Cinderella (GB)
1885 – Spring 1906
Blue Ruin (GB) or Tomahawk (GB) x Manna (GB), by Brown Bread (GB)
Family 21-a
"GENETIC GEM"
1885 – Spring 1906
Blue Ruin (GB) or Tomahawk (GB) x Manna (GB), by Brown Bread (GB)
Family 21-a
"GENETIC GEM"
Unlike the fairy tale heroine for whom she was named, Cinderella was anything but beautiful and sweet. The mare was weedy and unattractive, and descriptions of her disposition suggest that her physique may have been lovelier than her temperament. Nonetheless, the equine Cinderella proved to be a great producer after her importation to the United States. The dam of four (or possibly five) stakes winners, she produced two sons who founded male lines that have persisted into the 21st century. Through her daughter Slippers, she also established a notable female family that has likewise bred on.
Race record
Unraced, though she reportedly showed good speed in trials.
As an individual
A small bay mare, Cinderella was light-framed and plain. Her one extant photograph suggests that she had high withers, long cannons, a long sloping pelvis and sickle hocks. She had a notoriously evil disposition which she appears to have passed on to some if not all of her foals, along with her sickle hocks and her reported speed.
As a producer
Cinderella was first bred as a 3-year-old. She produced 13 named foals. Her important foals are as follow:
Connections
Cinderella was bred in England by Sir Thomas Throckmorton. She was sold for export to the United States as a yearling and was acquired there by Dr. J. D. Neet, who paid US$500 for her. When she was 17, Neet turned down an offer of US$15,000 for her from William Collins Whitney but agreed to lease the mare to him for US$10,000. On Whitney's death in 1904, the lease was voided and Cinderella returned to Neet. She died of what was described as heart disease at Horse Haven Stock Farm while there for a breeding to Ethelbert.
Pedigree notes
Assuming that Tomahawk (a winner of the Lincolnshire Handicap) is indeed her sire (see Alternate Sires in Pedigrees), Cinderella is inbred 4x4 to the mare Lollypop. Her dam Manna did not race and produced nothing else of any importance. Manna's dam Tartlet (by two-time leading English sire Birdcatcher) is out of an unnamed Don John mare, a half sister to 1869 Doncaster Cup winner Sweetmeat (Gladiator–Lollypop), who was the broodmare sire of Tomahawk.
Books and media
Cinderella is profiled at Thoroughbred Heritage (http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Cinderella.html).
Fun facts
Last updated: January 7, 2024
Race record
Unraced, though she reportedly showed good speed in trials.
As an individual
A small bay mare, Cinderella was light-framed and plain. Her one extant photograph suggests that she had high withers, long cannons, a long sloping pelvis and sickle hocks. She had a notoriously evil disposition which she appears to have passed on to some if not all of her foals, along with her sickle hocks and her reported speed.
As a producer
Cinderella was first bred as a 3-year-old. She produced 13 named foals. Her important foals are as follow:
- Foreigner (1889, by Fonso) won the 1891 Turf, Field and Farm Stakes according to Thoroughbred Heritage but is not listed as a stakes winner under Cinderella's record in Clio Hogan's Index to Stakes Winners 1865-1967. He reportedly died young and does not appear to have stood at stud in North America.
- Handsome (1892, by Hanover) won the 1894 Hyde Park Stakes but failed to train on. He sired three stakes winners, none of any great importance.
- Hastings (1893, by Spendthrift) was one of the best sprinters of his time and also won the 1896 Belmont Stakes. He led the American general sire list twice and sired an even better stallion in Fair Play, sire of the immortal Man o' War and a three-time leader of both the American general sire list and the American broodmare sire list. This male line is still active today through the descendants of In Reality.
- Plaudit (1895, by Himyar) won seven stakes races including the 1898 Kentucky Derby. His male line includes the great Dr. Fager and 1994 American Horse of the Year Holy Bull, whose champion son Macho Uno is the leading active stallion for this sire line.
- Glenheim (1896, by Hanover) won the 1898 Juvenile Stakes but failed to train on. He sired two stakes winners, neither of any importance.
- Migraine (1902, by Top Gallant) did not win any stakes races but was stakes-placed several times in top company. He sired the second dam of 1926 American Horse of the Year Crusader but nothing else of any significance.
- Slippers (1904, by Meddler) produced 1913 Preakness Stakes winner Buskin (by Hamburg) and the juvenile stakes winner Slipshod (by Hamburg's son Burgomaster). Her daughter Polly Flinders (by Burgomaster) produced two-time American champion filly Prudery, 1922 Coaching Club American Oaks winner Prudish, and the good stakes winner Macaw, all by Peter Pan. Prudery, in turn, produced 1927 Kentucky Derby winner Whiskery, 1928 Preakness Stakes winner Victorian, and multiple stakes winner Halcyon, while her sister Prudish produced the good stakes winner Comstockery (by Chicle) and is the ancestress of a family that includes 1980 American champion 2-year-old filly Heavenly Cause and 1991 Breeders' Cup Mile (USA-G1) winner Opening Verse. Slippers is also the dam of Comfort (by Broomstick), dam of minor stakes winners Shasta Broom (by Tracer) and Bon Amour (by Bon Homme)
Connections
Cinderella was bred in England by Sir Thomas Throckmorton. She was sold for export to the United States as a yearling and was acquired there by Dr. J. D. Neet, who paid US$500 for her. When she was 17, Neet turned down an offer of US$15,000 for her from William Collins Whitney but agreed to lease the mare to him for US$10,000. On Whitney's death in 1904, the lease was voided and Cinderella returned to Neet. She died of what was described as heart disease at Horse Haven Stock Farm while there for a breeding to Ethelbert.
Pedigree notes
Assuming that Tomahawk (a winner of the Lincolnshire Handicap) is indeed her sire (see Alternate Sires in Pedigrees), Cinderella is inbred 4x4 to the mare Lollypop. Her dam Manna did not race and produced nothing else of any importance. Manna's dam Tartlet (by two-time leading English sire Birdcatcher) is out of an unnamed Don John mare, a half sister to 1869 Doncaster Cup winner Sweetmeat (Gladiator–Lollypop), who was the broodmare sire of Tomahawk.
Books and media
Cinderella is profiled at Thoroughbred Heritage (http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Cinderella.html).
Fun facts
- Cinderella (by Blue Ruin or Tomahawk) was one of two imported English mares of that name who were prominent in American breeding in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The other, an 1888 daughter of Hermit, was a minor stakes winner in England and produced 1907 American champion 3-year-old male Peter Pan, an important sire; the stakes winner Von Tromp; and Fairy Slipper, through whom her family bred on.
Last updated: January 7, 2024