Camel (GB)
 
 

Courtesy of Fores Gallery, United Kingdom








Camel and Banter






Sire Line


Camel

 

Camel br c 1822 (Whalebone - Mare, by Selim). Sire Line Camel. Family 24.

Camel was bred and raced by George O'Brien Wyndham (1751-1837), 3rd Earl of Egremont, of Petworth, Sussex, who also bred and raced the four Derby winners, Assassin (b c 1779 Sweetbriar), Cardinal Beaufort (b c 1802 Gohanna), Election (ch c 1804 Gohanna) and Lap-Dog (b c 1823 Whalebone).

Racing for three years he won several matches worth 200 sovereigns and the £450 Port Stakes. Although he wasn't entered for any of the classics he defeated a One Thousand Guineas winner. After his turf career Camel was purchased by John Theobald.

The Stockwell Stud, Surrey (now south London), later stood The Baron (ch c 1842 Birdcatcher) for three seasons, prior to his export to France, getting the immortal Stockwell (ch c 1849) there. Following John Theobald's death in 1849 the stud was run by his son William who died in 1850. That same year John Theobald's grandaughter Georgiana married Charles Sabine Thellusson of Brodsworth Hall, near Doncaster in Yorkshire. Paintings of racehorses and other memorabilia of turf success acquired by the Theobalds still remain at Brodsworth, including the 1835 Goodwood Cup won by Mr Theobald's Rockingham (b c 1830 Humphrey Clinker).

Many thanks to Trevor Reynolds of English Heritage and to Caroline Carr-Whitworth, curator of Brodsworth Hall, for information regarding the history of the Theobald family.

According to "the Druid," the eminent surgeon Bramsby Cooper used to visit Stockwell and maintained that he had never seen a "more powerful piece of machinery". His gaskins were said to be enormous, generating such leverage that when Lowry, the stud groom, lunged him he could "leap mid-air almost to the last". His "cart-horse" quarters were attributed to having fallen over backwards when a yearling. Mr Theobald referred to him as "my bit of whalebone" after his sire who barely cleared fifteen hands, and Camel himself measured under fifteen hands two inches.

He gained considerable celebrity in the stud after the performances of his son Touchstone (br c 1831), the "famous Eaton Brown," bred by Robert Grosvenor Westminster, 1st Marquess of Westminster. Camel was said to bring in about £800 a year in stud fees and when Mr Theobald was approached by American agents offering 5000 guineas for him at the age of seventeen, Mr Theobald refused "without turning round in the box" and without giving Lowry time enough to strip the horse.

Touchstone, a St Leger winner and Champion Sire, was his best son, although Camel also got his full-brother, the St Leger winner Launcelot (br c 1837). Such horses as the mighty Carbine (b c 1885 Musket), Hermit (ch c 1864 Newminster), Hyperion (ch c 1930 Gainsborough), Son-in-Law (br c 1911 Dark Ronald) and Domino (br c 1891 Himyar) all trace in tail-male to Camel through Touchstone.

Camel was Champion Sire in 1838 and died "worn out" at Stockwell on November 6, 1844.

 
Pedigree
Camel Whalebone Waxy Pot8os
Maria
Penelope Trumpator
Prunella
Selim Mare Selim Buzzard
Alexander Mare
Maiden Sir Peter Teazle
Phoenomenon Mare
Race Record

At 3: Collected a 50 sovereigns half-forfeit for a 100 guineas match at Newmarket, First Spring, from the Duke of York's Peter Proteus (b c 1822 Partisan). Finished 2nd in the Newmarket Stakes, won by General Grosvenor's Crockery (b c 1822 Rubens), beating the Duke of Portland's Mortgage (br c 1822 Teasdale), the Duke of Grafton's Cramer (b c 1822 Election) and Bolero (br c 1822 Partisan), and four others. Won 50 sovereigns at Newmarket, Second Spring, beating the Duke of Rutland's Adeliza (b f 1822 Soothsayer), the Duke of Grafton's Pigmy (b f 1822 Election) and seven others. Won a 25 sovereigns sweep at Newmarket, Second October, beating the Duke of York's Dahlia (b f 1822 Phantom), Mortgage, and the Duke of Grafton's One Thousand Guineas winner Tontine (ch f 1822 Election). Won a 200 sovereigns match at the same meeting, beating Colonel Udny's Tarandus (b c 1821 Sorcerer). Lost a 200 sovereigns match also at the same meeting to Mr Stuart Wortley's Woodcote Stakes winner Scandal (b f 1822 Selim).

At 4: Won the £450 Port Stakes at Newmarket, Craven, beating Lord Exeter's July Stakes winner Redgauntlet (b c 1822 Scud), the Duke of York's Lionel Lincoln (br c 1822 Whalebone), Mr Dilly's Hougoumont (br c 1822 Waterloo) and one other.

At 5: Won a 200 sovereigns match at Newmarket, Houghton, beating Redgauntlet over the Abingdon Mile.
 
Notable Offspring

Black Bess (bl f 1837), dam of the Two Thousand Guineas winner Hernandez (br c 1848 Pantaloon) and the Park Hill Stakes and Yorkshire Oaks winner Mayfair (br f 1850 Bay Middleton), 2nd dam of the Prix du Jockey Club winner Bigarreau (b c 1867 Light).

Brown Bess (br f 1844), taproot mare of Family 3-d, 2nd dam of the Ascot Stakes and Queen Alexandra Stakes winner Musket (b c 1867 Toxophilite), of the Two Thousand Guineas and Doncaster Cup winner General Peel (b c 1861 Young Melbourne), and of the Chester Cup winner Windsor (b f 1877 Hermit).

Camel Mare (br f 1837), dam of the Union-Rennen winner Rookeby (b c 1858 Blackdrop).

Camel Mare (b f 1841), dam of the Cesarewitch winner Muscovite (b c 1849 Hetman Platoff). Muscovite got the One Thousand Guineas winner Siberia (br f 1862) and the Two Thousand Guineas winner Vauban (br c 1864).

Caravan (br c 1834), winner of the Ascot Gold Cup, sire of Prix du Jockey Club and Prix Royal Oak winner Souvenir (br c 1859).

Fiammetta (b c 1838), winner of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains.

Hester (br f 1832), dam of the Criterion Stakes and July Stakes winner Chatham (ch c 1839 The Colonel), and Hersey (b f 1842 Glaucus), taproot mare of Family 12-d. Hester was also the 2nd dam of the St James's Palace Stakes winner Baalbec (b c 1851 Ion), and of the Grand Prix de Paris winner Ceylon (b c 1863 Idle Boy), and the 3rd dam of the Royal Hunt Cup winner Canary (b c 1858 Orlando).

Honoria (br f 1836), taproot mare of Family 14-f, and 5th dam of the Oaks and July Cup winner Geheimness (b f 1879 Rosicrucian). A superior matron, Geheimness heads a family that attained much success in France and central and eastern Europe.

Kermesse (b f 1832), 2nd dam of Prix de Diane winner Fleur de Marie (b f 1847 Attila).

Launcelot (br c 1837), brother to Champion sire and St Leger winner Touchstone (br c 1831), and also a winner of the St. Leger Stakes and the Champagne Stakes.

Misdeal (b c 1839), winner of the St James's Palace Stakes.

Pasquinade (b f 1839), dam of New Stakes winner Slander (b f 1844 Pantaloon), 2nd dam of King Edward VII Stakes winner Celerrima (ch f 1862 Stockwell), 3rd dam of Nagroda Przychowku winner Sedzina (b f 1879 Vancouver), and 4th dam of Nagroda Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej winner Hektor (b c 1890 Taille Vent). Pasquinade is also the 5th dam of Goodwood Cup winner Rabelais (b c 1900 St. Simon).

Prism (br f 1836), dam of the Oaks and Nassau Stakes winner Refraction (br f 1842 Glaucus), 2nd dam of the Grosser Preis von Baden winner La Maladetta (b f 1855 The Baron), and 3rd dam of the Prix de la Foret winner Tourmalet (br c 1862 The Flying Dutchman) and Prix Lupin winner Cerdagne (b f 1866 Newminster).

Reel (b f 1836), 3rd dam of the Cesarewitch winner Salvanos (b c 1869 Dollar), of the Prix du Jockey Club and Grand Prix de Paris winner Salvator (ch c 1872 Dollar), 4th dam of the Two Thousand Guineas and Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Galliard (br c 1880 Galopin), of the Nassau Stakes winner Armida (ch f 1882 Childeric), and of Rattlewings (b f 1883 Galopin), the taproot mare of Family 13-e.

Seakale (br f 1835), 4th dam of the incomparable Kincsem (ch f 1874 Cambuscan), winner of fifty-four races, including the Goodwood Cup, Grand Prix de Deauville, Grosser Preis von Baden (three times), Zukunfts-Rennen, Oesterreichisches Derby, Trial Stakes, Egyesittet Nemzeti es Hazafi dij, Magyar Kancadij and Magyar St Leger.

Simoom (br c 1838), brother to Seakale, sire of the National Produce Stakes winner Barbarian (b c 1849) and of Barbarity* (b f 1854) who was sent to New York in 1859 and there produced the first Belmont Stakes winner Ruthless (b f 1864 Eclipse*). Ruthless also won the Travers Stakes.

Wedding Day (b f 1842), 3rd dam of the Derby winner Kingcraft (b c 1867 King Tom) and of the St James's Palace Stakes winner Great Tom (ch c 1873 King Tom). Great Tom was sent to America and there sired the Belmont and Withers Stakes winner Tyrant (ch c 1882). Wedding Day was also the ancestress of the American Triple Crown winner War Admiral (br c 1934 Man o' War).
 
 
Touchstone (GB) br c 1831 (Camel - Banter, by Master Henry). Sire Line Camel. Family 14-a.