The potential brood mare, Admiration was hardly a painting to look at. Her sagging quarters, bent hocks and mediocre breeding, hardly made for a compelling reason to part with the 510 guineas burning a hole in Major Eustace Loder's pocket. By today's standard, the sum is but small change in the thoroughbred game, but in 1893 it represented quite a sum to invest in a yearling that looked at best, a second rate piece of horse flesh. But the good major liked what he saw and was happy with the purchase. On the track, she was nothing to write home about, but as a stud proposition, she turned out to be a gold mine. In her stud career, Admiration threw nine winners, she was every breeder's dream. But her main claim to fame would come from another direction, it would come from one of her offspring. For there was to be one among them that would go on to carve herself a fearsome reputation on the turf. The memories of her heroic deeds filter down to us through the mists of time, and with those legendary feats comes the name, Pretty Polly. Her sire Gallinule was a magnificent looking animal, from an unfashionable line, who couldn't quite match his physical presence, with results on the track. He did however manage to win the National Breederâs Produce Stakes as a two year old, but went down hill from that point on, winning just two more races. He finished his career as a roarer and bleeder. He did however prove to be an altogether different proposition when it came to stud duties. He sired a number of classic winners and went on the head the British Sires List in 1904. So Pretty Polly was hardly bred in the purple, but as so often happens in life, diamonds can sometimes be found among dross. Major Loder hit the mother lode. First glimpse came when one morning when Pretty Polly, as she was often want to do, took charge of her rider. The unraced two year old, with a heavyweight worker in the saddle, took it upon herself to pit her wares against a seasoned stablemate. Spotting the older horse a stone and a half, she took the fought to him and more than held her own. A race date was set. A two year old event at Sandown saw the filly make her debut. She jumped straight to the front and ran the opposition ragged, winning by a panel of fencing. Three weeks later, she was back at Sandown for the National Breeder's Stakes, a race Pretty Polly annexed without much ado. After beating a single adversary in the Mersey Stakes at Liverpool, she was sent to Doncaster for the Champagne Stakes, where she ran into her main protagonist, St. Amant, a colt destined for great deeds himself. Try as he might, St. Amant was no match for the filly, finishing third, as she took her unbeaten run to four. Next up, again against a single opponent, she strolled away with the Autumn Breeder's Foal Stakes at Manchester. After then winning the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket against fillies, Pretty Polly faced her stiffest test to date. Just a couple of days later, looking to extend her run of wins to seven, she took on the colts in the Middle Park Plate. St. Amant again showed up to do battle, with him came Lancashire, the winner of the Imperial Produce Plate. Polly was more than just pretty that day, she was scintillating. First out and first home. She scored two more easy wins to finish her two year old career, unbeaten in nine races. At three, Pretty Polly faced the 1000 Guineas with a huge question mark against her. It was doubted that the flying filly would have the stamina to endure the travails the straight mile at Newmarket. Polly knew nothing of these doubts. She won with her head on her chest in record time. Despite the win, Major Loder was filled with self loathing. Heâd not entered the filly in the Epsom Derby. He could have given himself a right old kicking, as St. Amant would go on to win both the 2000 Guineas and the Derby. With the Oaks field dropping away in abject fear, it was left to Pretty Polly to canter the course against just three opponents. Win again. Toying with both the Coronation and Nassau Stakes, Pretty Polly faced the starter a hot favourite for the St Leger. Again she made short work of the field, with the Guineas and Derby winner St Amant failing to fill a place. So well did she run, that Major Loder had no hesitation in sending the filly around in the Hill Park Stakes two days later. Another easy win. After fifteen unbeaten runs, it was decided that Prix du Conseil Municipal in France was to be targeted. For reasons hotly debated, Pretty Polly couldn't pick up the despised outsider who had made the pace, she finished second. Her trainer Peter Gilpin was at odds with her rider Danny Maher about the ride. He thought she was badly ridden, Maher said that she just wasnât a true stayer. A point he would labour upon in the future. She came home to a single race win and then was turned out for a spell. After a prolonged break, Pretty Polly stepped out at Epsom in the Coronation Cup. She was back with a vengeance. Not only did she win as she pleased, she beat the Derby time by five seconds. The second horse would go on to win the Ascot Gold Cup, a race Pretty Polly was to contest. But a slip in the way to the start caused a strain on her hind quarters. She didn't run. Later in the year Pretty Polly scored twice more before lining up in the Jockey Club Cup over 18 furlongs. Danny Maher was no longer her rider, he was aboard the stout stayer Bachelor's Button, A multiple group winner. Polly proved too strong for Bachelor's Button in the drive for the line. Maher was not pleased. He stated that if the pace had been genuine, the filly would have been beaten. After the win, it was announced that the filly would be spelled, then return for three more races, the March Stakes, Coronation Cup and the Ascot Gold Cup. The March Stakes was a no brainer. The Coronation Cup drew but three runners. Pretty Polly won from St Amant and the three year old Achilles, who had just beaten Bachelor's Button in the Burwell Plate. She was now set for her much anticipated finale, the Ascot Gold Cup. There were only five starter in the Cup, Pretty Polly, Bachelor's Button, Cicero, Achilles and the Prince Of Wales Stakes winner St. Denis, the pace maker for Bachelor's Button. A field shallow in numbers, but deep in quality. As expected St. Denis want off at a decent clip. He led from Achilles and Cicero, with the two big guns biding their time at the rear. By the time the field had reached the last six furlongs, St. Denis was a spent force. Achilles inherited the van, but only for a half mile or so. At the two furlong pole, both Pretty Polly and Bachelor's Button with Maher aboard, swamped Achilles. Dillon then sent the filly for home, but she didn't have much to give. He pulled the stick, but it was all to no avail. Bachelor's Button was just too strong. He neat Pretty Polly by a length in record time. Peter Gilpin blamed Dillon for the defeat, believing the jockey to have ridden with over confidence. The deeds of Pretty Polly stamp her as a genuine champion. She raced on twenty four occasions, winning twenty two. Her only two defeats resulted in seconds at the highest level.
Cyclonic, wonderful Article! Quite a filly, eh? "Admiration was hardly a painting to look at. Her sagging quarters, bent hocks and mediocre breeding," PS. When I first started reading, I thought you might be having a go at your wife!
What a pathetic response to a lovely Article- must be because she's not running in the 2.30! Cyclonic, I despair sometimes that all we've got is "tips, tips, and more tips!" Take them away, and what's left?
It's like the song says Tam, some days are diamonds, some days are stones. Most of what we do is for our own benefit I suppose. If I want a response, then I have to offer something of interest. The tale of the wonderful filly is a story on it's own, so I guess I wasn't up to the job this time out.
Top article Cyc. I was obviously aware of Pretty Polly (not least because of the race named in her honour) but i was not quite appreciative of the full level of her success. A phenomenal mare.
An excellent article. It seems churlish to concentrate on Pretty Polly's two defeats but, if I may, I can add a little to the story. A contemporary of Gilpin, Maher and Pretty Polly was George Lambton and it his from his book Men and Horses I Have Known (first published 1924) from whence the information hereunder derives. Danny Maher was 'rather sore' at criticism of his riding and argued that the mare was beaten on her merits. The course rode very heavy and the pace was quick. For more than three parts of the trip he felt he could do what he liked with the field and that when he first asked Pretty Polly to go and win the race, she responded readily but then began to die away in his hands. Maher sat as still as a mouse hoping the leader (Presto II) might crack but that did not happen, and when he sat down to ride a finish there was nothing left and they were beaten a length. From that moment Maher was certain that Pretty Polly was not a true stayer. Lambton, incidentally, describes Presto as 'a good French horse' and in the race he gave Pretty Polly 10lb. He also states that Gilpin did not criticise his jockey and instead blamed the journey. That said, it's not every trainer who lambasts his jockey in public and it should be remembered that, as far as I can make out, Maher never rode the mare again and stated that if he ever met her in a 2m race, with a good horse, that he would beat her. This he failed to do on Bachelor's Button in the Jockey Club Cup of 1905, saying that if he had had another horse to help him with the pace he would have won. He further insisted that if the two horses met in the following year's Ascot Gold Cup then Bachelor's Button was certain to win. Lambton gives more credit to Maher, agreeing that the severe hill at Ascot after two and a half miles undid Pretty Polly, but goes on to say that if a 'real good' jockey had been on the mare then she might just have scrambled home. And that's all Mr. Lambton has to say on the subject.
Thanks for the extra information BD. It's hard to come to terms with things that happened so long ago, but it's all a bit sad that time seems to rob us of the finer points concerning these wonderful events. I'm glad though, that the likes of Pretty Polly and her ilk, can be discussed on forums such as these, all these years later.
