Tartar (GB)
 
 


Tartar

 

 

Sire Line


Byerley Turk

 

 

Sire


Crofts's Partner

 

 

 

 

 Tartar [ex-Partner] ch c 1743 (Crofts's Partner - Meliora, by Fox). Sire Line Byerley Turk. Family 48.

Tartar was bred by Edward Leedes at North Milford, Yorkshire. Edward Leedes, formerly Edward Rookes of Royds Hall, married Mary, daughter and heir of Robert Leedes (son of Englebert Leedes, the well known Tadcaster breeder) in 1740 and took the Leedes name.

First called Partner, he was sold to Mr Coatesworth who ran him in 1748 and later that year resold to Robert Bertie, 4th Duke of Ancaster, who changed his name to Tartar. At the close of turf career he was purchased by Anthony Smith of Oulston, near Easingwold, Yorkshire.

Described as a "most excellent racer, and equally esteemed as a stallion" [Orton:51] Tartar was said to stand nearly 15 hands and be of "great power and strength, and allowed to be as fine a horse as any in England" [Pick 1:99].

He retired to stud at Oulston in time for the 1750 season. Despite his limited duration in the stud he produced the Champion Sire King Herod (b c 1758), one of the four influential stallions of the latter half of the eighteenth century. The other three were Matchem (b c 1748 Cade), Eclipse (ch c 1764 Marske) and Highflyer (b c 1774 King Herod), the latter the grandson of Tartar. Other good sons numbered among them Beaufremont, Miner and Wildman's Tartar. Tartar died at Oulston late in 1759 at the age of sixteen.

 
Pedigree
Tartar Croft's Partner Jigg Byerley Turk
Charming Jenny
Sister to Mixbury Curwen's Bay Barb
Spot Mare
Meliora Fox Clumsey
Bay Peg
Witty's Milkmaid Wharton's Snail
Shields Galloway
Race Record
 
In 1748 he won a £50 Maiden Plate at Beverley, defeating Mr Clarke's Cuddy (ch c Quiet Cuddy), Mr Watson's Fox Cub, Mr Read's Lucretia (ch f 1743 Crofts' Partner) and several others. Later the same year he won £50 at Malton, beating Sir Harry Harpur's Mixbury (ch c 1743 Hutton's Spot), Mr Langley's Lath and two others. He followed this with a win in a £50 Plate at Durham, where he beat Mr Jenison's Joseph Andrews (ch c 1743 Roundhead), Mr Parker's Thunder and others. His next victory came at York, where he won £50, beating the Duke of Kingston's Jolly Roger (ch c 1743) and Mr Thorpe's Charming Betty (ch f 1743), over four miles. Starting for the Duke of Ancaster, who renamed him Tartar, he won the King's Plate at Lichfield, beating Lord Portmore's Skin (br c 1743 Crab).
 
His only win in 1749 came in the King's Plate at Guildford, beating Lord Portmore's Black-and-all-Black (also called Othello, bl c 1743 Crab).
 
In April of 1750 he made his final start, winning the King's Plate at Newmarket, beating Lord Portmore's Bald Partner (ch c 1743 Smiling Ball Colt) and Mr Greville's Tawney (br c 1743 Crab). Tawney was used as the near-leader by Lord March in his famous carriage match.
 
Tartar Mares
 
1. Tartar Mare (ch f 1757), the famous "Old Tartar Mare" bred by the Duke of Bolton, and on his death purchased by Peter Hammond, who presented her to the Rev Lascelles of Gilling, near Richmond, Yorkshire. The latter gave her to a friend in the South who was said to have used her as a hack and bred her to several "common stallions" prior to her mating with Snip (br c 1736 Childers), of which Whitenose (b c 1763) was the result. At the age of twenty she was sold for five guineas, then again for six guineas, at which time she was purchased by Dennis O'Kelly for 100 guineas. An astute purchase, she earned over thirty thousand pounds for Mr O'Kelly in the stud. Among her progeny were Jupiter (ch c 1774 Eclipse), Mercury (ch c 1778 Eclipse), Queen Mab (ch f 1785 Eclipse) and Volunteer (ch c 1780 Eclipse). She was a foundation mare of Family 9-b.
2. Fanny (ch f 1751), bred by Andrew Blake she won 100 guineas at Newmarket in April of 1755, beating Mr Alston's bay filly over the Beacon Course. Still at Newmarket, Second Spring, she placed 2nd in the Jockey Club Plate, won by the Duke of Ancaster's Myrtle, beating Lord Gower's Clio and three others. Later in July she won a £50 give-and-take at Dunstable, beating the Duke of Ancaster's Slave, Mr Robinson's Chaunter and six others in three heats. In May of 1756 she won 300 guineas at Newmarket, beating Lord Pomfret's Diana. In the stud she produced the significant matron, Mr Tuting's Creeping Polly (ch f 1756), the dam of the Champion Sire King Fergus (ch c 1775 Eclipse), and was the ancestress of numerous winners in Family 6.
3. Belinda (gr f 1753), bred by Mr Mann of Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, and purchased by the Hon John Smith-Barry of Belmont, Cheshire. In 1758 she won the £50 Maiden Plate at Newark, beating Mr Overend's Tansey, Mr Hudson's Antiquity and Mr Hunt's Dancer. In 1759 she won £50 at Northwich, beating Sir George Savile's Tom Thumb and Mr Allenby's Diana, £50 at Knutsford, beating Mr Trout's Infant and Mr Wynn's Slam in three heats, £50 at Warwick, beating Mr Pytt's Smiling Tom, Lord Byron's Whitenose and others in four heats, and £50 at Derby, beating Mr Hardy's Farmer's Fancy and two others. In the stud she bred the Hon Smith-Barry's King's Plate winner and stallion All-Fours (ch c 1763 Regulus).
4. Mary Tartar [ex-Moorpout, Magic] (ch f 1751) was bred by John Barker of Nawton, near Helmsley Black-Moor, Yorkshire, and sold to Mr Robinson at Malton. Mr Barker had acquired her dam at the Malton Fair in 1750 for about £3, then, worried that she had been stolen, refused payment until her credentials were vouched for. Her pedigree remains doubtful, her dam said to be Lord Darcy's Sedbury Royal Mare by Highland Laddie. In 1755 she won £50 at Alnwick. Starting for Mr Robinson in 1756 she won the King's Plate at Hambleton and in April of 1757 she won the King's Plate for Mares at Newmarket. Purchased after the race by Lord Rockingham, she started for him in October, winning 200 guineas at Newmarket. In 1758 she again won 200 guineas at Newmarket, after which she retired to the Rockingham stud. There she produced Dauphiness (b f 1766 Sampson) and was then given to Mr Preston of Malton for whom she produced several colts.
5. Thais (b f 1759), bred by HRH the Duke of Cumberland, sister to King Herod, the 2nd dam of Lord Egremont's Snip (b c 1783 Highflyer).
6. Tartar Mare, later called Dutchess* (b f 1756), purchased from the Duke of Bolton by Edward Fenwick, John's Island Stud, South Carolina, and sent there in 1761. She produced Matchless Colt (c 1775 Matchless*) and the grandam of Alston's Tartar Mare (b f 1780 Flimnap*).
7. Tartar Mare, otherwise unidentified, dam of Fenwick's Brilliant Mare*, sent to South Carolina, and there was the 2nd dam of Pocotaligo (ch c 1805 Hoomes' Stirling*).
 
Other Notable Offspring
 
Beaufremont (GB)
 
[ex-Soldier] br c 1758 (Tartar - Mare, by Brother to Fearnought). Sire Line Byerley Turk. Family 25. Bred by Mr Ainsley of the Mount, near Black Hambleton, then sold successively to Mr Smith of Oulston, and for 220 guineas to Joseph Rose, the latter having bought him for Thomas Stapleton of Carlton, Yorkshire. Beaufremont had very satisfactory turf career, winnings Fifties at Scarborough, York (twice), Lincoln, Lancaster (twice), Carlisle, Penrith and Preston. He also won the Ladies' Plate and the Subscription Purse (twice) at York. He was said to have been possessed of "a hot and ungovernable temper," and proved "but a very indifferent stallion." [Pick 1:287] He left no offspring that bred on.
   
  Miner (GB)
   
.
 ch c 1752 (Tartar - Mare, by Young Greyhound). Sire Line Byerley Turk. Family 36. A half-brother to Engineer (b c 1756 Sampson), Miner was bred by Mr Constable, from Henry Curwen's Young Greyhound Mare, purchased by Mr Robinson of Malton, Yorkshire, and then sold to Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston. In 1756 Miner won £50 at Malton, beating Mr Hardy's Miss Westwood, Mr Smith's Careless, Mr Read's Minion, and two others in three heats. He then won the Great Subscription at York, beating Mr Shafto's Tiger, Mr Mann's Britannicus, Mr Swinburne's Cracker and others in three heats, which was considered a "fine sporting race" [Pick 1:188]. In addition he won £50 at Durham, beating Mr Storey's Handsome Dolly and two others. Following his purchase by the Duke of Kingston he won £50 at Newmarket in April of 1757, beating Lord Portmore's Spider, Mr Popham's Gentleman and others over the Round Course. He lost his first race, the King's Plate at Burford, to Lord Portmore's Spider. In April of 1758 he won over 60 guineas beating the Duke of Cumberland's Spider, the Duke of Cleveland's Dainty Davy and Mr Swymmer's Captain. He later won the King's Plate at Winchester, beating Mr Vernon's Cream of Tartar and Lord Craven's Chaunter, and also the King's Plate at Salisbury, beating Mr Curzon's Young Jason. In his only other start he lost the King's Plate at Canterbury to Mr Rogers's Jack of Newberry. He entered Lord Rockingham's stud where he got several good runners, including Mr Hull's Quibbler and Mr Lloyd's Treasurer, and died there in 1780.
 
Tartar [Wildman's] (GB)
 
b c 1758 (Tartar - Miss Meredith, by Cade). Sire Line Byerley Turk. Family 15. Bred by Thomas Meredith, he was later sold to Sir John Moore and then to William Wildman. In July of 1762 Tartar won a £70 plate at Huntingdon, beating Lord Bolingbroke's Gingerbread, Lord Portmore's Sylla, the Duke of Cumberland's Dorimond and Mr Vernon's Pass over four miles. In April of 1763 he placed 2nd to Antinous in the 1200 guineas at Newmarket, beating Young Captain and others. Later in October he walked-over for a 50 guineas each sweepstakes at Newmarket. Then, beset by an unspecified "misfortune," he retired from the turf. He left no offspring that bred on.
   
King Herod (GB) b c 1758 (Tartar - Cypron, by Blaze). Sire Line Byerley Turk. Family 26.