Etienne L. de Mestre

Etienne Livingstone de Mestre (9 April 1832 - 22 October 1916) was an outstanding 19th century Australian trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses who won the first two Melbourne Cups with his horse Archer in 1861 and 1862, and later trained a further three winners (Tim Whiffler, Chester and Calamia) to set a training record for Melbourne Cup winners which lasted for 99 years before it was broken by Bart Cummings in 1977.

Etienne was born in Sydney in 1832, the third son of Prosper de Mestre, a merchant, and Mary Ann Black. From an early age he was considered to be an excellent horseman, and during the 1850s he established a horse stud, stable and racecourse at Terara near the mouth of the Shoalhaven River.

His local prowess as a trainer was significantly boosted by winning the inaugural Melboune Cup in 1861 with his horse Archer. He returned to Melbourne in 1862 to again win the race with Archer. His plans to run Archer in 1863 were upset when the Victoria Turf Club scratched the horse and declared that de Mestre's telegraph of acceptance for the Cup had arrived late. Following this debacle, De Mestre swore that he would never again race in Victoria. But he did. In 1867 he returned to win the Cup with Tim Whiffler

On 27 December 1873, aged 41, Etienne de Mestre married Clara Eliza Rowe at St Matthias's Church, Paddington. They had ten children. The youngest son, Roy De Maistre, was a successful artist who lived the later part of his life in Great Britain where he formed a friendship with novelist Patrick White.

In 1876 de Mestre's entry in the Melbourne Cup, Robin Hood, and seven other horses were lost at sea when the "S.S. City Of Melbourne" was struck by a severe storm off the coast at Jervis Bay. [ [http://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/c85916e930b93d50ca256d050020cb1f/5c93760bfe3136aaca256d3300057ecd?OpenDocument EMA Disasters Database - Jervis Bay, NSW: Shipwreck in Gale] ] De Mestre won two more Melbourne Cups with Chester in 1877 and Calamia the following year.

De Mestre encountered many financial and health problems in the early 1880s and in 1883 the property at Terara was auctioned to pay off his debts.

He died at Moss Vale on 22 October 1916 and was buried in the Church of England cemetery at Bong Bong, New South Wales.

External links

* [http://www.racingmuseum.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=65&Itemid=187 Australian Racing Museum - E de Mestre]
* cite news
author=
title=Melbourne Cup: Six of the best
date=2003-10-30
work=BBC News
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/3224585.stm
accessdate=2008-08-08

References

[http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040045b.htm Australian Dictionary of Biography - de Mestre, Etienne Livingstone]