Herod Blood.
During the last few years there has been a great deal written on this subject. It has been put forward that the necessity exists in England for the resuscitation of the male line of Herod; that this blood is gradually declining in prominence not only in England but in all other countries where thoroughbreds exist; and that, if breeders do not tackle the question seriously, the probability will be that Herod in the male line will become extinct.
Now, although it is an undoubted fact that the male line of Herod is gradually being pushed on one side by the descendants of Eclipse, it does not seem that that fact alone is a sufficient argument in favour of an attempt to reinstate the blood in the position which it once held. It is a curious fact that although the male line of Herod is slowly dying out, while the male line of Eclipse is becoming so prominent, yet that if the pedigree of any horse of the present day be carefully examined it will be found that the blood of Herod predominates in the most marked degree. For instance, the pedigree of St. Simon contains ninety-one crosses of Eclipse, and no less than one hundred and forty-six of Herod, and there is not a single thoroughbred horse living to-day which does not possess a greater number of Herod crosses than of Eclipse. And this is true not only of the horses of to-day but of the horses of one hundred years ago.
Yet, in spite of this, the male line of Eclipse since the year 1800 has been successful in seventy Derbies as compared with twenty-five won by representatives of the Herod male line. In the Oaks sixty-two winners are sired by direct male descendants of Eclipse, while only twenty-eight can be claimed by Herod during the same period. Nor is the superiority confined to the winners of these races themselves. If we take the pedigree of the dams of Derby winners we find that the dams in fifty-five instances are got by Eclipse horses, and in only thirty-six cases by Herod horses. Putting the same test to Oaks winners, we find fifty-nine of them got by Eclipse horses and thirty-five by Herod horses.
| Derbies | Oaks | St. Legers | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Simon (E) | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| Sir Peter (H), 1784 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| Stockwell (E), 1849 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 |
| Highflyer (H), 1774 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Melbourne (M), 1834 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| Waxy (E), 1790 | 4 | 3 | – | 7 |
| Touchstone (E), 1831 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Isonomy (E), 1875 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Pot-8-os (E), 1773 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Sorcerer (M), 1796 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Birdcatcher (E), 1836 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| King Tom (E), 1851 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Lord Clifden (E), 1860 | – | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Eclipse, 1764 | 3 | 1 | – | 4 |
| Herod, 1758 | – | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Florizel (H) | 2 | – | 2 | 4 |
| Whalebone (E), 1807 | 3 | 1 | – | 4 |
| Adventurer (E), 1869 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Buccaneer (H), 1859 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Emilius (E), 1820 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Hermit (E), 1864 | 2 | 2 | – | 4 |
| Hampton (E), 1872 | 3 | 1 | – | 4 |
| Scud (E), 1804 | 2 | 1 | – | 3 |
| Bay Middleton (H), 1833 | 2 | – | 1 | 3 |
| Justice (H), 1774 | 2 | 1 | – | 3 |
| Tramp (E), 1810 | 2 | – | 1 | 3 |
| Phantom (H), 1808 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Orville (E), 1799 | 2 | – | 1 | 3 |
| Newminster (E), 1848 | 2 | 1 | – | 3 |
| Whiskey (E), 1789 | 1 | 2 | – | 3 |
| Selim (H), 1802 | 1 | 2 | – | 3 |
| Velocipede (E), 1825 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Muley (E), 1810 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Sultan (H), 1816 | 1 | 2 | – | 3 |
| Volunteer (E), 1780 | 1 | 2 | – | 3 |
| Blair Athol (E), 1861 | 1 | – | 2 | 3 |
| Voltaire (E), 1826 | 1 | – | 2 | 3 |
| Sweetmeat (H), 1842 | 1 | 2 | – | 3 |
| Barcaldine (M), 1878 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Woful (E), 1809 | – | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| King Fergus (E), 1775 | – | – | 3 | 3 |
| Priam (E), 1827 | – | 3 | – | 3 |
| Beninghough (E), 1791 | – | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Petrarch (E), 1873 | – | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Macaroni (H), 1860 | – | 3 | – | 3 |
| Gallinule (E), 1884 | – | 1 | 2 | 3 |
The above table shows a list of the horses that have sired three or more classic winners, i.e., Derby, Oaks, and St. Leger. The letters E, H, and M after a horse’s name denotes whether it is of (E) Eclipse, (H) Herod, or (M) Matchem descent in the male line.
This list, which covers a period from the birth of Herod to the present day, contains forty-six names, of which thirty-one are male descendants of Eclipse, and only twelve of Herod.
The following horses have headed the list of winning stallions since 1850:—
Epirus (H), Orlando (E), Birdcatcher (E), Melbourne (M), Touchstone (E), Newminster (E), Stockwell (E), Buccaneer (H), Thormanby (H), King Tom (E), Blair Athol (E), Adventurer (E), Lord Clifden (E), Speculum (E), Flageolet (E), Hermit (E), Hampton (E), Galopin (E), St. Simon (E), Kendal (E), Orme (E), Persimmon (E), St. Frusquin (E), Gallinule (E).
From this it will be gathered that Herod horses have headed the list in three years, Matchem one year, while Eclipse horses monopolise all the other years.
So we now have the following facts, that although Eclipse horses have won the Derby, Leger, and Oaks nearly twice as often as Herod horses, and have sired the dams of the winners of these races in about the same proportion, and have further headed the list of winning sires almost without break for the last fifty years, yet in the pedigree of every one of these Eclipse horses mentioned above the name of Herod occurs oftener than that of Eclipse.
Now, surely it is very significant that although all our thoroughbred horses of the present day possess more crosses of Herod blood than Eclipse blood, yet the Herod male line is being slowly and surely pushed out by the Eclipse male line. One might almost regard it as a logical consequence that the extra crosses of Herod should give the Herod male line an increased strength and prepotency, but, as a fact, we find the exact opposite to this is the case.
A few illustrations taken from contemporaneous sires will best explain the force of this. For instance, let us take Whalebone and Phantom, winners of the Derby in consecutive years, 1807 and 1808. Whalebone, a direct descendant of Eclipse in tail male, contained one cross only of Eclipse and two crosses of Herod. Phantom, a descendant of Herod in the male line, contained four crosses of Herod and two of Eclipse. Phantom to-day has very few tail male representatives at the stud, while Whalebone is represented by the whole of the Newminster and Stockwell line, backed up by the Isonomy line in later days. A comparison between Birdcatcher and his nearest Herod contemporary, Bay Middleton, works out with much the same result. Birdcatcher’s pedigree contains four crosses of Eclipse and nine crosses of Herod; Bay Middleton six of Eclipse and thirteen of Herod. Yet we have to go to France to find any prominent representatives of the Bay Middleton male line; while two Birdcatcher horses (Isinglass and Gallinule) are top of the list of winning sires to-day.
All these facts would seem to go to prove that in spite of the preponderance of Herod blood in our horses, in spite of the occasional prominence of individual members of the Herod male line, there is some natural force which is always working to place the Eclipse male line on top. It is quite evident that the male line of Eclipse cannot be “swamped,” and that the blood gets stronger and stronger the older it grows.
Many contemporary writers on the history of thoroughbred horses have commented on this ascendancy of the Eclipse male line, and some have attempted to account for it by ascribing it to chance and fashion. Mr. W. Allison, in his interesting book, “The British Thoroughbred,” devotes a whole chapter to the subject, and is quite satisfied that the “great success of Eclipse is due to Sir Hercules, Camel, and fashion.” He also points out the necessity which seems to exist of reviving the blood. But just how this revival is to be effected is what is puzzling, and always will puzzle, breeders.
Perhaps the most feasible explanation of why the Herod blood in the male line is dying out, and why the Eclipse male line is so preponderant, can be found in a close analysis of the pedigrees of the two horses, and by comparing the results with the conditions which prevail among horses in their natural state. It will then be found that the dying-out of the Herod line is more a working out of the laws of Nature than anything else, and is probably beyond human control.
Let us first take the pedigree of a wild horse, and see how he is made up. It may seem an anomaly to talk of the pedigree of a wild horse, but every animal has a pedigree if we could but trace it. The horse in a state of Nature is a gregarious animal, living in herds or groups, each group having its premier stallion, who is literally “lord of the harem.” A stallion remains at the head of his group until he gets too old to be effective, and he is then driven away by one of the younger stallions, probably one of his own sons. In a wild state the mare breeds young, dropping her foal when about three years old. A wild stallion will probably remain vigorous and capable of holding his own until ten or twelve years old. He will then probably be breeding with his own daughters and possibly granddaughters. When he is ousted and his son reigns in his stead, he in his turn will be cohabiting with his sisters, aunts, and cousins, until eventually you have the whole herd very much in-bred. In fact, the wild horse is a very much more in-bred animal than the tame horse, and Nature evidently intends the horse to be an in-bred animal.
Now let us take the pedigrees of Herod and Eclipse, and analyse them. Without going too deeply into detail, which might be bewildering to those unskilled in pedigree lore, it will be sufficient to state broadly that Herod is a cross-bred or out-bred horse; while Eclipse is an in-bred one. We have to go back six generations in Herod’s pedigree before we get the same name occurring twice, as that of Spanker, and the same name occurs in the seventh and eighth generations. Herod, therefore, has four crosses of Spanker, and no other instances of in-breeding. Eclipse, on the other hand, has crosses of Hautboy at his fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth removes—nine of them in all—while he also possesses seven crosses of Spanker.
A curious point about the pedigrees of both Herod and Eclipse is that this same Spanker blood has been handed down to us through only one channel, and that by the incestuous mating of Spanker and his dam. The produce of this mare was the grand-dam of Betty Leedes, who in her turn was the dam of the two Childers. This piece of incestuous breeding seems to have been the rock on which the British thoroughbred was built, for it will be found, on examining all the old pedigrees, that their strength lies in their in-breeding to the two Childers (the No. 6 family).
We have already seen that the wild horse is incestuously in-bred, and we know that, of Herod and Eclipse, the latter was the more incestuously in-bred of the two. Does it not seem, then, a simple working out of the laws of Nature that the Eclipse male line should be more prepotent than the Herod male line, bearing as it does, though artificially produced, a closer resemblance to the breeding of the horse in a state of Nature?
The fact that Herod’s name occurs more often than that of Eclipse in modern pedigrees would seem to go to strengthen this theory, for the Herod blood is more diluted, so to speak, than that of Eclipse, and seems unable to resist the concentrated force of the more incestuously in-bred Eclipse line.
S. C. Burke.