Spearmint (GB)
April 6, 1903 – June 24, 1924
Carbine (NZ) x Maid of the Mint (GB), by Minting (GB)
Family 1-c
April 6, 1903 – June 24, 1924
Carbine (NZ) x Maid of the Mint (GB), by Minting (GB)
Family 1-c
The best English-bred son of the great Australasian champion Carbine, Spearmint had great ability but was none too sound and enjoyed only a brief racing career. As a sire, he tended to pass on both stamina and faulty foreleg conformation that predisposed his progeny to unsoundness. He was fairly successful as a Classic sire but made his greatest mark on the Thoroughbred through his daughters. The most important were the great broodmare Plucky Liege, whose sons Sir Gallahad III and Bull Dog were both great successes in the United States, and Catnip, a foundation mare for Federico Tesio's Dormello Stud and the granddam of the great Nearco.
Race record
5 starts, 3 wins, 1 second, 0 thirds, £17,293 (including converted French earnings)
1905:
1906:
Assessments
In his book Sire Lines, Abram S. Hewitt estimates that Spearmint was 12 to 15 pounds behind the top juveniles of his year. Off his Derby form, Spearmint was the best of a vintage crop in England.
Champion jockey Danny Maher rated Spearmint second only to the great Bayardo among the top horses he had ridden.
As an individual
A tall bay horse with an excellent shoulder and bad knees, Spearmint stood 16 hands and had a long stride. He became heavy-topped as he matured and could not be gotten sound again after developing splint trouble following his win in the Grand Prix de Paris, although he remained in training into 1907.
As a stallion
Spearmint ranked among the top 10 English/Irish sires seven times, reaching his peak at third in 1922, and was the champion sire of 1925 in Ireland. He is known to have sired at least 24 stakes winners. He led the French broodmare sire list in 1929 and was also ranked among the top 10 English/Irish broodmare sires five times, peaking at third in 1924 and 1925. Spearmint is generally considered an influence for stamina and is a Professional chef-de-race in the Roman dosage system. Nonetheless, 41 of his 93 winners were able to score as juveniles, suggesting that he was not merely a sire of plodders.
Notable progeny
Catnip (IRE), Chicle (FR), Fausta (ITY), Johren (GB), Money Maker (GB), Plucky Liege (GB), Royal Lancer (GB), Spearhead (GB), Spelthorne (GB), Spike Island (IRE), Spion Kop (IRE), Telephus (GB), Zionist (IRE)
Connections
Foaled in England at Sledmere Stud, Spearmint was bred by Sir Tatton Sykes, who purchased the colt's dam Maid of the Mint from Sir James Duke while she was carrying the future Derby winner. The price was £1,500, with another £500 to be paid if the mare produced a colt to her 1902 union with Carbine. Spearmint fetched only 300 guineas when purchased by Major Eustace Loder at the 1904 Doncaster September yearling sales. He was trained by Peter Gilpin. Spearmint entered stud at Loder's Old Connell Stud near The Curragh, Ireland, in 1908. Following Loder's death, both Old Connell and Spearmint passed to the ownership of Loder's nephew, Major Giles Loder. Spearmint died of colic in 1924.
Pedigree notes
Spearmint is inbred 4x5x5 to seven-time English champion sire Stockwell, 5x5x5 to the great 19th-century matron Pocahontas and 5x5 to three-time English champion sire Orlando and two-time English champion sire Melbourne. He is a half brother to 1908 Newmarket Oaks winner Araminta (by Ayrshire). His dam Maid of the Mint is a half sister to 1904 Cesarewitch Stakes winner Wargrave (by Carbine) and to Honey Bird, dam of of 1914 Cambridgeshire Stakes winner Honeywood. Maid of the Mint's dam Warble (by Skylark) was a minor winner, as was her dam Coturnix (by Thunderbolt).
Books and media
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the collection of Quarter Horse Record (Susan Larkin); used by permission.
Last updated: May 21, 2020
Race record
5 starts, 3 wins, 1 second, 0 thirds, £17,293 (including converted French earnings)
1905:
- Won Great Foal Plate (ENG, 5FT, Lingfield)
- 2nd Champion Breeders' Foal Plate (ENG, 5FT, Derby)
1906:
- Won Derby Stakes (ENG, 12FT, Epsom)
- Won Grand Prix de Paris (FR, 3000mT, Longchamp)
Assessments
In his book Sire Lines, Abram S. Hewitt estimates that Spearmint was 12 to 15 pounds behind the top juveniles of his year. Off his Derby form, Spearmint was the best of a vintage crop in England.
Champion jockey Danny Maher rated Spearmint second only to the great Bayardo among the top horses he had ridden.
As an individual
A tall bay horse with an excellent shoulder and bad knees, Spearmint stood 16 hands and had a long stride. He became heavy-topped as he matured and could not be gotten sound again after developing splint trouble following his win in the Grand Prix de Paris, although he remained in training into 1907.
As a stallion
Spearmint ranked among the top 10 English/Irish sires seven times, reaching his peak at third in 1922, and was the champion sire of 1925 in Ireland. He is known to have sired at least 24 stakes winners. He led the French broodmare sire list in 1929 and was also ranked among the top 10 English/Irish broodmare sires five times, peaking at third in 1924 and 1925. Spearmint is generally considered an influence for stamina and is a Professional chef-de-race in the Roman dosage system. Nonetheless, 41 of his 93 winners were able to score as juveniles, suggesting that he was not merely a sire of plodders.
Notable progeny
Catnip (IRE), Chicle (FR), Fausta (ITY), Johren (GB), Money Maker (GB), Plucky Liege (GB), Royal Lancer (GB), Spearhead (GB), Spelthorne (GB), Spike Island (IRE), Spion Kop (IRE), Telephus (GB), Zionist (IRE)
Connections
Foaled in England at Sledmere Stud, Spearmint was bred by Sir Tatton Sykes, who purchased the colt's dam Maid of the Mint from Sir James Duke while she was carrying the future Derby winner. The price was £1,500, with another £500 to be paid if the mare produced a colt to her 1902 union with Carbine. Spearmint fetched only 300 guineas when purchased by Major Eustace Loder at the 1904 Doncaster September yearling sales. He was trained by Peter Gilpin. Spearmint entered stud at Loder's Old Connell Stud near The Curragh, Ireland, in 1908. Following Loder's death, both Old Connell and Spearmint passed to the ownership of Loder's nephew, Major Giles Loder. Spearmint died of colic in 1924.
Pedigree notes
Spearmint is inbred 4x5x5 to seven-time English champion sire Stockwell, 5x5x5 to the great 19th-century matron Pocahontas and 5x5 to three-time English champion sire Orlando and two-time English champion sire Melbourne. He is a half brother to 1908 Newmarket Oaks winner Araminta (by Ayrshire). His dam Maid of the Mint is a half sister to 1904 Cesarewitch Stakes winner Wargrave (by Carbine) and to Honey Bird, dam of of 1914 Cambridgeshire Stakes winner Honeywood. Maid of the Mint's dam Warble (by Skylark) was a minor winner, as was her dam Coturnix (by Thunderbolt).
Books and media
- Spearmint is profiled in Chapter 82 of Abram S. Hewitt's Sire Lines (1977, The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders of America; updated and re-released by Eclipse Press in 2006).
- Spearmint is profiled in Chapter 12 of Sir Charles Leicester's Bloodstock Breeding (1957, J. A. Allen & Co. Ltd.; re-released by the same publisher in 1983 as a 2nd edition updated and revised by Howard Wright).
- Spearmint is one of 205 stallions whose accomplishments at stud are profiled in Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World (2006, The Australian Bloodhorse Review), a massive reference work written by Jennifer Churchill, Andrew Reichard and Byron Rogers.
Fun facts
- Of the Derby Stakes winners to pass through the sales as a yearling, only 1958 victor Hard Ridden, who went for 270 guineas, was less expensive than Spearmint.
- Spearmint first signaled that he had exceptional talent by outworking the great mare Pretty Polly and the 1905 Cesarewitch winner Hammerkop in a private trial over the Derby distance at Newmarket, though in fairness to Pretty Polly, she was conceding 6 pounds when age and sex differences were taken into account. The day after Spearmint's Derby success, Pretty Polly won the Coronation Cup over the same course and distance and in the same time of 2:36-4/5. Spearmint was later mated to both these mares, siring 1923 Derby Stakes winner Spion Kop from Hammerkop.
- Spearmint was the first horse to win both the Derby Stakes and the Grand Prix de Paris and was the first English-based colt to win the Grand Prix de Paris since his maternal grandsire Minting in 1886. In the latter race, he demonstrated great stamina in winning the race wire-to-wire. His jockey, Bernard Dillon, later explained that he had taken the colt to the front to avoid the rough riding tactics often employed by French jockeys against English contenders.
- On his way back from his Grand Prix de Paris triumph, Spearmint was involved in a railway accident near Amiens but—fortunately for future generations—escaped with only minor injuries.
- While in training, Spearmint's barn name was "Tom."
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the collection of Quarter Horse Record (Susan Larkin); used by permission.
Last updated: May 21, 2020