History: Bylong Wingarra

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1916

28 December 1916
A GREAT STUD.
VISIT TO WINGARRA.
I have often heard old hands describe in interesting fashion, good season feed in the Bylong and Widden Valleys in the early light stocking days, but if these favoured localities ever showed a more bountiful spread than at present, it must have been difficult to get through it (writes 'Milroy' in the "Mail"). Mr Alfred Thompson was born at Widden, and doubtless knows every stone and hole on it, but in the long rich grass on parts of the run whither he drove me it was impossible to see, and we flopped into holes and over stones with the sulky till I lost count, but can recall five very narrow shaves of turning over altogether. It is the same at Bylong which I visited first, having left the train at Rylstone, where Mr. Herbert Thompson met me with a racing motor as big as a battleship, which left the 30 miles between that little limestone town and Wingarra behind with express train rapidity. Here Mr. Cyril Thompson is in full charge. When I was last there the late Lieutenant Harold Thompson shared the labour of management with him. The manner of Harold's death in France was related to me. It appears he was shot through the stomach and was successfully operated upon; a great surgeon regarded his recovery as certain, but a couple of days later he took a bad turn and died. Harold Thompson had great faith in Aryan, whom he purchased on behalf of the firm for this stud, in South Australia, and the good opinion he expressed to me more than once looks like coming good for Aryan's stock, both at Wingarra and Oakleigh, are top class to look at. If he fills the place left vacant by Ayr Laddie, whom he was bought to succeed, the owners will, indeed, be fortunate Aryan is a half-brother to St. Alywne, and is by Ayr Laddie's sire, Ayrshire, consequently he is a full brother to Airs and Graces, a famous English Oaks winner, who gained high stud renown in France by producing Jardy, a, phenomenal racehorse, and now a sire of great value in the Argentine. Aryan served in South Australia under cramped conditions, and his chances were few, but he has sired a goodly number of winners.
The biggest surprise that I experienced at Wingarra was the extraordinary development of Cooltrim, whom Mr. Herbert Thompson secured when he was about four years old. Cooltrim is now in his ninth year, and is as big as a Clydesdale, and is a tremendous horse with his mares. He is remarkably short on the leg for a horse of his size, and for a son of a Gallinule mare. His crest is wonderful, and can be described in the same terms as the late Bruce Lowe used in the description of Musket. Cooltrim, of course, is by the great Flying Fox, and is a great-great-grandson of Sonsie Queen, the dam of Eridspord, another big one, Royal Artillery is an entirely different type, a type, in fact, which the late Mr. De Mestre described as "purely Marchioness," his famous ancestress who was imported to Australia by Mr. Hurtle Fisher. Aryan is a true Ayrshire, with a square rump, and the forward pitch plainly evident, but not so marked as it was in Ayr Laddie. The king of the stud, Charlemagne II., is a magnificent horse, one of the Han Brion sort, over whom one could linger all day. He is domiciled at Torrie Lodge, which is now a part of Wingarra, and a couple of miles from Cyril Thompson's residence. As readers of these pages know, Charlemagne II was a great success in New Zealand as a sire, and at the sale of Mr. J. B. Reid's stud, the three Thompson boys gave 2300 guineas for him. He came to Australia at the same time as his daughter Carlita, who was then a foal. Carlita, I may add, holds the Australian record for winnings among mares, having, by her recent performances, passed the figure held for so long by Wakeful. An addition to the Wingarra stud is Halbred, who was selected in England for Tom Payten by H. Wootton. Halbred is a beautiful bay horse, with magnificent loins and quarters, and he is well pitched all round. He is a very well-bred fellow by William the Third (2) out of Britannia (2), and is related on the dam's side to Carbine and Simmer, Britannia being by Melton from Britta, by Paradox from Eva, by Breadalbane from Imperatrix, by Orlando from, Eulogy, the third dam of Carbine, and three-parts sister to the third dam of Simmer.
There are about 4500 acres in Wingarra and Torrie Lodge, which is more than enough for the 200 mares running on the place, and many bullocks are fattened and marketed during the year. The Thompsons have put some of it under lucerne, which is so great a success that, in all probability, they will have very flat piece on the place sown with that splendid fodder before they are through. A bit away east from Wingarra over a high ridge is a part of Bylong Creek, which local enthusiasts insist is quite as productive for lucerne as the Lower Hunter. There is a large number of visiting mares on the place just now to the stallions, and there is a big average of foals among both stud-owned mares and visitors. There was only one left to foal when 1 was there. That fine Grafton mare, Lady Rylstone, a Champagne Stakes and Oaks winner, has no foal to rear, having lost it. She has palled in with Majesty, a strapping fine mare, whom the late James Thompson - father of the present proprietors - purchased at the break-up of the late W. R. Wilson's St. Albans stud. She is a sister to Majestic; therefore a three-parts sisters to Mountain King and Co. Majesty has the best foal in her paddock, an exceptional, fine brown colt by Aryan. In this enclosure is Quietest, a fine Grafton mare out of a near relation to the dam of Radnor; consequently she belongs to the same family as Wakeful. She runs pals with her sister, Lethargy, who has a lovely square-quartered bay colt by Charlemagne II., and nearby is Devotion, a Widden mare, with a good colt by Varco. Another visitor, Sweet Adeline, has a very racing like Charlemagne colt, and Consistence, a favourite mare in the stud, and a neat little lady, owns a colt by Royal Artillery, who very much favours her sire.
One of the best foals I saw in another paddock was a colt by Charlemagne II. out of a splendid mare, Silver, dam of that flying machine Silver Lad. Silver is by Grafton from Silverhair, whose dam was a sister to Goldsborough; therefore, she is a rare bred one. Grayton Lassie, by Grafton from Little Gladys, by Lochiel, has an udder like a cow, and her strength of milk is reflected by her magnificent black Cooltrim colt, and Debutante, a fine, mare by Malster, is rearing a charming Charlemagne colt. Levana, a half-sister to Jolly Beggar, is doing well by a grand white faced colt by Fortafix: and Flavour has a lively filly by Royal Artillery worth dwelling, over. Flavour was one of the first sired by Flavus, and was rather good on the turf. Heartfell's dam, Lightheart, is notable for the perfection of her stock, and her reputation still holds good with a lovely Ayran filly; who is a three-parts sister to Heartfell. That good mare, Either, a fine daughter of Grafton and a sister to Quietest, owns a model Charlemagne filly; and Venoma (13) by Royal Artillery from Venonique, by Grafton from the before mentioned Silverhair, is doing well by a corking good Aryan filly. Lady Ayr, a sister to Jolly Beggar, is rearing a smart-looking, clean-cut, racing-like Charlemagne colt, and a good bred one, inasmuch as his sire is by St. Simon (11) from Perfect Dream (8), and his dam, Lady Ayr (8), is by Ayr Laddie (3), son of Ayrshire (8); then comes Musket (3), through Trenton, the sire, of Lady Granville, who is the granddam of Dewey, and was by Chandos (1), by Lady Chester (imp.).
Carlita's half-sister, Kilmeadon, who did well on the Sydney turf, is here on a visit, and looks well. Brightly (5), a sister to Britain, has a good colt by Aryan (5), and big-boned, lengthy, Lin acre colt. Teasing, a Lochiel mare, and one of Lady Granville's descendants, is rearing a commanding, long-reaching, racing sort - a Cooltrim colt; and Affinity, another Lochiel, and a member of the Adeline family, can show an exceptional colt by Aryan. Ayrshire Maid, one of Harold Thompson's own property, had a good Cool trim filly. Passing into another paddock, we came across Sylvanite's dam Gold Dust, enjoying the noon shade of a thickly foliaged tree. This famous mare is in her 22nd year, but she looks a long way under that, and is palpably in foal, to English time, to Charlemagne II. Florence Blanche, by Grafton, is the mother of a grand colt by Halbred, whom the youngster very much favours; and Endear, a fine Malster mare, belonging to Mr. A. E. Thompson, of Widden, has a lovely colt by Charlemagne, and the same can be said of Finality's colt by that horse.
Which is the best foal in any stud is a subject that invariably creates much argument among the residents, from the boss down to the cook; but it is fairly well agreed at Wingarra that the best youngster on the place is a bay colt by Charlemagne II. from Carna (8), by Ayr Laddie (3) from More Graft, by Grafton (3), a grand daughter of Roodee (8), a brother to Chester. This colt is a corker, and would have gladdened the heart of his sole owner, Lieutenant Harold Thompson. Satura, a well-bred daughter of Grafton, has a splendid chestnut colt by Halbred, and has palled in with our old friend Roseen, a Malster mare from Princess Ena, by Grafton, belonging to Mr. T. V. Dangar. Roseen is on a visit to Charlemagne II. Mr. Cyril Thompson does not know for certain whether Risky's foal belongs to her. She foaled alright, and Roseen produced a youngster just about the same time. A dead foal was found in the paddock, and a foal that looked suspiciously like the other mare's was suckling Risky, who may have stolen it, as mares occasionally do. In this paddock we saw two fine colt foals, one by Cooltrim out of Intended, and the other by Royal Artillery from Arly, and Cagou' dam. Tartar, showed us a splendid, big, bay colt by Charlemagne II. Mr. Jessen's Ayr Laddie mare, Highland Fling, has produced a very fine colt to Cooltrim, and that smart performer, Lady Denham, by Malster out of Lady Rylstone, by Grafton, has a good Linnere colt and Dimension, by Positano from Symmetry, has a grand filly by Cooltrim, and perhaps, the best by that horse on the place is an attractive dark chestnut filly out of Firebrand, the grand-dam of Cagou1 .

2011

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