Leamington (horse)

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Leamington


caption = Leamington from "Wallace's Monthly Magazine" July 1877
sire = Faugh-a-Ballagh
dam = Pantaloon Mare
damsire = Pantaloon
sex = Stallion
foaled = 1853
country = Great Britain flagicon|UK
colour = Dark brown
breeder = Mr. Halford
owner = Mr. Higgins
trainer =
record =
earnings =
race = Woodcote Stakes (1855)
Chesterfield Stakes (1855)
Stewards' Cup (1856)
Goodwood Stakes (1857)
Chester Cup (1857 & 1859)
awards= Leading sire in North America
(1875, 1877, 1879, 1881)
honours =
updated= February 4, 2007

Leamington (1853-1878) was a great Thoroughbred racehorse, best known as the most influential sire in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Bred by Mr. Halford, Leamington had excellent conformation. He was not only a fast horse, but also showed great staying ability. Halford began racing him at age two, and then sold the to a Mr. Higgins. Leamington won the Woodcote Stakes at Warwick and the Chesterfield Stakes, before being retired for the year.

As a three-year-old, it was planned to run the colt in the Epsom Derby, but he contracted strangles, and this affected his whole three-year-old season. However, his owners and trainers appeared to have planned his losses to help keep his handicap weight down. After losing four small races carrying little weight, he won the Wolverhampton, before his losing several more. He was then "allowed" to win the Stewards' Cup carrying only 98 lb (44 kg).

His four-year-old career began with the 2.25 mile Chester Cup. Leamington only carried 93 lb (42 kg), due to his poor reputation gained as a three-year-old, and he easily won the race. The colt then came fourth at the Ascot Gold. He went on to the Goodwood Stakes, carrying only 118 lb (53.5 kg) with odds of 100 to 3, and easily won the race by a length. His owners won quite a bit of money from wagering on him that day, after their longshot with 100 to 3 odds beat out a field of 19. However, his win earned him top weight of 131 lb (59 kg) at his next race, the Chesterfield Cup, and he could not hold out.

Leamington ran once at the age of five. He carried 130 lb (59 kg), as the handicapper realized how the horse's owners had been manipulating his races. The weight was too much to take, and Leamington could not hold out here either. He had a successful start to his six-year-old career, however, winning the Chester Cup easily against a tough field. He finished second in his next race, the Queen's Gold Vase at Ascot, but his final race of the season, the Goodwood Cup, left him with an injury to his right foreleg.

He began training in 1860 as a seven-year-old for The Whip Stakes, a strenuous four-mile race. He broke down while preparing, and was retired to begin his breeding at Rawcliffe Paddocks.

The breeding career of Leamington

Leamington sired 19 winners of 42 races while at Radwliffe. He was then purchased by the Canadian Roderick W. Cameron for £1,575, and stood at General Abe Buford's Bonita Stud, in Kentucky, for the 1866 season. He bred only thirteen mares, but produced an outstanding crop of foals, including Longfellow, Enquirer, Lyttleton, Lynchberg, Anna Mace, and Miss Alice.

Cameron then sent the stallion to his own Clifton Stud on Staten Island. He was then moved to New Jersey in 1868, before being shipped to Annieswood Farm in 1871. His offspring were now noted for their fantastic speed, including the famous colt, Aristides, the winner of the first Kentucky Derby.

Leamington was sold to Aristides Welch, who stood the stallion at his Erdenheim Stud, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Leamington finished out his life here, dying on May 6, 1878 at the age of 25. During his breeding career, he was the leading sire in America four times, including beating out the great horse Lexington in 1875 for the first time in 16 years. He also earned this title in 1877, 1879, and 1881.

Leamington sired:
* Longfellow: a great sire himself
* Iroquois: the first American horse to win the Epsom Derby
* Aristides: winner of the first Kentucky Derby in 1875
* Parole: one of the three greatest runners in the 1870s
* Lyttleton
*Knight of Ellerslie : won the 1884 Preakness Stakes; sired U.S. Racing Hall of Fame colt Henry of Navarre.

References

* [http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Leamington.html Profile of Leamington at Thoroughbred Heritage]
* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/leamington Leamington's pedigree and partial racing stats]