Saturday, June 30, 2007

Sir Gallahad and my girls!!

My girls are related to the handsome, sweet Sir Gallahad. A.B. Hancock fell in love with him and worked very hard to purchase him. Finally, his English owner stated an astronomical sum, so Hancock got three of his other friends, William Woodward, R.A. Fairbairn, and Marshall Field, to form a syndicate, probably the first stallion syndicate in America! And so the handsome stallion came to live at Claiborne Farm! It was a good idea because as the Blood Horse publication, Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments says of him, he "displayed the breed's most desirable traits: size and scope; a muscular, well-built body; intelligent eyes; a kind expression; and a quiet manner. He liked nothing better than to have his tongue pulled and to receive an affectionate pat." He was so loveable and sweet that Hancock said, "Gallahad has given me more pleasure than any horse I ever was connected with." His dad was Teddyand his mom was Plucky Liege. She was almost kidnapped by the Germans during WWII, but they passed her up because she looked downtrodden and starved...poor thing!! Anyway, in Sir Gallahad's very first foal crop, he produced the Triple Crown winning Gallant Fox. The gentlemen in the syndicate felt so lucky that they ordered another stud from England, Blenheim (also a relation of my girls), and right away in his first foal crop, he had theTriple Crown winning Whirlaway! Can you believe how lucky those guys were!!! Anyway, Sir Gallahad topped the leading sire list 4 times in his life, and was a North American broodmare sire leader 12 times, including 10 times consecutively!! You can read more about Sir Gallahad at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Gallahad_III

or

http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/SirGallahad.html