Sir Martin

Sir Martin (1906–1930) was a Thoroughbred racehorse that was

Sir Martin found early success overseas during his three-year-old season, winning the Wednesday Welter Handicap held at Newmarket in May 1909 shortly after arriving in Britain. Before the start of the Epsom Derby, Sir Martin was the clear betting favorite, garnering approximately $300,000 in bets from American spectators alone and going off at 3:1 odds.^[2] The weather that day was extremely wet, with the race being run in a slight drizzle. Sir Martin quickly moved to overtake the leaders, Brooklands and Louviers, at a perilous turn called Tattenham Corner. As he rounded the turn, he was crowded by the other horses (possibly by Bayardo), crossing his legs, and throwing his jockey Henry "Skeets" Martin over the rail.^[1] Sir Martin was uninjured and continued the race riderless, but he was officially recorded as not finishing. Sir Martin's jockey escaped with a cut forehead from being trampled by the other horses but ultimately survived his injuries.^[2] The Americans may have been upset at Sir Martin's defeat, but the ecstatic British crowd soon stormed the track to celebrate the victory of Minoru, the first horse owned by a reigning monarch to win the Epsom Derby.

Later career

Sir Martin followed the Epsom Derby failure with an unplaced finish in the

Sir Martin was retired from racing in 1913 and his first season as a breeding stallion in the U.K., with Winans retaining ownership, was in 1914 when his services were advertised for the Lordship Stud.[1] Sir Martin was not considered a good sire in England, but his recent status as a "half-breed" in the British stud book thwarted his chances of breeding with quality mares. The 1914 passage of the Jersey Act was intended to prevent horses with suspect bloodlines (Thoroughbred crosses) from being entered into the British General Stud Book. The Jersey Act was primarily intended to prevent American stallions from becoming prominent studs in England. This was due in part to the pervasiveness of the sire Lexington in American bloodlines, a horse whose female lineage might have not been completely Thoroughbred.^[1] While Sir Martin's male line came from certifiable British stock, his female lineage traced to Lexington through his damsire Hanover, thereby excluding him from choice matches.^[3]

Return to Hamburg Place

John Madden repurchased Sir Martin in late 1919 as a replacement for Sir Martin's ailing sire, Ogden. Sir Martin returned to the United States in 1920 and remained at Hamburg Place Stud as a breeding stallion until his death in 1930. In Kent Hollingsworth's biography of John Madden, Madden is described as having a sentimental attachment to the old stallion, considering him to be one of the two (the other being Grey Lag) best horses he ever bred.^[4] Madden died in November 1929, but as part of his will, Sir Martin was not sold and was allowed to remain on the farm as a pensioner.^[4] Sir Martin is buried in the famous Hamburg Place equine cemetery in Lexington.

Progeny

While Sir Martin did produce some stakes winners in the United Kingdom and the United States, his contribution to Thoroughbred genetics was neither overwhelming or lasting.