Insco (USA)
1928 – February 20, 1939
Sir Gallahad III (FR) x Starflight (GB), by Sunstar (GB)
Family 4-k
1928 – February 20, 1939
Sir Gallahad III (FR) x Starflight (GB), by Sunstar (GB)
Family 4-k
While he was only a minor stakes winner, Insco may have been better than his race record indicated as he was part of one of the deepest foal crops in American racing history. Purchased cheaply by Herbert Woolf, who was looking for a stallion for his Kansas-based Woolford Farm, Insco succeeded far beyond any reasonable expectations in spite of limited access to good mares and an early death at age 11. Even without considering his three top offspring out of the mare Margaret Lawrence, Insco must be accounted one of the best sire sons of Sir Gallahad III based on his immediate results, though he was unable to establish a lasting male line and had relatively little impact as a broodmare sire.
Race record
12 starts, 4 wins, 0 seconds, 0 thirds, US$23,595
1930:
As an individual
A dark bay colt, Insco was injured after going 4-for-7 during his juvenile season and never recovered his earlier form. Given that his yearling sale price of $22,000 was the seventh highest of the 1929 Saratoga yearling sale, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that he was a good-looking individual, as his photograph also suggests.
As a stallion
Insco peaked at third on the American general sire list in 1938, his only placing in the top 10. He sired 93 winners (80.2%) and 13 stakes winners (11.2%) from 116 named foals according to records kept by The Jockey Club. The website tbheritage.com credits Insco with 19 stakes winners (16.4%).
Notable progeny
Contradiction (USA), Inscoelda (USA), Inscolassie (USA), Lawrin (USA), Technician (USA), Unerring (USA)
Notable progeny of daughters
Happy Issue (USA)
Connections
Insco was bred by Cary T. Grayson. He was owned by Griffin Watkins, who purchased him for US$22,000 from the 1929 Saratoga yearling sale. Following Insco's racing career, Herbert Woolf bought the horse for just US$500 from the 1932 Lexington sales and installed the horse as the premier sire at his Woolford Farm. Insco died of complications of an infection in 1939 and was buried at Woolford; his Kentucky Derby-winning son Lawrin was later interred alongside him. Although the farm is long gone, the grave markers for Insco and Lawrin can still be seen in Prairie Village, Kansas.
Pedigree notes
Insco is inbred 5x4 to 1875 Derby Stakes winner and three-time English champion sire Galopin and to the fine Cup horse and 1887 English leading sire Hampton. He is also inbred 5x5 to 1876 Two Thousand Guineas and St. Leger Stakes winner Petrarch. He is a full brother to Gala Flight, second dam of 1960 Cambridgeshire Stakes winner Midsummer Night. He is a half brother to Star Jester (by Black Jester), a stakes winner in Canada, and to Flying Comet (by Peter Pan), dam of 1937 Arlington Futurity winner Teddy's Comet (by Teddy).
Insco's dam Starflight was unplaced in her only start but is a full sister to 1916 Middle Park Stakes winner North Star III, a good sire in the United States. Her dam Angelic (by St. Angelo) is an unraced half sister to 1907 Oaks Stakes winner Glass Doll (by Isinglass) and to Congratulations (by Matchmaker), dam of 1910 Deutsches St. Leger winner Cola Rienzi (by St. Maclou). Angelic's dam Fota (by Hampton) is a winning full sister to the good English stakes winner Phocion and to Herminia, dam of Manchester Cup winner Herminius (by Lowland Chief).
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: November 22, 2022
Race record
12 starts, 4 wins, 0 seconds, 0 thirds, US$23,595
1930:
- Won Post and Paddock Stakes (USA, 6FD, Arlington Park)
- Also set a new track record of 1:05 for 5.5 furlongs on dirt at Arlington Park
As an individual
A dark bay colt, Insco was injured after going 4-for-7 during his juvenile season and never recovered his earlier form. Given that his yearling sale price of $22,000 was the seventh highest of the 1929 Saratoga yearling sale, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that he was a good-looking individual, as his photograph also suggests.
As a stallion
Insco peaked at third on the American general sire list in 1938, his only placing in the top 10. He sired 93 winners (80.2%) and 13 stakes winners (11.2%) from 116 named foals according to records kept by The Jockey Club. The website tbheritage.com credits Insco with 19 stakes winners (16.4%).
Notable progeny
Contradiction (USA), Inscoelda (USA), Inscolassie (USA), Lawrin (USA), Technician (USA), Unerring (USA)
Notable progeny of daughters
Happy Issue (USA)
Connections
Insco was bred by Cary T. Grayson. He was owned by Griffin Watkins, who purchased him for US$22,000 from the 1929 Saratoga yearling sale. Following Insco's racing career, Herbert Woolf bought the horse for just US$500 from the 1932 Lexington sales and installed the horse as the premier sire at his Woolford Farm. Insco died of complications of an infection in 1939 and was buried at Woolford; his Kentucky Derby-winning son Lawrin was later interred alongside him. Although the farm is long gone, the grave markers for Insco and Lawrin can still be seen in Prairie Village, Kansas.
Pedigree notes
Insco is inbred 5x4 to 1875 Derby Stakes winner and three-time English champion sire Galopin and to the fine Cup horse and 1887 English leading sire Hampton. He is also inbred 5x5 to 1876 Two Thousand Guineas and St. Leger Stakes winner Petrarch. He is a full brother to Gala Flight, second dam of 1960 Cambridgeshire Stakes winner Midsummer Night. He is a half brother to Star Jester (by Black Jester), a stakes winner in Canada, and to Flying Comet (by Peter Pan), dam of 1937 Arlington Futurity winner Teddy's Comet (by Teddy).
Insco's dam Starflight was unplaced in her only start but is a full sister to 1916 Middle Park Stakes winner North Star III, a good sire in the United States. Her dam Angelic (by St. Angelo) is an unraced half sister to 1907 Oaks Stakes winner Glass Doll (by Isinglass) and to Congratulations (by Matchmaker), dam of 1910 Deutsches St. Leger winner Cola Rienzi (by St. Maclou). Angelic's dam Fota (by Hampton) is a winning full sister to the good English stakes winner Phocion and to Herminia, dam of Manchester Cup winner Herminius (by Lowland Chief).
Fun facts
- Insco's name was a contraction of that of the International Shoe Company, of which his owner, Griffin Watkins, was president.
- Insco's death in 1939 was a major factor in trainer Ben Jones' decision to split with Herbert Woolf. As was usual with Ben Jones when it came to horses, his judgment of Woolf's chances of maintaining a high level of success without Insco was correct; after the stallion's death, Woolf's racing stable tailed off sharply. In the meantime, Jones went to work for Calumet Farm—and the rest, as they say, is history, as Jones went on to become the top American trainer of the 1940s.
- Insco contributed to American racing trivia as the sire of 1938 Kentucky Derby winner Lawrin and 1940 Kentucky Oaks winner Inscolassie, to date the only brother-sister duo to win this pair of Classic races and the only Kansas-breds to win either race.
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: November 22, 2022