web|url=http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=991 |title=John Dawson (Snr) |publisher=Horseracing History Online |access-date=2012-09-15}}
His sire Galopin was an outstanding racehorse who won the Derby in 1872 and went on to be a successful and influential stallion, being Champion sire on three occasions. Disraeli's dam Lady Yardley was a full-sister to The Swan, whose descendants included Mondrian and Hansel.{{cite web|url=http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Families/Family2w.htm|title=Peter Lely Mare - Family 2-w|website=Thoroughbred Bloodlines}}
Racing career
=1897: two-year-old season=
Disraeli made his debut in the Champion Breeders' Foal Plate on 31 August over five furlongs at Derby Racecourse. Ridden by Fred Allsopp, and starting at odds of 100/8 he led from the start and won "somewhat easily" by one and a half lengths from the odds-on favourite Champ de Mars.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18971014.2.104|title=Derby|date=14 October 1897|pages=34|publisher=Otago Witness|via=Papers Past}} In the Middle Park Plate over six furlongs at Newmarket on 15 October, Disraeli started at odds of 100/15 (approximately 6.7/1) in a fourteen-runner field. With Allsopp again in the saddle he briefly took the lead in the last quarter mile but was overtaken and beaten three lengths by the Duke of Devonshire's colt Dieudonne with Wildfowler a head away in third place.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18971209.2.111?end_date=1897-12-31&items_per_page=10&phrase=0&query=Wildfowler&sort_by=byDA&start_date=1897-01-01&type=ARTICLE|title=Racing in England.|date=9 December 1897|publisher=Otago Witness|pages=34|via=Papers Past}} On his third and final start of the season six days later Disraeli was assigned a weight of 136 pounds for the Great Sapling Plate at Sandown Park and finished as Ninus won from Nun Nicer and Sheet Anchor.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18971209.2.112?end_date=31-12-1897&phrase=2&query=Nun+Nicer&start_date=01-01-1897&type=ARTICLE|title=Sandown Park.|date=9 December 1897|publisher=Otago Witness|pages=34|via=Papers Past}} He was eased down in the race by his rider John Watts when his chance of winning had gone.
=1898: three-year-old season=
File:Sam Loates Vanity Fair 5 November 1896.jpg
The 90th edition of the 2000 Guineas was run over the Rowley Mile on 27 April and saw Disraeli, ridden by Sam Loates start at odds of 100/8. Ninus went off the 100/30 favourite while the other twelve runners included Batt, Jeddah, Hawfinch (Dewhurst Plate) and Wildfowler. Disraeli settled behind the leaders before moving into third behind the 40/1 outsider Wantage and Ninus a furlong from the finish. He "put in some very strong work" to take the lead in the closing stages and won by {{frac|1|1|2}} lengths from Wantage, with Ninus a neck away in third place.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18980616.2.159|title=Racing in England|pages=37|date=16 June 1898|publisher=Otago Witness|via=Papers Past}}
At Epsom Racecourse on 25 May Disraeli, with Loates again in the saddle, started the 2/1 favourite for the Derby Stakes. He led the field in the early stages but dropped out of contention approaching the straight and finished tenth as Jeddah won from Batt, Dunlop and Dieudonne.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18980527.2.70.4|title=The Epsom Derby|date=27 May 1898|pages=8|publisher=Auckland Star|via=Papers Past}} According to press reports the colt failed to stay the distance and Loates was described as looking "a picture of misery" after the contest.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18980714.2.117|title=In a Nutshell|pages=37|date=14 July 1898|publisher=Otago Witness|via=Papers Past}} In the St Leger over {{frac|14|1|2}} furlongs at Doncaster Racecourse on 7 September Disraeli started at odds of 100/6 and finished unplaced behind Wildfowler.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18981019.2.14.5?end_date=31-10-1898&items_per_page=10&phrase=2&query=Wildfowler&sort_by=byDA&start_date=01-10-1898&type=ARTICLE|title=The St. Leger|publisher=Auckland Star|date=19 October 1898|via=Papers Past}}
In December 1898 Disraeli was put up for auction at Newmarket and bought for 850 guineas by a Mr Jones, acting on behalf of a group of French breeders.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18990126.2.159.11|title=Bloodstock Sales in England|publisher=Otago Witness|date=26 January 1899|page=56|via=Papers Past}}
Stud record
Disraeli was retired from racing to become a breeding stallion in France. He appears to have fathered very few foals and had no success as a sire of winners. Disraeli died in 1911 at the stud of the Marquis de Tracy.{{cite journal |last1=Staff |title=Etalons Anglais |journal=Stud Book Français |date=1912 |volume=16 |page=17}}
Pedigree
{{Pedigree
|name = Disraeli (GB), bay stallion, 1895
|inf =
|f = Galopin (GB)
1872
|m = Lady Yardley (GB)
1878
|ff = Vedette
1854
|fm = Flying Duchess
1853
|mf = Sterling
1868
|mm = Leda
1859
|fff = Voltigeur
|ffm = Mrs Ridgway
|fmf = The Flying Dutchman
|fmm = Merope
|mff = Oxford
|mfm = Whisper
|mmf = Weatherbit
|mmm = Wish
|ffff = Voltaire
|fffm = Martha Lynn
|ffmf = Birdcatcher (IRE)
|ffmm = Nan Darrell
|fmff =Bay Middleton
|fmfm = Barbelle
|fmmf = Voltaire
|fmmm = Juniper mare
|mfff = Birdcatcher (IRE)
|mffm = Honey Dear
|mfmf = Flatcatcher
|mfmm = Silence
|mmff = Flatcatcher
|mmfm = Miss Letty
|mmmf = Touchstone
|}}
- Disraeli was inbred 4 × 4 to Birdcatcher and Voltaire, meaning that both of these stallions appear twice in the fourth generation of his pedigree.