Sire Line

Eclipse

Eclipse ch c 1764 (Shakespeare or Marske - Spiletta, by Regulus). Sire Line Eclipse. Family 12.

Bred by His Royal Highness William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, he was foaled during the total eclipse of the sun for which he was named at the Duke's Cranbourne Lodge stud. John Lawrence described him as a mature horse: "When I first saw him he appeared in high health, of a robust constitution. His shoulder was very thick, but extensive and well placed; his hind-quarters appeared higher than his fore-hand; and it was said that no horse in his gallop ever threw his haunches with greater effect, his agility and his stride being on a par. He stood over a great deal of ground, and in that respect was the opposite of Flying Childers - a short-backed, compact horse, whose reach lay in his lower limbs." He is thought to have stood around 15.2 hands.

After the Duke's death, in October of 1765, his stable was dispersed at auction by Mr. Richard Tattersall. Eclipse was purchased by William Wildman for 75 guineas. In 1769 Dennis O'Kelly purchased a half-interest in him for 650 guineas and later bought the remainder for 1,100 guineas.

An unruly colt, he was said to have been sent to a rough-rider who was also a notorious poacher by night. While there may have been little truth in the story, it indicates his obstreperous nature. In his first start he distanced all four of his opponents while under massive restraint by his jockey. O'Kelly won a great deal of money from betting on Eclipse, and it is said that the famous phrase "Eclipse first, the rest nowhere" originated on this day. Reporting varies, however, he won all of his starts including numerous King's Plates with ease, apparently never having been extended. His race against Bucephalus (ch c 1764 Regulus) was said to be the most difficult for Eclipse and although "the north country horse ... ran like a good and true son of Regulus" he afterwards never "regained his form, so severe and heartbreaking were the efforts he made". Sportsmen agreed that Eclipse was the best horse seen on the turf since Flying Childers.

Sir Theodore Cook wrote of him: "His excellence was not only owing to the races he won, but even more clearly to the astonishing ease with which he won them, and to the fact that in addition to his undoubted speed and stride, he possessed sound wind, an ability to carry heavy weight, and an endurance over long distances which could never be thoroughly tested, for its limit was never reached."

In 1771 he retired to stud at Clay Hill, near Epsom, Surrey, where he stayed until 1788, when he was moved, in a carriage pulled by a pair, to O'Kelly's Cannons Park stud in Stanmore, Middlesex. His fee was 50 guineas the first year, and later varied between 25 and 30 guineas.

A great great grandson of the Darley Arabian, he was an overwhelming success in the stud, becoming the progenitor of the Eclipse sire line and thus the tail-male ancestor of nearly every living thoroughbred. The line continued mainly through two sons, Pot8os and King Fergus.

The excellent racehorse and sire Pot8os (ch c 1773) numbered among his get the Derby winner and Champion Sire Waxy (b c 1795), the Derby and St. Leger winner Champion (b c 1797), the Derby winner Tyrant (b c 1799) and the Oaks winner Nightshade (b f 1785).

The Champion Sire King Fergus (ch c 1775), himself a winner of eight races, got three St. Leger winners, Beningbrough (b c 1791), Hambletonian (b c 1792) and Young Traveller (ch c 1788).

The classic winning offspring of Eclipse include the Derby winners Saltram (br c 1780), Young Eclipse (b c 1778) and Serjeant (b c 1781), and the Oaks winner Annette (b f 1784). His son Volunteer (ch c 1780) sired the Derby winner Spread Eagle (b c 1792).

Other sons of Eclipse exerted varying degrees of influence. Among them were Don Quixote (ch c 1784), Dungannon (b c 1780), Joe Andrews (b c 1778), Jupiter (ch c 1774), Meteor (ch c 1783), Orlando (b c 1778), and Satellite (ch c 1774).

Oddly enough Eclipse was never a Champion Sire himself, although he was second eleven times between 1778 and 1788. He died of colic at Cannons in 1789.

Above, painting by George Stubbs in 1770.
	Professor to the Veterinary College of London, M. Charles Vial de St. Bel, performed an autopsy on Eclipse. His measurements determined that the horse stood 16.2 hands. While without artistic pretensions, his detailed drawings reveal significantly different markings from those generally seen in other portraits.
	This portrait by Francis Sartorius displays a smaller face marking, and the off-hind sock ends half-way up the cannon bone. In contrast, St. Bel's sketch shows a white nose and an off-hind stocking extending above the hock.