The Tetrarch (IRE)
April 22, 1911 – August 8, 1935
Roi Herode (Fr) x Vahren (GB), by Bona Vista (GB)
Family 2-o
April 22, 1911 – August 8, 1935
Roi Herode (Fr) x Vahren (GB), by Bona Vista (GB)
Family 2-o
When The Tetrarch came out for his maiden race, observers laughed at his oddly marked coat with its white and black splashes, calling him “The Rocking Horse.” After the colt ripped through an unbeaten juvenile season, the nickname changed to “The Spotted Wonder.” Unfortunately, The Tetrarch's 3-year-old season ended before it began, as he was injured while in training for the 1914 Derby Stakes. His stud career was likewise both brilliant and marked by misfortune: although he transmitted a high level of class, he was a shy breeder and his fertility declined rapidly after his first three breeding seasons, leaving him completely sterile after 11 seasons at stud. Nonetheless, he wielded great influence as a sire, particularly through his champion daughter Mumtaz Mahal.
Race record
7 starts, 7 wins, 0 seconds, 0 thirds, £11,336
1913:
Honors
English champion 2-year-old male (1913)
Assessments
Highweighted on the Free Handicap for English-raced juveniles of 1913, 10 pounds ahead of second-rated Corcyra.
As an individual
A gray horse of good size and substance, The Tetrarch had a tremendous shoulder, powerful hindquarters and a very strong, straight hind leg. He had a slight dip in his back, which became more pronounced as he aged. He had a long overstride at the walk (his hind foot stepped well beyond the print left by the forefoot on the same side) and was prone to striking himself at a canter or slow gallop, though not at full racing speed; it was this propensity that caused the injuries that ended both his 2-year-old season and his racing career. He was said to have had a “strong” personality but was pleasant of disposition other than a quirk about having his feet handled by anyone he did not know well. Because of his career-ending injury, his true capacity for stamina was never known, but both trainer Atty Persse and regular jockey Steve Donoghue expressed complete confidence that he would have stayed classic distances.
As a stallion
The Tetrarch was the English/Irish champion sire of 1919; he was also third in 1920 and 1923, fourth in 1922, seventh in 1921 and 1924 and ninth in 1918 and 1926. According to Sir Charles Leicester's Bloodstock Breeding, he sired 80 winners (61.5%) from 130 foals. Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World (Churchill, Reichard and Rogers) records The Tetrarch as having sired at least 25 stakes winners (19.2%). The Tetrarch is an Intermediate chef-de-race in the Roman dosage system.
Notable progeny
Caligula (IRE), Chief Ruler (GB), Herodias (GB), Moti Mahal (GB), Mumtaz Mahal (GB), Paola (GB), Polemarch (GB), Salmon-Trout (GB), Snow Maiden (IRE), Stefan the Great (IRE), Tetratema (IRE), The Satrap (IRE)
Connections
The Tetrarch was bred by Edward Kennedy, who had imported his sire Roi Herode to Ireland with the intent of trying to revive the Herod sire line in the British Isles. He was owned by Major Dermot McCalmont, who purchased him for 1,300 guineas from the 1912 Doncaster yearling sales. He was trained by McCalmont's cousin, Henry Seymour “Atty” Persse, who according to some sources was the actual purchaser of the colt but had to sell him to McCalmont shortly afterward due to lack of funds. The Tetrarch entered stud in 1915 at Thomastown Stud near Kilkenny, Ireland, and later moved to McCalmont's new Ballylinch Stud, where he was pensioned after he became infertile. He died in August 1935 and was buried at Ballylinch.
Pedigree notes
The Tetrarch is inbred 4x4 to 1873 Derby Stakes winner Doncaster and to 1884 Goodwood Cup winner Speculum. He is also inbred 4x4 to either Rouge Rose or to Clemence, depending on which mare was the actual dam of Vahren's paternal grandsire Bend Or (see The Mystery of Bend Or); both appear in the pedigree of The Tetrarch's sire Roi Heroide through daughters.
Vahren, a winner of three races over 9 to 11 furlongs, was sired by 1892 Two Thousand Guineas winner Bona Vista, a five-time champion sire in Hungary. She also produced the 1912 Russian Oaks winner Coup d'Or (by John O'Gaunt) and Nicola (by Symington), dam of 1920 Coventry Stakes winner Milesius (by Roi Herode). Vahren was produced from the unraced Hagioscope mare Castania, whose dam Rose Garden (by Kingcraft) also failed to win but was a half sister to 1888 One Thousand Guineas winner Briar-Root (by Springfield) and herself produced Gloire de Dijon (by Galopin), a major stakes winner in Germany.
Books and media
Fun facts
Race record
7 starts, 7 wins, 0 seconds, 0 thirds, £11,336
1913:
- Won Woodcote Stakes (ENG, 6FD, Epsom)
- Won Coventry Stakes (ENG, 5FD, Ascot)
- Won National Breeders' Produce Stakes (ENG, 5FD, Sandown)
- Won Rous Memorial Stakes (ENG, Goodwood)
- Won Champion Breeders' Foal Stakes (ENG, Derby)
- Won Champagne Stakes (ENG, 6FD, Doncaster)
Honors
English champion 2-year-old male (1913)
Assessments
Highweighted on the Free Handicap for English-raced juveniles of 1913, 10 pounds ahead of second-rated Corcyra.
As an individual
A gray horse of good size and substance, The Tetrarch had a tremendous shoulder, powerful hindquarters and a very strong, straight hind leg. He had a slight dip in his back, which became more pronounced as he aged. He had a long overstride at the walk (his hind foot stepped well beyond the print left by the forefoot on the same side) and was prone to striking himself at a canter or slow gallop, though not at full racing speed; it was this propensity that caused the injuries that ended both his 2-year-old season and his racing career. He was said to have had a “strong” personality but was pleasant of disposition other than a quirk about having his feet handled by anyone he did not know well. Because of his career-ending injury, his true capacity for stamina was never known, but both trainer Atty Persse and regular jockey Steve Donoghue expressed complete confidence that he would have stayed classic distances.
As a stallion
The Tetrarch was the English/Irish champion sire of 1919; he was also third in 1920 and 1923, fourth in 1922, seventh in 1921 and 1924 and ninth in 1918 and 1926. According to Sir Charles Leicester's Bloodstock Breeding, he sired 80 winners (61.5%) from 130 foals. Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World (Churchill, Reichard and Rogers) records The Tetrarch as having sired at least 25 stakes winners (19.2%). The Tetrarch is an Intermediate chef-de-race in the Roman dosage system.
Notable progeny
Caligula (IRE), Chief Ruler (GB), Herodias (GB), Moti Mahal (GB), Mumtaz Mahal (GB), Paola (GB), Polemarch (GB), Salmon-Trout (GB), Snow Maiden (IRE), Stefan the Great (IRE), Tetratema (IRE), The Satrap (IRE)
Connections
The Tetrarch was bred by Edward Kennedy, who had imported his sire Roi Herode to Ireland with the intent of trying to revive the Herod sire line in the British Isles. He was owned by Major Dermot McCalmont, who purchased him for 1,300 guineas from the 1912 Doncaster yearling sales. He was trained by McCalmont's cousin, Henry Seymour “Atty” Persse, who according to some sources was the actual purchaser of the colt but had to sell him to McCalmont shortly afterward due to lack of funds. The Tetrarch entered stud in 1915 at Thomastown Stud near Kilkenny, Ireland, and later moved to McCalmont's new Ballylinch Stud, where he was pensioned after he became infertile. He died in August 1935 and was buried at Ballylinch.
Pedigree notes
The Tetrarch is inbred 4x4 to 1873 Derby Stakes winner Doncaster and to 1884 Goodwood Cup winner Speculum. He is also inbred 4x4 to either Rouge Rose or to Clemence, depending on which mare was the actual dam of Vahren's paternal grandsire Bend Or (see The Mystery of Bend Or); both appear in the pedigree of The Tetrarch's sire Roi Heroide through daughters.
Vahren, a winner of three races over 9 to 11 furlongs, was sired by 1892 Two Thousand Guineas winner Bona Vista, a five-time champion sire in Hungary. She also produced the 1912 Russian Oaks winner Coup d'Or (by John O'Gaunt) and Nicola (by Symington), dam of 1920 Coventry Stakes winner Milesius (by Roi Herode). Vahren was produced from the unraced Hagioscope mare Castania, whose dam Rose Garden (by Kingcraft) also failed to win but was a half sister to 1888 One Thousand Guineas winner Briar-Root (by Springfield) and herself produced Gloire de Dijon (by Galopin), a major stakes winner in Germany.
Books and media
- The Spotted Wonder, by “The Tetrarch,” was released as a paperback in November 2014 by AuthorHouseUk. Under the pen name of “The Tetrarch,” the book is written as if it were an autobiography.
- The Tetrarch is profiled in Chapter 63 of Abram S. Hewitt's Sire Lines (1977, The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association; updated and re-released by Eclipse Press in 2006).
- The Tetrarch 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
- The Tetrarch's name derives from that of his sire, Roi Herode (“King Herod” in English). Herod the Great was the tetrarch of Judea under the Romans prior to his being given the title of “King of the Jews” by the Senate of Rome.
- The mating that produced The Tetrarch came about by chance, as Edward Kennedy had planned to run Roi Herode in the 1910 Chester Cup and retired him to stud late in the spring of 1910 solely because the horse had broken down while in training. Vahren was likewise available for the mating only because she had produced a late foal to the cover of John O'Gaunt.
- As a foal, The Tetrarch was chestnut with black patches, later assuming the gray coloring of his sire.
- The Tetrarch won the 1913 Coventry Stakes by 10 lengths, an exceptional margin in a 5-furlong race.
- Because of The Tetrarch's touchiness about who he would permit to handle his feet, his personal farrier traveled with him during his racing career.
- According to the National Horseracing Museum at Newmarket, The Tetrarch was voted Britain's best 2-year-old of the 20th century.
- The Tetrarch's stud box at Ballylinch had his name spelled out on the floor in mosaic work.
- During the stallion's time as a pensioner, The Tetrarch was used as a hack.
- The Tetrarch Stakes is staged at The Curragh in Ireland. Currently a listed race, it is carded for 3-year-olds over 7 furlongs and is considered a prep for the Irish Two Thousand Guineas (IRE-I).