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I assume everyone knows of this, but I only found out yesterday so wanted to share it, just in case. I was at Calke Abbey, and was reading up on Squirt, who stood as a stallion there. He was suffering from laminitis, and his owner ordered that he be euthanized. However, a groom took pity on him, and he was given a stay of execution. He only lived for a few more weeks but, during that time he sired Marske, who in turn was sire to the great Eclipse. Was quite emotional standing in Squirts stable and thinking that the history of racehorse breeding in this country all but began there. One of those ‘what if’ moments.
What an interesting story Moehat. And, according to the link below, 80% of modern thoroughbred racehorses have Squirt somewhere in their pedigrees.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series4/racing_calke_abbey.shtml
I think you’ll find that Squirt appears millions of times in the pedigrees of all modern thoroughbreds, not just in 80%!
It’s also possible (if not accepted) that Eclipse was actually by Shakespeare, not Marske.
Given that Squirt had bad feet perhaps it might be best if that theory is correct [if Shakespeare had good feet, that is!!].
No Squirt, no Frankel.
Squirt merits a mention in Christopher McGrath’s excellent book Mr. Darley’s Arabian as he features in the direct male line of Frankel. McGrath tells how the groom, used to the owner’s angry decisions, bides his time before sending the horse to be slaughtered and fed to the hounds. And, true to his nature, the owner relented and the course of racing history took one of those little twists that meandered through history and finished (for now) with Sir Henry’s great modern day champion.
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