Foundation Mare
Article by Lindsay Ferguson
BLACK BESS - FM HSH
ASH Reg: 370
Black Bess – we recall, was the mare that carried the English highwayman
Dick Turpin, 300 km overnight from London to York in the 1730s. Dick was a
character in history and was hung for his crimes, but Black Bess we believe
was fictional – as was her feat of that impossibly fast ride. In contrast, BLACK
BESS - FM HSH is real and her feat of producing quality progeny is genuine.
T
his chapter of our breed’s history
again comes from the heartland of
the early horses of the breed - the
north east of New South Wales.
Like a number of others, she owes her
status as a Foundation Mare to the progeny
she had by the breed’s most dominant
Foundation Sire, ABBEY - FS HSH. Of her
four progeny, three became sires which
have resulted in her 505 descendants.
Unfortunately little is known now of the
background of this mare. Ross Clarke, who
managed the property ‘Comara’ for Theo
and Bonnie Hill at this time, recalls her as
a ‘lightly built thoroughbred mare – black in
colour and standing about 15.2 hands high.
Theo’s father had bought her and she was
one on which Theo had played polo’. She
had a “knocked-down” hip, a feature by
which she was known, but it didn’t seem to
inhibit her ability to be ridden or to breed.
She was at Comara for a while but was
moved with the other horses to the Hill’s
property ‘Karapiti’ at Quirindi, New South
Wales in about 1972 and remained there.
BLACK BESS - FM HSH seems to be
a typical station horse of the day, being
by a thoroughbred sire out of a station
mare – in this case an “Unknown Dam”.
She has good thoroughbred breeding
going back on her sire’s side, being by
the unraced bay colt Bronzone, born in
1931. He was out of the unraced bay mare
Golden Molly (AUS 1916), who was by The
Syberite (GB) out of Molly Mars. Going back
three generations she has St Simon and
Musket (x2) on that side of her pedigree.
Bronzone’s sire was the racehorse
BLACK BESS - FM HSH
Colour: Black
Height: 15.2hh
PROFILE:
JOHNSTONS
DARK SECRET - FS HSH
Lifespan:
24yrs (1953-1977
approx)
Colourunknown
Breeder:
Brown
Quirindi, NSW
Height
Performance:
Broodmare 15.1 hh
Progeny:
4 registered progeny,
the(1955
most– notable
Lifespan
20 years
1975)
being the stallion COMARA WHIPLASH - HSH.
Breeder
Unknown
Sire
Performance
Lightly campdrafted
38 registered progeny, the most notablechaucer
being the 02
mares
honan 02
CHEX, VICKIS FLIGHT and the stallion STARLIGHT
STUD
ANCHOR
the tylt 01
bronzone 02 - WH
Progeny
- HSH.
golden molly 01
+ plus 3 generation pedigree to be included.
Dam
+ MAP OF Australia with dotunknown
on Casino.sire
END.
unknown dam
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
unknown dam
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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AU S T R A L I A N S TOC K HOR S E JOU R N A L
unknown sire
unknown dam
unknown sire
unknown dam
unknown sire
unknown dam
Honan (GB 1921), who won the 11-furlong
Newcastle Cup in 1929. In recent years this
race, now a 2300m Group 3, has proven
to be a barometer for the Melbourne Cup.
In 1977 the Newcastle Cup was won by
the champion Hyperno (NZ), who went
on to win the 1979 Melbourne Cup. In
1982, Gurner’s Lane (NZ) won both Cups
in the same year. In 2011 the Newcastle
Cup was won by Green Moon (IRE) – the
2012 Melbourne Cup winner. The Gai
Waterhouse-trained, Glencadam Gold
(IRE) won it this year, but only ran sixth
in the Melbourne Cup at Flemington.
Honan’s success was no fluke. His
sire, Chaucer (GB 1900) won the 6-furlong
Gimcrack Stakes in Ireland in 1902 – a
race won in 2001 by today’s Group 1
international champion and quality sire,
The Rock of Gibraltar. Chaucer sired 10
stakes winners for 21 stakes wins. Five of
these horses raced in Australia, including
Lavendo, winner of six principal races in
Victoria including the Caulfield Cup in 1915.
Chaucer’s sire was St Simon (GB 1881),
who won England’s Ascot Gold Cup and
the Goodwood Cup. As a sire St Simon
achieved 36 stakes winners for 65 stakes
wins. A modern-day Australian comparison
is perhaps Todman, whose record is 34
for 65, or Canny Lad at 48 for 87.
BLACK BESS - FM HSH had four
colt foals, three of them by ABBEY
- FS HSH, and not surprisingly all
of them were black in colour.
The first foal was born in 1969 and
registered as ABBEYS PRIDE - HSH. He
has sired 32 registered progeny. When
first broken-in he was used by a friend of
Theo Hill’s, Mick Crean, who used him to
work the Hill’s cattle fattening property,
‘Bungay’ just out of Wingham, New South
Wales. On Mick’s death, the horse was
inherited by his mate Trevor Blanch and
his wife Mary, of Wingham. Trevor, who
later became an Australian Bushmen’s
1
3
2
1. Tony Montgomery with LONE STAR - HSH (ABBEY - FS HSH/
BLACK BESS - FM HSH) at the 1979 Ipswich Sponsored Sale,
where the stallion was sold to Vince Klein for $3,000.
2. Kathy Core on INDRA KATH - HSH (COMARA WHIPLASH
- HSH/INDRA KAY - HSH) at the ACA Novice campdraft
final at Hughenden, Queensland in 1999.
3. COMARA WHIPLASH - HSH (ABBEY - FS HSH/BLACK BESS
- FM HSH), black stallion with 106 registered progeny.
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17
Kathy Core on the mare CORE CATTLE CO STYLE (COMARA WHIPLASH - HSH/
PINE HILLS MARTINI) at the ACA National Finals in Springsure, Queensland.
Campdraft and Rodeo Association (ABCRA)
judge in the 1970s and 1980s, campdrafted
the horse and reached 13 Open finals,
but never managed to clinch one.
Trevor recalls that he was about 15.3
hands in height. ‘He was a very handy
horse, with a ton of pace due to his dam
being a blood horse. He deserved to get
better results than he did. I could put
different “jockeys” on him when I wasn’t
riding him myself’, said Trevor. Using the
Wherrol Stud prefix, Trevor also bred with
him to produce eight registered foals.
‘When I retired I sold him, after owning him
a good many years’, Trevor explained.
Allan and Jane Vaughan of Aljay Stud at
Dingo, near Rockhampton in Queensland,
then bought the stallion. Allan was an
early member of the Australian Campdraft
Association (ACA), and he and his family
are currently very active in Queensland
polocrosse on their homebred horses.
‘We purchased him at the age of 21,
sight unseen, after seeing an advertisement
in the Queensland Country Life newspaper.
We were not disappointed,’ Allan explained.
‘We had always been keen on the ABBEY
- FS HSH bloodlines, having used sires by
him. I have hunted down and bought this line
of horse right up and down the east coast.
I liked the bloodline because they were all
horses “that would watch the cattle while you
are dreaming”. ABBEYS PRIDE - HSH was
a good walker, up-front and alert with good
cattle sense. He was a good sire for us and
we wish we had collected semen from him as
we would still be using it today’, said Allan.
He and the other ABBEY - FS HSH
horses were the foundation for their Al
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AU S T R A L I A N S TOC K HOR S E JOU R N A L
Jay Stud, where they have produced
some good performing stock horses. Of
the ABBEYS PRIDE - HSH progeny, AL
JAY PRINCESS has played polocrosse for
Queensland and in the 2007 World Cup.
The mare AL JAY COURTESY OF ABBEY
played in the 2006 Australian Polocrosse
Championships in Sydney, and her full
sister AL JAY ELLA BACHE played in the
2012 World Cup at Warwick. Two of these
mares have produced two foals each, one
with a colt by CHEVIN IVORY - HSH.
The second colt foal out of BLACK
BESS - FM HSH followed in 1971 and
was registered as COMARA WHIPLASH
- HSH. This horse also passed through a
few hands, with his last owner being Kathy
Core of ‘Corntop’ at Alpha in Queensland.
Tracing back to the horse’s early days, we
find that he was sold as a yearling at the
first Tamworth ASH Sale in 1972 to Robert
Bruyn of Currabubula in New South Wales.
Robert explained that he was looking for
a sire and purchased him as ‘I liked the
breed – and I liked the horse too. He cost
me $3,700, which was enough then to
buy a brand new Ford or Holden and still
have a lot of change left over’, he said.
He was broken-in as a two year old but
not used much. He was very good in the yard
but had only campdrafted a few times when
Robert asked Clem Barnett to ride him. Clem
said, ‘I only rode him the once but placed
fourth in the Maiden draft at Murrurundi out
of about 250 competitors. He was a rangy
sort of horse – a COMARA TOPLINE - IS
HSH type, who produced some good foals’.
Under Dan Germon he won a campdraft and
also won some Stallion campdrafts. Ridden
by Casey Turner, he won many Juvenile
campdrafts. Due to work commitments,
Robert sold the horse at about nine years
of age. This decision was hastened by the
need to get rid of him as he would continually
chase the first-calf heifers in his paddock.
The next owners of COMARA WHIPLASH
- HSH were Tony and Jane Sherrin from
‘The Manors’, Attunga in New South Wales.
As members of the Northern Branch, they
won many Led, Hack and Working events
and numerous campdrafts with him. Jane
comments, ’We bred many good horses
and sold them privately and at sales like
Dalby’. Jane still has with her now a 30
year old black gelding by him ridden by
the grandchildren. ‘Like all the others he
was versatile. He won Champion Hack and
Working events, did pony club and played
polocrosse’, she said. From time to time he
also stood at Ross Scutt’s property ‘Indra’,
where he sired 15 horses for them.
When the Sherrins had bred a colt of
their own by JOSHUA - HSH (by Dimray
- WH), they decided to sell the stallion,
with Kathy Core becoming aware of him
through an advertisement in the Australian
Stock Horse Journal in 1988. She paid
$3,000 for him and describes him as, ‘a
thoroughbred type; jet black, about 16.1
hands, with no white markings. He had
a short back, a good front and a lot of
presence. He was a lovely old horse – really
Top: ABBEYS PRIDE - HSH (ABBEY - FS HSH/
BLACK BESS - FM HSH), owned by Allan
Vaughan of Aljay Stud in Dingo, Queensland.
Bottom: BRAEVIEW COOL CHANGE (Abbey Jack/
BONBRAE ORANA), owned by Dan and Jenny
Redgen of Braeview Stud in Warwick, Queensland.
good.’ Kathy also found that the only downside was that he couldn’t
be left in with cattle or he would work them of his own accord.
Kathy bred with him and got a lot of outside mares, as he
was the only ABBEY - FS HSH horse in that part of Queensland
at the time. Kathy said, ‘He produced horsemen’s horses with
cattle sense and good conformation. They were especially good
when used for contract mustering – a purpose to which we often
put them. He produced 30 foals in all for the Core Cattle Co. and
had some really good foals out of our Australian Stock Horse
mares. CORE CATTLE CO STYLE ran second at the ACA National
Finals. Another good mare we bought from the Scutts, INDRA
KATH - HSH, (known as Selena) won Led classes and was placed
four or five years in a row at Warwick’, she said. His breeding
at Corntop was done successfully, despite having had a testicle
surgically removed. He died in 2000 of old age, at the age of 29.
COMARA WHIPLASH - HSH produced 106 registered horses.
Mrs Willcox bred the colt TALOONA VALLEY ROUSEABOUT in 1988
that sired 10 progeny, and the Pownalls bred the colt SKYVILLE
TRASH in 1994 that sired 26 progeny. The campdrafting progeny
of COMARA WHIPLASH - HSH include HUNTERSLEA NAVADA,
that came seventh in the 1990 Warwick Gold Cup, and STEWARTS
DANNIELLE, that was fourth in the 1995 Canning Downs and sixth
in the 2003 Chinchilla Grandfather Clock campdraft. He was also
grandsire to two good campdrafters; STEWARTS FENIQUE, winner
of the Chinchilla Grandfather Clock in 2003, and STEWARTS
DANNILEE that placed in the 2006 Rocky Open campdraft.
The third black colt foal out of BLACK BESS - FM HSH, by
ABBEY – FS HSH and born in 1973, was registered as LONE STAR
- HSH. Dan Redgen of Braeview Stud in Warwick, Queensland is
a keen student of campdraft horse breeding. His family has been
part of the story of this stallion through breeding mares to him. Dan
explained that Tony Montgomery from Garah in New South Wales
purchased him as a yearling from Comara. Tony sold him on, as the
colt never stopped growing and he thought that he would end up too
big. He reportedly regretted the decision to sell after the success of
the progeny. Tony said that all the horses that he bred by the stallion
won Open campdrafts, with some being multiple winners. He was
sold at the 1979 Ipswich sponsored ASH sale to Vincent Klein for the
top price of $3,000. The Kleins had the property ‘Lalvin Valley’ at
Maleny, Queensland, which was not far from Dan Redgen’s parents,
so over the years the Redgens had a number of progeny by LONE
STAR - HSH. Dan’s memory of the horse is that he was, ‘a 16hh,
gun-barrelled, classic thoroughbred type with a long swan neck and
a quality ABBEY - FS HSH type face.’ This bloodline was new to the
district and was popular, despite paddock service being the only
option offered. Unfortunately he broke a leg and was put down at
a relatively young age. Most of his progeny were not registered and
were used to work the hills and mountains of the Blackhall Range.
Of his nine registered progeny, his best performed was a
gelding owned by Noel Williams. This horse, CWMTEG MONTY,
came second in the Canning Downs campdraft in 1991 ridden
by Tim Williams. Dan recalls that one of the stand-out mares his
father bred by him was BON BRAE EDL WEISS - HSH. An injury
limited her to mustering duties, after which Dan took her on as
a broodmare to successfully produce 11 foals. He kept two of
these and sold the others, some into northern Queensland where
they liked a taller horse. ‘Many of them have gone on to place in
campdrafts and win at shows and challenge events’, said Dan. A
number of these mares have now bred into the next generation.
In 1987 the Kleins bred an unregistered colt called Abbey
Jack, who had a short but successful campdraft career with Wally
Ferriday from Connondale, Queensland. He sired Abigail, winner
of the ACA Maiden/Progressive Horse of the Year in 1988/89
for the South East Queensland Zone. He also sired the Redgen’s
BRAEVIEW COOL CHANGE, a black colt that has produced 50
foals and was successfully campdrafted by Dan and also by
Danny Griffiths. Dan comments that, ‘there could have not been
an easier, more trustworthy stallion – a real gent. He was a very
people oriented horse and threw progeny just like it. He sired
campdraft winners and show champions to Royal level’, said Dan.
The fourth foal out of BLACK BESS - FM HSH was a brown
gelding named RUNNING BEAR, who was by the Comara
stallion Tomahawk. He ended up with Ross Clarke and won a
few campdrafts before being sold to Robert Cant of Kempsey.
As you would expect, the rise of the success and influence
of ABBEY - FS HSH and his progeny in the 1960s and 1970s,
led to considerable discussion amongst horsemen of the day
BON BRAE EDL WEISS - HSH (LONE STAR - HSH/Peachalina II) in 1995.
about their favourite bloodlines. The supporters of the older
bloodlines had to defend their position against the sweeping
success of ABBEY - FS HSH on the campdrafting circuit.
One such discussion was held at the Murrurundi campdraft in
about 1977. After his fourth place in the large Maiden campdraft
with COMARA WHIPLASH - HSH, Clem Barnett recalls that he was
heading back to his truck and came across Ross Clarke surrounded
by a small group of men in earnest discussion. Clem stopped in the
background to hear the debate. Someone was rubbishing ABBEY - FS
HSH, whom Ross Clarke was staunchly defending. The conversation
went something like this: ‘OK’, said Ross, ‘Tell me one of his progeny
that hasn’t done any good’. The reply came, ‘Well that horse of Robert
Bruyn’s hasn’t done any good’. At this point, Clem stepped forward
to set the record straight about his very recent placing, which this
group of men had missed, while engrossed in their debate. ‘Well
then,’ Ross continued, ‘Tell me another that has done no good’.
Another round was won by ABBEY - FS HSH and his supporters.
This mare is an example of the very significant influence of a
few of the Foundation Sires of the breed. In this case it was ABBEY
- FS HSH, who now has close to 40,000 registered descendants.
As an average station mare and polo pony, there was no reason for
her owners to believe that this mare was to be Foundation Mare
material. Nevertheless, the combination of this Foundation mare
and Foundation stallion produced three colts that performed well
themselves and whose progeny were successful and well-regarded.
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