Renowned bloodstock writer Tony Morris with the 26th in his series celebrating 100 horses instrumental in shaping the Thoroughbred breed.
Pretty Polly, ch f, 1901, Gallinule – Admiration, by Saraband
Tattersalls’ 1899 December Sales catalogue included a large draft comprising the bloodstock interests of the recently deceased Classic-winning trainer Robert Peck.
Most of the mares and foals had unfashionable pedigrees, so few detained the auctioneer for long. Among the mares who spent little time in the ring was a 13-year-old named Gaze, who had run unplaced in her only start and whose record as a broodmare seemed to lack distinction.
She was swiftly knocked down for 7gns to ‘Mr Cash’ , the name traditionally given to any buyer at auction who wanted anonymity. The man concealing his identity in this instance swiftly tired of his acquisition, sending her back to Tattersalls a month later, registering a nominal profit with her sale for 15gns.
The latest buyer had no notion of breeding from her, intending to use her only as a hack, but she served that purpose only briefly, dying shortly after her purchase.
The mare had originally been called Lady Of Beauty, and there may well have been good reason for the change of name to the more mundane Gaze. Her career had been on a downward curve for several years by the time of her sale in the Peck dispersal, her recent produce having either failed to reach the racecourse or see much action.
But she had not always delivered unsound products. Her 1891 colt Montpensier, by one-time top-class 2-year-old Saraband, had won four races, notably dead-heating in a respectable handicap at Newmarket. And there was a full-sister named Admiration, foaled a year later, who had been bought by Eustace Loder, a young army officer, for 510gns as a yearling. What had become of her?
Admiration ran twice as a 2-year-old, optimistically engaged in the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood and the Great Sapling Plate at Sandown Park, valuable and well-contested races for the age group. Unquoted in the betting on the first occasion and a 25/1 longshot on the second, she finished far behind the principals on both occasions.
After one more race in England, as second in a Stockbridge handicap when in receipt of 28lb from the winner, her owner sensibly decided that she could be employed to better advantage in lesser company in Ireland.
Admiration began there with third place in an optional seller at Leopardstown, then was set an impossible task in a handicap at the Curragh, where she had to give weight to several older rivals. Her first success, at Baldoyle in September, came by a hard-fought short head against another 3-year-old, to whom she had to concede 21lb. Unplaced efforts at Cork and the Curragh completed her second campaign.
New career
All her races in Ireland at 3 had been over a mile, but at 4 she began as the unplaced favourite for a 6-furlong handicap at the Curragh, then won over that trip at Leopardstown. At Cork, she finished second in a 7-furlong seller before reverting to six furlongs at Baldoyle, where she ran third. Her first attempt at ten furlongs brought her a third place at the Curragh before another third in a one-mile Baldoyle handicap.
There were still three more races to come in her busy 4-year-old campaign. Unplaced over seven furlongs at Leopardstown and over a mile at Cork, she wound up dead-heating in a mile handicap at the Curragh, only to be soundly beaten in the run-off.
Admiration was given very different targets in what turned out to be vain attempts to make her a winner again as a 5-year-old. Back in England in February, she finished third in a maiden hurdle event over two miles at Sandown, then a modest sixth in a similar contest a week later at Hurst Park. She then returned to Ireland for her last two appearances, which came a week apart in April. On the flat, she was out of her depth in the 2-mile Queen’s Plate at the Curragh, then a respectable third of six as favourite for a 3-mile steeplechase at Punchestown.
She reportedly came back lame after that venture, but no matter. She was due to start a new career as a foundation mare at Loder’s 200-acre Eyrefield Lodge Stud close to the Curragh.
Admiration’s first mating was with Red Prince, who like her had competed on the flat and over jumps. The outcome was Frederick Charles, a colt – soon gelded – who ran three times unplaced as a 2-year-old. She then had two seasons with the more distinguished Laveno, hero of a Jockey Club Stakes, and winners resulted from both encounters. Aderno won twice in Ireland at 2 but died as a 3-year-old; that gelding’s sister Veneration was a winner as a juvenile and would become the dam of Craganour, the best of his year at 2 and 3, infamously robbed of his Derby victory.
Close neighbours
The stallion chosen for Admiration’s mating in 1900 was Gallinule, a son of Isonomy out of Moorhen, a mare whose performances on the flat and over jumps seemed inferior even to those of Admiration. She raced 24 times as a 3-year-old, collecting six wins, but the £120 she earned at Lincoln was her only reward above two figures. She was in training again from six to nine years, and Gallinule was her third foal, produced when she was 11.
Gallinule showed good form as a juvenile in 1886, with the valuable National Breeders’ Produce Stakes featuring among his three successes, but there were to be no more wins from three outings in 1887, seven in 1888, and three again in 1889. The decline was down to the fact that he had become both a roarer and a bleeder, making him an ineffective racehorse, and suggesting that he would find it hard to attract support as a stallion.
However, Henry Greer, who would later become Director of the National Stud, believed in Gallinule, bought him for £1,000, and marketed him effectively. Seven of the horse’s first crop won as 2-year-olds, which represented a fine start, and in 1898 he ranked second on the sires’ list, a feat that owed most to the victory in the St Leger of Greer’s home-bred colt Wildfowler.
Eustace Loder’s stud manager, Noble Johnson, and Greer were close neighbours and it was their friendship that led to the first of six liaisons involving Gallinule and Admiration.
Those matings resulted in four winners, including one smart colt in Admiral Hawke (1907), while among the fillies were Adula (1902), who won three of her seven races as a 3-year-old, among them a prestige event in the Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster, and Miranda (1905), who won a couple of minor races at Newmarket. But neither was ever in the same league as the eldest sister as a runner, and though both became celebrated broodmares, they were again outranked by Pretty Polly in their stud careers.
No indication of such ability
When Pretty Polly was a yearling she survived a scare during the breaking process. Having ditched her rider, she careered off along a narrow path flanked by a quarry 40 feet deep to one side and a high stone wall to the other. She did two laps of that course, and it was amazing that she came to no harm.
Loder’s English trainer, Peter Gilpin, having made the journey to Ireland to inspect the young stock at Eyrefield Lodge, returned home to his newly-built Clarehaven Stables in Newmarket entertaining no thought that Admiration’s first daughter by Gallinule was destined for greatness.
And, once in training, Pretty Polly was in no hurry to reveal her exceptional merit to his trainer. Gilpin saw no reason why Loder had made engagements for her in the 1904 Classics and even had qualms over asking her to make her debut in the valuable British Dominion 2-Y-0 race at Sandown, where her opponents included several colts who had run with considerable promise at Ascot.
Pretty Polly cantered to the start of that 5-furlong event an unknown quantity, fourth-best of the ten runners in the betting at 6/1. She cantered back an obvious champion in the making, winning by what the judge estimated as ten lengths and photographs suggested was more like 100 yards.
The filly had given no indication of such ability at home, but like many before and since, she was a different athlete in the racecourse environment.
Flawless season
Three weeks later she was back at Sandown to contest the National Breeders’ Produce Stakes, one of the richest races of the season for 2-year-olds. Favourite this time, as she would be in every race that came after, she won readily by two lengths, giving weight to nine of her ten rivals - as much as 16lb to each of the colts Flying Star and The Warrior, who featured second and third in the betting.
Pretty Polly’s third start, and second in July, came in the Mersey Stakes at Liverpool, where she had a single rival in the colt Navarre. She had to give him 11lb, but she was 33/1 on to accomplish the task and did so easily by a length and a half.
Things were different in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster, where she was opposed by St Amant, a colt recognised as the best of his sex. He had to give her 3lb and never looked likely to achieve that, coming home a modest third, three and a half lengths adrift of the filly.
Pretty Polly was given an easy task in the Autumn Breeders’ Foal Plate at Manchester. Held at 25/1 on against solitary rival Don Paez, she duly gave him 10lb and a sound beating. She was still evidently thriving on her racing, and Gilpin gave her four more targets for her first sesson in training, all of them at Newmarket.
On the Wednesday of the second October meeting she collected the fillies-only Cheveley Park Stakes, giving weight to all six rivals, and on the Friday she trounced St Amant, for a second time, in the Middle Park Stakes. She had two starts again at the Houghton meeting, last of the season at Headquarters. First she won what had been reduced to a match for the Criterion Stakes on the Tuesday, then easily passed her Wednesday task against three rivals in the Moulton Stakes.
After a flawless season of nine starts, Pretty Polly was obviously the best of her sex, and she was no less clearly best of her age group, having proved her superiority over St Amant, the leading juvenile colt.
Stamina in question
Some were already prepared to call Pretty Polly invincible, while her more realistic fans noted that all her races had been over sprint distances. Would she be able to dominate her generation at the distances over which a 3-year-old filly traditionally had to prove herself? Could she justify Loder’s decision to engage her in the 1000 Guineas, Oaks and St Leger?
Pretty Polly was not going to win the Guineas if she were just a sprinter. But, when that Classic was chosen for her first 3-year-old start, there seemed to be no reason to doubt her capacity for the distance. She started at 4/1 on and won by three lengths, setting a new course record for the mile.
The Oaks supposedly asked a more searching question of her. Could she cope with a mile and a half? The market had no doubts, sending her off at 100/8 on, and she did as expected, recording victory number 11 by three lengths.
Gilpin gave her the proper targets – after Epsom the Coronation Stakes at Ascot, then the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood. Those races brought two more wins, and tradition demanded that she should now head for the St Leger, with a view to making her a 3-time Classic winner. That turned out to deliver another easy win, so while she was stabled at Doncaster she might as well take in the Park Hill Stakes, run over the Leger distance two days later. That brought victory number 15.
When you have a filly who has won just about everything worth winning in England and she remains fit for further racing, where do you go? Eustace Loder chose to send Pretty Polly for the Prix du Conseil de Paris over a mile and a half at Longchamp.
Best shot
Everything that could go wrong with that venture did go wrong, beginning with the accident at Lingfield that determined that her regular jockey, Billy Lane, would never ride again. Pretty Polly had a troublesome sea crossing and on raceday was confronted by heavy ground, another new experience. The filly gave it her best shot in the circumstances, but eventually had to settle for second place behind Presto, a colt to whom she was trying to give 9lb.
Far from thinking that this was the moment to retire her, Loder and Gilpin determined to show that she was no worse for her cross-channel defeat. She turned out for the Free Handicap at Newmarket less than three weeks later to record the 16th victory from her 17 races.
Pretty Polly’s chief objective in her 4-year-old campaign was the Gold Cup, her connections confident that she would stay the testing two and a half miles of the historic Ascot event. Her season began in fine style, winning the Coronation Cup in dominant form, leaving Zinfandel three lengths in arrears while clocking a time for Epsom’s 12 furlongs that was not equalled until Mahmoud’s Derby in 1936.
Unfortunately, a week later the filly slipped and strained muscles in her quarters at the end of a gallop on Long Hill. That meant Ascot, and much else of the season, went by without her, but she came back triumphantly in the autumn, winning the Champion Stakes and Limekiln Stakes, each against a single opponent, then the Jockey Club Cup, in which she beat the 6-year-old Bachelor’s Button, who gave her 7lb, by half a length.
Team tactics
The last-named race was, at two and a quarter miles, the longest distance over which Pretty Polly had competed up to that point. But there was a longer one, the nation’s most important inter-age event, still missing from her cv, and Loder did not want to retire her until she had a Gold Cup victory in her record. He kept her in training at 5 with a view to that end.
The great American jockey Danny Maher had ridden Pretty Polly on three occasions and was aboard Bachelor’s Button in that Jockey Club Cup. He formed the impression that the great mare could be beaten in a strongly run race at an extreme distance, and looked forward to proving the point if and when the pair met again.
The mare’s fourth season opened with a smooth victory over ten furlongs in the March Stakes at Newmarket and was followed by a fluent second success in the Coronation Cup at Epsom. She started at 11/4 on for the Gold Cup, but Maher had persuaded Bachelor’s Button’s trainer, Charlie Peck, to send out stable companion St Denis to set a strong gallop and the team tactics earned a famous triumph. In her only defeat on home soil, Pretty Polly went under by a length to Bachelor’s Button.
Having begun her career as a precocious brilliant sprinter, she subsequently showed outstanding ability over a variety of other distances and was only narrowly beaten when tested at two and a half miles. It took a harsh judge to say she did not stay that trip, and for many on the day the result had much to do with the riding. Danny Maher was a far more accomplished jockey than Bernard Dillon, who had become Pretty Polly’s regular rider.
The mare’s last race, which brought her career tally to 22 wins and two second places from 24 starts, took place in June 1906. And when John Randall and I came to research and analyse the records of all the best racemares of the 1900s for our book A Century of Champions, we found none that we could place above her.
Pretty Polly was foaled two years after Sceptre, the only filly to have won four Classics outright, and herself a great public favourite. They never met in competition, but Newmarket racegoers on the first day of the Houghton meeting in 1903 were fortunate to see them both in action, Sceptre’s victory in the Limekiln Stakes preceding by half an hour that of Pretty Polly in the Criterion Stakes.
There were doubtless some fans who preferred Sceptre to Pretty Polly, but it is worth noting that, after the latter’s St Leger win, the former’s owner-trainer, Bob Sievier, declared his filly to be second-best. A Century of Champions rated Pretty Polly 2lb superior to Sceptre, the pair split by Sun Chariot, another multiple Classic heroine.
Pretty Polly suffered wretched luck in her early years at stud, and she was in her teens before she began to make a mark as a broodmare. She was in her 20s before her breeding record allowed a belief that she might achieve enduring success. But, by the time of her death, aged 30, in August 1931, she was recognised as a significant contributor to the breed, and since then her fame rose to such an extent that A Century of Champions celebrated her as the most influential broodmare of the 1900s.
Pretty Polly’s breeding record
1908 barren to Laven
1909 barren to Spearmint
1910 slipped twins by Spearmint
1911 b c Polygonum, by Spearmint
1912 ch c St Polycarp, by St Frusquin
1913 b c Chipilly, by Spearmint
1914 b f Molly Desmond, by Desmond
1915 ch f Dutch Mary, by William The Third
1916 b c Passchendaele, by Polymelus
1917 not covered in 1916
1918 ch f Polly Flinders, by Polymelus
1919 b c Clackmannan, by Lomond
1920 b c Tudor King, by Swynford
1921 barren to Lomond
1922 barren to Sunstar
1923 barren to Hapsburg
1924 b f Baby Polly, by Spearmint
1925 barren to Spearmint
Of the colts, Polygonum won one – a minor event at Wolverhampton – from nine starts and died as a 3-year-old; St Polycarp ran once unplaced and died at 2; Chipilly ran three times unplaced in England, but won twice after export to Australia; Passchendaele ran three times unplaced as a 2-year-old; Clackmannan showed respectable form towards the end of his first season, winning a quite valuable event at Doncaster and dead-heating for another at Windsor, but he turned out to be just a modest performer, sound enough to run 44 times from 2 to 7 and collect seven wins; Tudor King gave hints of promise, notably with three second places at three, but he descended into selling company and remained a maiden.
Of the fillies, Molly Desmond was the best of her sex in England as a 2-year-old, winning the Cheveley Park Stakes, finishing a close second in both the Middle Park Plate (to North Star) and the Criterion Stakes (in which she was trying to concede Gay Crusader 8lb), but her want of size and scope meant that she could not enhance her reputation at 3; Dutch Mary managed a couple of fourth places in England before being switched to Ireland, where she finished second as odds-on favourite for an optional selling race on the Curragh; Polly Flinders emulated Molly Desmond by winning a major 2-year-old contest, in her case the National Breeders’ Produce Stakes, but she could not build on that performance and never won again; Baby Polly was beaten only half a length in Kempton Park’s International Stakes, but that was easily the best of her five efforts at 2, and she did not reappear at 3.
One of a kind
All four of Pretty Polly’s daughters have featured as tail-female ancestress of celebrated runners. Dutch Mary was the first to make a mark on the international stage, through her great-grandson Donatello, an Italian Derby winner and important sire, and her branch of the family was to produce a Derby winner at Epsom in Psidium.
Baby Polly had fewer chances at stud, with only two effective daughters to represent her, but through one came Vaguely Noble’s sire Vienna, and Arc de Triomphe hero Carroll House descended from the other.
The Polly Flinders branch rose to prominence in the 1950s, when Supreme Court won the first running of the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Arctic Explorer scored in the Eclipse Stakes. Among later stars were crack sprinter Marwell and her daughter Marling, Gold Cup victor Paean and Oaks heroine Unite.
The descendants of Molly Desmond began to flourish famously in the 1940s, and their impact on racing and breeding has been renewed with every generation. Brigadier Gerard, the best horse bred in Britain in the 20th century, stands out, but there are a whole host of worthy performers, including Derby winners St Paddy and Workforce, important sires such as Nearctic, Great Nephew and Luthier, and top-ranking fillies like Flying Water, Shadayid and RussianRhythm.
Since the introduction of the European Pattern in 1971, there have been 290 individual winners of 528 Pattern races, including 133 in Group 1, descending in tail-female line from Pretty Polly. Her contribution to racing and breeding makes her one of a kind.