(This is the first of a three part series.)
He
was bred and owned by Christopher T. Chenery at his Meadow Stud, with the
leadership of the Thoroughbred operation eventually falling to the patriarch’s erudite
and charismatic daughter, Helen “Penny” Chenery Tweedy. Thanks to the colt’s success,
another horse in the barn would one day electrify the
sports world in the same blue and white checkered silks that his older
stablemate had already donned so proudly. But this story is not about a strikingly
handsome chestnut superhorse. It’s about a sweet, unremarkable looking, lop-eared bay, endeared by his owner, and who shared the
same name as two mountainous areas half a world apart.
PART
ONE: A PARTIAL GENEOLOGY
SIRELINE
The Meadow colt could trace his ancestry back 269
years to a Syrian bay colt, who was later acquired by Englishman Thomas Darley
and taken to England. The horse became known as the Darley Arabian, one of the
three Foundation Sires of the Thoroughbred breed. Going forward saw the emergence of a family rich in racing and breeding excellence. The colt's immediate five
generations included an inbreeding, 5sx5s, to Pharos (GB), an older champion in
England, and a son of the progenitor Phalaris (GB), the stallion responsible
for the most dominant male lines in modern day racing.
Nearco (ITY.)
Pharos was bred to Italian classics winner Nogara
(ITY.), and produced the bay colt Nearco in 1935. A powerful, dominating
racehorse, Nearco was undefeated Italian champion, at ages two and three, from
fourteen starts, including the Grand Prix de Paris and Derby Italiano. Nearco
was even better as a stallion, and became the sire and broodmare sire of
numerous major stars. Three sons discussed here are Nasrullah (GB), Nearctic
(CAN.), and Royal Charger (GB).
Nasrullah,
a bay colt, born in 1940, came first. Although at times recalcitrant, he was endowed
with the talent to become a two-year-old champion. A leading sire in England,
Nasrullah led the American list five times, producing more than ninety stakes
winners, including Nashua, the dual classic winner, three-year-old champion
male, and Horse of the Year in 1955, and Bold Ruler, 1957 Horse of the Year (Daily Racing Form), and the following
season, champion sprinter. Both Nashua
and Bold Ruler went on to highly successful stud careers. Among Nashua’s
progeny was daughter Shuvee, winner of the Filly Triple Crown, in addition to the
Jockey Club Gold Cup twice, and a champion handicap mare. Bold Ruler was the leading American sire during the century, heading the
list eight times, among his champions, Triple Crown king and two-time Horse of
the Year Secretariat.
Neartic
arrived fourteen years after Nasrullah, in 1954. Out of Lady Angela (GB) by
Hyperion (GB), the brown colt Nearctic inherited the aggressive disposition of
his sire. Already a champion at age two,
Nearctic later became Canada’s Horse of the Year in 1958. As a stallion, he sired dozens of stakes
winners but is undoubtedly remembered the most as the father of Northern Dancer
(CAN.), who in 1964 became the first Canadian to win the Kentucky Derby, and
first horse to run the 1 ¼ mile event in 2:00 flat. After adding the Preakness
Stakes to his list of conquests, and finishing third to Quadrangle in the
Belmont Stakes, the little colt returned to Canada and won the restricted 1 ¼
mile Queen’s Plate by more than seven lengths. He retired without ever being
unplaced, was named American three-year-old champion male, and Canada’s Horse
of the Year. Seeing his stud fee progressively rise, Northern Dancer became the
incomparable sire of sires, able to ultimately command as much as one million
dollars per breeding, with no guaranteed live foal. Upon his death in 1990, at
age twenty-nine, Northern Dancer’s legacy was assured for generations.
Royal
Charger
Another Nearco son was Royal Charger, born two years
after Nasrullah, in 1942. Royal Charger was a chestnut colt, out of the Solario
(GB) mare Sun Princess (GB). As a racehorse, Royal Charger won the Queen Anne
Stakes and Ayr Gold Cup. The stallion Royal Charger sired more than fifty
stakes winners, including Preakness winner Royal Orbit. Ten years later, through
Royal Charger’s daughter, Gay Hostess, grandson Majestic Prince, an extremely
beautiful chestnut colt, became the first runner to win the Kentucky Derby as
an undefeated horse, and followed up with a Preakness victory. Royal Charger
was also the father of Turn-to (IRE.), the latter becoming the sire of Hail to Reason,
a two-year-old champion, who went on to sire Epsom Derby winner, English/Irish
champion and top stallion Roberto. Another Hail to Reason son was Halo, the
sire of Sunday Silence, et al. Sunday Silence remains one of only two runners
to win the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic in the same campaign, in
route to Horse of the Year in 1989. Snubbed by American breeders, Sunday
Silence stood in Japan where he became one of the industry’s most successful
stallions.
In 1956, a bay foal, fathered by Turn-to, was born,
and given the name First Landing.
First
Landing
First Landing was
out of the bay mare Hildene. The dam was sired by the chestnut horse Bubbling
Over, who in 1926 won the Kentucky Derby. Hildene was named Broodmare of the
Year in 1950, when she saw another son, Chenery’s bay colt Hill Prince, by
Princequillo (GB), voted Horse of the Year.
First Landing began his race career on April 14,
1958. He finished second in a five furlong Maiden Special Weight at Jamaica,
but was elevated to first upon disqualification of the winner, Restless Wind.
First Landing followed his debut with six more successive wins, including the
six furlong Saratoga Special, and 6 ½ furlong Hopeful Stakes. After a
runner-up performance to Intentionally, in Belmont’s 6 ½ furlong Futurity, First Landing took the mile Champagne Stakes. He next
visited Garden State Park and won the last two races of his juvenile year, both
over 1 1/16 miles, an allowance, before defeating two promising runners
named Tomy Lee and Sword Dancer in the Garden State Stakes. Named two-year-old
champion, First Landing topped the list of incoming sophomores with 128 pounds on
the Experimental Free Handicap.
At age three, First Landing annexed Hialeah’s Everglades, and finished third in the Flamingo Stakes, both over 1 1/8 miles. His next two starts were at Jamaica, where he won a six furlong allowance, before being upset by the huge longshot
Manassa Mauler in the 1 1/8 mile Wood Memorial. First Landing then won a
division of the one mile Derby Trial and finished a credible third behind Tomy
Lee and eventual Horse of the Year Sword Dancer in the Run for the Roses of
1959. At ages four and five, he continued to win or place in other key stakes
including the 1 ¼ mile Santa Anita Maturity, 1 1/8 mile San Antonio Handicap,
Laurel Maturity, and Grey Lag contests, one mile Metropolitan Handicap, and 1 ¼
mile Suburban and Monmouth Handicaps. At retirement, First Landing had posted
thirty-seven starts, nineteen wins, nine seconds, two thirds, and earnings of
$779,577.
As a stallion, First Landing sired more than
twenty-five stakes winners, among them the chestnut colt, First Family, out of
the Princequillo mare Somethingroyal, and the bay colt Gladwin, out of
Dungaree, by Princequillo. First
Family, a half-brother to Secretariat, finished third in the 1965 Belmont
Stakes, and the following year won the 1 ¼ mile Gulfstream Park Handicap.
Gladwin won the Hawthorne Gold Cup in 1970, at age four, setting a new track
record of 1:58 4/5 for the ten furlongs.
******
The Meadow colt’s other inbreeding was 5sx5d to the
unraced Ultimus, a very worthy sire. The limited information found revealed a
very powerfully built chestnut horse, strong, and stout. Foaled in 1906,
Ultimus was sired by champion Commando, out of Running Stream, and was the
grandson through both his sire and dam to the wonderful, albeit ill-fated,
Domino. Through son High Time, Ultimus was the grandsire of the gelding
Sarazen, who was twice named Horse of the Year in the 1920s, and later inducted
into the Racing Hall of Fame. Competing for six years, Sarazen recorded
twenty-seven wins from fifty-five starts and eight other placings, earning a
quarter of a million dollars, after winning
from five furlongs to 1 ¼ miles.
DAMLINE
It appears that twenty-four generations back, the
Meadow colt’s earliest ancestor was the Tregonwells Natural Barb Mare, an
English Foundation Mare, making him a member of Family Number One. This mare’s
date of birth is uncertain and her parents are unknown, but it’s highly
possible she lived in the middle to latter 1600s. Crossing the vast expanses of
time, the most recent five generations are now explored.
Ultimus;
Humanity, Sweetheart, Warrior Lass
In addition to appearing in the Meadow colt’s
sireline, Ultimus was a fifth generation tail-female ancestor. One of the mares
he covered was a chestnut named Humanity, the fifth dam. Like Ultimus, she was
also unraced, and the couple produced what appears to be the only black-type
winner within the five immediate generations of the Meadow colt’s damline. The
foal was a chestnut filly, given the name Sweetheart, who was later bred to a
big red stallion. From that cover, came Warrior Lass, the third dam in the
geneology, and through her, the Meadow colt was a descendent of the immortal Man o’War,
Warrior Lass’s sire. Warrior Lass would later meet the brown horse Easton (FR.)
in the breeding shed.
Bayardo
(GB)
Bayardo was the fourth sire of the Meadow colt’s dam.
He was a tremendous racer whether sprinting or staying, and won twenty-two of twenty-five
starts, before becoming a stallion with lasting influence. Two of his most
prominent sons, Gay Crusader (GB) in 1917, and Gainsborough (GB) the following
year, won the English Triple Crown, consisting of the Two Thousand Guineas,
Derby, and St. Leger Stakes.
Gainsborough
Gainsborough was owned and bred by Lady James
Douglas. Foaled in 1915, the bay colt was out of the Epsom Oaks winner Rosedrop
(GB). Along with his classics sweep, he also won the Gold Cup, and later was exemplary as a stallion.
His son, Solario, although not a Triple winner himself, captured the St. Leger
in 1925, Ascot Gold Cup the following year, and added the Coronation Cup. Gainsborough's most illustrious son was overwhelmingly Hyperion.
Hyperion
Owned and bred by the 17th Earl of Derby,
out of the Chaucer (GB) stakes winning mare Selene (GB), the chestnut Hyperion
was immensely popular in his native England. A very small horse, like Selene,
both he and his dam were large in character, heart, and talent. And like Nearco, Hyperion was destined to
become one of the greatest Thoroughbreds of all time. A horse who was curious about birds and airplanes, Hyperion won the
Epsom Derby in record time, added the St. Leger, and was named European
champion. He later led his country’s sire list six times, broodmare list four,
and had worldwide impact comparable to Nearco. Hyperion also sired Kentucky
Derby winner Pensive, and through daughter Hydroplane II (GB), was the
broodmare sire of legend Citation.
Hyperion also covered the dark bay/brown mare Drift
(GB), their offspring a bay colt, foaled in 1936, named Heliopolis (GB).
HeliopolisA horse with good stamina, Heliopolis won the Prince of Wales and Princess of Wales Stakes and finished third in the Epsom Derby. As a stallion, he sired more than fifty stakes winners and twice led the American sire list.
One of the mares Heliopolis covered was a daughter of Warrior Lass and black-type winner Easton. The offspring was a bay filly named War East, a winner in twelve starts. War East was later bred to Heliopolis and their offspring was a chestnut mare named Iberia.
Iberia
Iberia was foaled in February 1954, and had modest
success on the track from eleven starts, before becoming a leading broodmare. One
of her sons, the chestnut colt Hydrologist, by Tatan (ARG.), was a
multiple stakes winner or placed in fifty starts. Iberia had four breedings with First
Landing, the first producing a chestnut colt in 1962 named Shushan, a winner
from fourteen starts. Another chestnut male, Potomac, came along three years
later, and became a stakes winner. In 1973, their fourth foal, a bay colt given the name Little Riva, arrived. As a four-year-old, Little Riva finished third in the seven
furlong Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita, at the time a grade 2 race, and broken up
into two divisions.
The
Third Foal
The expansive Apennine (Appennino) Mountains of Italy run
through the entire country and into Sicily. On February 18, 1945, along its northern
range, a strategic area leading to the heavily German fortified Mount Belvedere was captured by the United States
Army’s 10th Mountain Division, 86th Mountain Infantry Regiment. This area was called Riva Ridge, a name shared with a place in Colorado, proximal to a ski resort.
On April 13, 1969, the third foal of First
Landing and Iberia was born at Arthur B. “Bull” Hancock’s Claiborne Farm, in Paris,
Kentucky. Twenty-six months later, the two-year-old stepped into the starting
gate at Belmont Park to make his career debut against nine other juveniles. When
the dust had settled, the Meadow Stable bay colt, Riva Ridge, finished seventh,
sixteen lengths behind the winner.
To
be continued…
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Copyright 2012 by John Califano
