Wool Winder
{{Short description|British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse}}
{{Infobox racehorse
| horsename = Wool Winder
| image_name = Wool Winder.jpg
| caption =
| sire = Martagon
| grandsire = Bend Or
| dam = St. Windeline
| damsire = St. Simon
| sex = Stallion
| foaled = 5 April 1904
| country = United Kingdom
| colour = Bay
| breeder = Ned Baird
| owner = 1) Edward W. Baird (1904–1909)
2) Austrian Government (1909–1928)
| trainer = Harry Thomas Enoch
| record =
| earnings = £10,800
| race = St. Leger Stakes (1907)
Sussex Stakes (1907)
Dee Stakes (1907)
| awards =
| honours =
| updated=
}}
Wool Winder (5 April 1904–28 November 1928), also known as Woolwinder, was a British-bred and raced Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1907 St. Leger Stakes. Wool Winder excelled as a three-year-old but suffered from health problems in his later career, running rarely in 1908 and 1909. Sold and exported to Austria-Hungary in 1909, he became a successful sire of winners in the 1910s and 1920s before his death of an intestinal infection in 1928.
Background
Foaled on 5 April 1904{{cite book|last=Fairfax-Blakeborough|first=John|title=Northern Turf History, Volume 3|year=1948|publisher=J. A. Allen|location=London|page=429}} at the stud of his breeder Edward William David Baird at Exning,{{cite book|last=The Sporting Life|title=The British turf and the men who have made it|year=1906|publisher=Biographical Press|location=London|page=90|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KghPAAAAYAAJ&q=%22st%20windeline%22&pg=RA1-PA90}} Wool Winder was sired by Martagon, winner of the 1892 Ascot Gold Vase and Goodwood Cup.{{cite book|last=Dawkins|first=George Henry|title=Present Day Sires and the Figure System|year=1897|publisher=Horace Cox|location=London|page=90|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O3DSAAAAMAAJ&q=martagon%20horse&pg=PA90}} Martagon was owned by Edward Baird's brother, Douglas Baird. Wool Winder was the first foal of his dam, St. Windeline,{{cite journal|last=Staff|title=St. Windeline|journal=The General Stud Book|year=1909|volume=21|page=720|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLROAAAAYAAJ&q=%22wool%20winder%22%20baird&pg=PA720|access-date=4 March 2013}} who was second to Sceptre in the 1,000 Guineas. St. Windeline was an ill-tempered mare that was prone to kick, notably injuring Theodore Andrea Cook and losing a shoe before running in the Oaks.{{cite book|last=Cook|first=Theodore Andrea|title=The Sunlit Hours|year=1926|publisher=George H. Doran Co|location=New York|pages=207–211}} She also produced Shepherd King, a full-brother to Wool Winder, that was second to Sasanof in the Melbourne Cup and became a successful sire in Australia.{{cite news|last=Staff|title=Sires of the season|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9uxUAAAAIBAJ&pg=7037,164799&dq=woolwinder+martagon&hl=en|access-date=9 September 2013|newspaper=Sydney Mail|date=2 July 1918}}
Wool Winder was a large bay colt with black points and a small white star that was described as "beautifully-actioned". He was trained at Newmarket by Harry Thomas Enoch.{{cite news|last=Staff|title=The English Derby|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9924674|access-date=7 September 2013|newspaper=The Mercury|date=7 June 1907}}{{cite web|last=Staff|title=Wool Winder|url=http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=1273|publisher=The National Horseracing Museum|access-date=7 September 2013}}
Racing career
=1906: two-year-old season=
Wool Winder ran twice in 1906. He was a late developer and was not entered in a race until the July meeting at Newmarket. Running in the Fulbourne Stakes, he was second to Prince of Orange. Wool Winder won the Alington Plate at the Newmarket Second October meeting, easily beating Hill Sprite by two lengths.{{cite journal|last=Watson|first=Alfred E. T.|title=The colours: XXI Colonel E.W. Baird|journal=The Badminton Magazine of Sports and Pastimes|year=1911|volume=33|page=246|hdl=2027/njp.32101063608861?urlappend=%3Bseq=258|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101063608861?urlappend=%3Bseq=258|access-date=24 May 2013}}
=1907: three-year-old season=
In April Wool Winder won the Castle Plate, a one and a quarter mile race run at Warwick.{{cite news|last=Staff|title=The turf|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5065320?searchTerm=%22wool%20winder%22%20martagon%20&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc|access-date=26 May 2013|newspaper=The Advertiser|date=16 May 1907}} Ridden by Otto Madden, Wool Winder was second in the Derby on 5 June to Orby by two lengths, beating third-place finisher Slieve Gallion by half a length.{{cite news|last=Staff|title=The English Derby|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89729051|access-date=7 September 2013|newspaper=Bendigo Advertiser|date=7 July 1907}} The colt had not been in contention until the last quarter mile but then made rapid progress in the closing stages:{{cite news|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19070720.2.72.3&srpos=36&e=01-01-1907-31-12-1907--10--31----0%22Woolwinder%22-- |title=Derby Favourite's Downfall |publisher=Auckland Star |date=20 July 1907 |access-date=2013-09-09}} he was considered an unlucky loser, with Madden being criticised for giving him too much ground to make up.{{cite book | last1 = Mortimer|first1=Roger |last2=Onslow|first2=Richard|last3=Willett|first3=Peter|title=Biographical Encyclopedia of British Flat Racing|publisher=Macdonald and Jane’s|page=668 |year=1978|isbn=0-354-08536-0}}{{cite news|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ODT19070801.2.126&srpos=5&e=01-01-1907-31-12-1907--10--1----0%22Woolwinder%22+Madden-- |title=Sporting and sports |author=Sentinel |publisher=Otago Daily Times |date=1 August 1907 |access-date=2013-09-09}} On 15 June he won the Duchess of York Plate at Hurst Park and on 20 June won the 44th New Biennial Stakes. At Lingfield, Wool Winder emulated his dam by winning the £1,675 Lingfield Park Plate by beating the 1906 St. Leger winner Troutbeck, followed closely by a win in the Sussex Stakes. On 15 August, he won the City of London's Breeders' Foal Stakes, for which St. Windeline walked-over in 1902, at 100 to 15 odds.
On 11 September, Wool Winder won the St. Leger Stakes. He was the betting favourite at 11 to 10 and was uncontested for most of the running, crossing the finish by six lengths over Baltinglass, Acclaim and Larig. Wool Winder ran eight times in 1907 and won £10,556 for Baird.{{cite journal|last=Watson|first=Alfred E. T.|title=The colours: XXI Colonel E.W. Baird|journal=The Badminton Magazine of Sports and Pastimes|year=1911|volume=33|page=248|hdl=2027/njp.32101063608861?urlappend=%3Bseq=260|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101063608861?urlappend=%3Bseq=260|access-date=24 May 2013}}
=1908: four-year-old season=
Heralded as a top prospect for the coming season, Wool Winder was unplaced to the colt Succor in his first outing at the Newmarket March Stakes.{{cite news|last=Pakeha|title=Sporting|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38191256|access-date=8 September 2013|newspaper=Examiner|date=17 June 1908}} Baird attributed the loss to the high {{convert|140|lb|kg}} weight Wool Winder carried in the running, {{convert|7|lb|kg}} more than Succor.{{cite news|last=Staff|title=Newmarket Meeting, Thursday.|newspaper=The Times|date=May 8, 1908|page=17|issue=38641}} Approached by representatives of the Hungarian government stud in March, Baird refused to sell Wool Winder for £32,000.{{cite news|last=Staff|title=Turf Topics|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZFL19080307.2.16|access-date=9 September 2013|newspaper=Free Lance|date=7 March 1908}} Wool Winder's form suffered late in the season, and his training was stopped for most of the season in the hopes his health and condition would improve for the Ascot Gold Cup.{{cite news|last=Staff|title=The Epsom Summer Meeting, Tuesday.|newspaper=The Times|date=June 3, 1908|page=19|issue=38663}} He was ultimately withdrawn from all of his engagements for the entire racing season due to health and soundness issues, his unsuccessful run in the March Stakes his only outing for the year. In November, Baird offered to sell Wool Winder to the Hungarian government for £25,000, but the offer was refused.{{cite news|last=Staff|title=Sporting Intelligence|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OSWCC19081110.2.3|access-date=9 September 2013|newspaper=Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle|date=10 November 1908}}
=1909: five-year-old season=
In April at Newmarket, Wool Winder lost by a head to Lafayette in the one and a quarter-mile March Stakes.{{cite news|title=Racing. The Newmarket Meeting, Thursday.|newspaper=The Times|date=April 30, 1909|page=24|issue=38947}} He
finished sixth and last in the Coronation Cup won by J. B. Joel{{'s}} colt Dean Swift, dropping sharply out of the running shortly after the start.{{cite news|last=Staff|title=Racing.|newspaper=The Times|date=May 28, 1909|page=18|issue=38971}} Wool Winder was retired from racing in July 1909 and was sold to the Austrian government stud for an estimated 15,000 guineas{{cite news|last=Staff|title=In a nutshell|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW19090908.2.273&e=-------10--1----0--|access-date=26 May 2013|newspaper=Otago Witness|date=8 September 1909}} (500,000 crowns).{{cite journal|last=von Flaum|first=Fritz|title=Napajedl's Deckhengste (in German)|journal=Österreichische Wochenschrift für Tierheilkunde|date=February 1911|volume=36|page=54|hdl=2027/coo.31924053152058?urlappend=%3Bseq=104|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924053152058?urlappend=%3Bseq=104|access-date=26 May 2013}}
Stud career
Wool Winder stood at Aristides Baltazzi's Napajedla Stud in Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) alongside Matchbox and Wombwell. Wool Winder was the leading sire in Austria in 1916{{cite news|last=Beacon|title=Stud notes|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90862769|access-date=8 September 2013|newspaper=Leader|date=28 July 1917}} and 1928. He died on 28 November 1928 at 24 years at the Kottingbrunn Stud after contracting an intestinal infection.{{cite journal|last=Staff|journal=The Bloodstock Breeder's Review|year=1928|volume=17|page=380}} Considered a success during his lifetime, few of his sons became breeding stallions and his sire line is not prominent in modern times.
Pedigree
{{Pedigree
|name = Wool Winder (GB), Bay Horse, 1904{{cite web|last=Staff|title=Wool Winder 5x Pedigree|publisher=Equineline|url=http://www.equineline.com/Free-5X-Pedigree.cfm?page_state=ORDER_AND_CONFIRM&reference_number=1529882®istry=T&horse_name==Woolwinder%20%28GB%29&dam_name==St.%20Windeline%20%28GB%29&foaling_year=1904&nicking_stats_indicator=Y}}
|inf =
|f = Martagon (GB)
Bay, 1887
|m = St. Windeline (GB)
Bay, 1899
|ff = Bend Or
1877
|fm = Tiger Lily
1875
|mf = St. Simon
1881
|mm = Queen of the Spring
1890
|fff = Doncaster
|ffm = Rouge Rose
|fmf = Macaroni
|fmm = Polly Agnes
|mff = Galopin
|mfm = St. Angela
|mmf = Springfield
|mmm = Queen of the Hills
|ffff = Stockwell
|fffm = Marigold
|ffmf = Thormanby
|ffmm = Ellen Horne
|fmff = Sweetmeat
|fmfm = Jocose
|fmmf = The Cure
|fmmm = Miss Agnes
|mfff = Vedette
|mffm = Flying Duchess
|mfmf = King Tom
|mfmm = Adeline
|mmff = St. Albans
|mmfm = Viridis
|mmmf = Exminster
|mmmm = Queen of the May (Family 4)
}}