Tetratema

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Tetratema
Leading sire in GB & Ireland
(1929)
Last updated on January 22, 2007

Tetratema (27 April 1917 – July 1939) was an Irish-bred, British-trained

King's Stand Stakes, July Cup and two runnings of the King George Stakes
.

At the end of 1921 he was retired from racing and returned to his birthplace in Ireland to become a breeding stallion. He became a highly successful sire of winners and regularly featured among the leading sires in Britain and Ireland. Most of his best runners inherited their father's aptitudes, being particularly successful as two-year-olds and over sprint distances. Tetratema died at the age of twenty-two in 1939.

Background

Tetratema was a grey horse bred and owned by Major Dermot McCalmont. He was a late foal, being born on 27 April 1917,[1] at the Ballylinch Stud on McAlmont's Mount Juliet estate in Thomastown, County Kilkenny.[2] McCalmont named his horse Tetratema, a choice which was described by one critic as being both "meaningless" and "ugly".[3]

He was sired by The Tetrarch an unbeaten horse who was regarded as one of the fastest two-year-olds ever seen in Britain and Ireland, but whose career was ended by injury before he could race at three. The Tetrarch showed very little interest in his stud duties (his attitude towards sex was described as being "monastic in the extreme")[4] and as a result sired few foals. Tetratema's performances enabled The Tetrarch to win his only sires' championship in 1919.[5] Tetratema's dam Scotch Gift won the Somerville Stakes at Newmarket and became a successful broodmare: her other foals included Tetratema's full-brothers The Satrap, a very fast colt who won the July Stakes and Richmond Stakes in 1926, and Arch Gift a sprinter whose wins included the Bretby Stakes.[6]

Like The Tetrarch, from whom he inherited his colour, Tetratema was trained throughout his racing career by Henry Seymour "Atty" Persse at Stockbridge in Hampshire. He was ridden in most of his races by the Australian jockey Brownie Carslake.

Racing career

1919: two-year-old season

Tetratema never contested a

New Stakes, "in a canter".[8]

In September, Tetratema returned to win the Champagne Stakes[9] at Doncaster by four lengths and in the following month he won the Imperial Produce Stakes at Kempton by six lengths from two opponents.[10] On his final start of the year he contested Britain's most important two-year-old race, the £3,000 Middle Park Stakes over six furlongs at Newmarket and won by six lengths[11] at odds of 1/4.[7] According to press reports he won very easily, making "mincemeat" of his four opponents.[12]

In the Free Handicap, a rating of the best two-year-olds to have raced in Britain that season, Tetratema was rated twelve pounds clear of his nearest rival.[13] Some contemporary observers were lavish in their praise for the colt, commenting on his "electrical speed" and the "rhythmic perfection" of his action and describing him as "the best horse of his age... a marvel".[14] His earnings for the season totaled £10,951, making him the highest earning racehorse of any age in Britain.[15]

1920: three-year-old season

Tetratema began 1920 as a leading contender for the Epsom Derby, but doubts were expressed about whether a horse with such speed could stay longer distances:

Triple Crown winner.[22]

The Derby was run on an unusually hot day in front of an estimated crowd of 250,000 including the

Royal Ascot and won the Fern Hill Stakes by six lengths from the two-year-old Galway Castle. When tested over ten furlongs in the Eclipse Stakes however,[25] he again failed to stay and finished unplaced behind the four-year-old Buchan, who won from Silvern and Allenby.[26]

Tetratema then reverted permanently to sprint distances and was never beaten again. On 28 July he ran in the

1000 Guineas in 1917 before becoming an outstanding sprinter. In what was described as a "splendid duel", Tetratema held off a strong challenge from Diadem to win by three-quarters of a length.[27] Shortly after this race it was reported that McAlmont had refused an offer of £100,000 for the colt which would have more than doubled the highest price ever paid for a British or Irish racehorse.[28] On his final race of the year, Tetratema won the Kennet Three-year-old Stakes over five furlongs at Newmarket.[29]

1921: four-year-old season

Tetratema remained in training at four and was undefeated in four races. He began his season in the

King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, in which he was opposed by a highly regarded colt named Vencedor. Carrying a weight of 143 pounds Tetratema started at odds of 6/5 won in a time of 1:01.8. Although the winning margin was only a length he was described as the easiest winner of the meeting, and it was implied that he could have won by much further had Carslake desired.[30] After winning the July Cup from the filly Princess of Mars,[31] he contested the King George Stakes at Goodwood in which he was opposed by Orpheus, who had won the Champion Stakes in October 1920. He was ridden with great confidence by Carslake, who never resorted to the whip as Tetratema won by a length from Orpheus, ending the race as if he had had no more than an exercise gallop. Some commentators, however, felt that the race would have been closer but for the indifferent performance of Orpheus' jockey, Hector Grey.[32]

Although his retirement was announced in August,[33] Tetratema returned to the track in October to end his racing career in the Snailwell Stakes over five furlongs at Newmarket. Carrying 136 pounds he won easily in a time of 1:01.6.[34] At the end of the year he was retired to breeding duty at his owner's Ballylinch Stud.[35]

Assessment

As noted above, Tetrattema was the top-rated horse in the 1919 Free Handicap. His twelve-pound margin of superiority over his contemporaries remains the largest ever recorded. At the end of the season, the Bloodstock Breeders' Review commented that "critics began to wonder whether Tetratema was not a better colt then his brilliant sire. The chances certainly are that he is better." In their book A Century of Champions, based on a modified version of the

2000 Guineas and the third best two-year-old colt of the 20th century trained in Britain or Ireland, behind The Tetrarch and Tudor Minstrel. The same authors placed him fourth (behind Abernant, Irish Elegance and Pappa Fourway) in their list of British and Irish sprinters and rated him the second best horse foaled anywhere in 1917, four pounds inferior to Man o' War[36]

Stud career

Tetratema was a highly successful breeding stallion, winning the sire's championship in 1929 and finished in the top seven on the sire's list on a total of eleven occasions. The American breeder C. V. Whitney, held Tetratema in particularly high regard and imported many of the stallion's sons and daughters to the United States.[37] Unlike his sire, whose stock performed well over a variety of distances, Tetratema's offspring were notable for their speed and precocity.[35] The best of his progeny included:

  • Fourth Hand (brown colt, foaled in 1924), winner of the Irish 2,000 Guineas
  • Royal Minstrel (grey colt, 1925), St. James's Palace Stakes, Eclipse Stakes,
  • St. James's Palace Stakes
    , top-rated British two-year-old colt
  • Tiffin (bay filly, 1926), Cheveley Park Stakes, July Cup, top-rated British two-year-old
  • Queen of the Nore (chestnut filly, 1927), female-line ancestor of the Derby winners Teenoso and Sir Percy
  • Myrobella (bay filly, 1928), July Cup, top-rated British two-year-old, dam of Big Game
  • 1,000 Guineas
  • Winsome Way (grey filly, 1928), female-line ancestor of Spectacular Bid
  • Una (grey filly, 1930), dam of Palestine
  • Bazaar (bay filly, 1931), Hopeful Stakes
  • Theft (bay colt, 1932), five times leading sire in Japan[38]
  • Foray (grey colt, 1934),
    King's Stand Stakes
    , top-rated British two-year-old

Tetratema died in July 1939 at age twenty-two and is buried at Ballylinch Stud. Reports of his death described him as "one of the most famous racehorses of all time."[39]

Pedigree

Pedigree of Tetratema (IRE), grey stallion, 1917[40]
Sire
The Tetrarch (IRE)
1911 		Roi Herode (FR)
1904 		Le Samaritain Le Sancy
Clementina
Roxelane War Dance
Rose of York
Vahren (GB)
1897 		Bona Vista Bend Or
Vista
Castania Hagioscope
Rose Garden
Dam
Scotch Gift (GB)
1907 		Symington (GB)
1893 		Ayrshire Hampton
Atalanta
Siphonia St Simon
Palmflower
Maund (GB)
1898　 		Tarporley St Simon
Ruth
Ianthe The Miser
Devonshire Lass (Family:14-a)[6]
  • Through his dam, Tetratema was inbred 4 x 4 to St Simon, meaning that this stallion appears twice in the fourth generation of his pedigree.

References

  1. ^ "LOCAL AND GENERAL". Daily News (Perth, Western Australia). 13 May 1920. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  2. ^ "McAlmont". Ballylinchstud.com. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  3. ^ "TURF NOTES". Auckland Star. 4 October 1919. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  4. ISBN 0-354-08536-0
    .
  5. ^ "Leading Sires of Great Britain and Ireland". Tbheritage.com. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Thoroughbred Bloodlines - Banter - Family 14-a". Bloodlines.net. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1-873626-15-3
    .
  8. ^ "SPORTING". Press (Canterbury, New Zealand). 17 October 1919. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  9. ^ "THE ENGLISH TURF". The Evening Post (New Zealand). 11 September 1919. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  10. ^ "ENGLISH RACING". Auckland Star. 13 October 1919. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  11. ^ "MIDDLE PARK PLATE". Evening Post. 20 October 1919. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  12. ^ "NOTES AND COMMENTS". Evening Post. 20 December 1919. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  13. ISBN 0-85112-902-1
    .
  14. ^ "TURF NOTES". Auckland Star. 27 December 1919. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  15. New Zealand Herald
    . 7 January 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  16. ^ "TURF NOTES". Auckland Star. 28 February 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  17. ^ "TURF NOTES". Auckland Star. 24 April 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  18. ^ "TURF NOTES". Auckland Star. 12 June 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  19. ^ "TURF NOTES". Auckland Star. 29 May 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  20. ^ "RACING WORLD". Auckland Star. 7 July 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  21. ^ "SPORTING". Canterbury Press. 21 May 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  22. New Zealand Truth
    . 5 June 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  23. ^ "DERBY DAY". Poverty Bay Herald. 4 June 1920. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  24. ^ a b "Spion Kop's Derby". Hobart Mercury. 29 July 1920. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  25. ^ "ASCOT RACES". Evening Post. 18 June 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  26. ^ "SPORTING". New Zealand Herald. 19 July 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  27. ^ "Papers Past — Marlborough Express — 30 July 1920 — THE TURF". Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 30 July 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  28. ^ "£100,000 REFUSED: OFFER FOR TETRATEMA". Poverty Bay Herald. 14 August 1920. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  29. ^ "NOTES AND COMMENTS". Evening Post. 3 August 1921. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  30. ^ "THE TURF". Evening Post. 5 August 1921. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  31. ^ "SUCCESSES OF ORPHEUS". Hobart Mercury. 1 October 1921. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  32. ^ "SPORTING". Hawera & Normanby Star. 13 September 1921. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  33. ^ "TETRATEMA RETIRED. LONDON, August 1". Hobart Mercury. 3 August 1921. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  34. ^ "THE TURF". Evening Post. 21 November 1921. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  35. ^ a b Anne Peters. "The Tetrarch". Tbheritage.com. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  36. ISBN 978-1-901570-15-1
    .
  37. Youngstown Vindicator
    . Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  38. ^ "Leading Sires of Japan". Tbheritage.com. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  39. ^ "DEATH OF TETRATEMA". Evening Post. 19 July 1939. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  40. ^ "Tetratema pedigree". equineline.com. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tetratema&oldid=1215710854"