Archer (horse) - Early Life

Early Life

Archer was probably foaled in 1856 at Exeter Farm in Jembaicumbene, near Braidwood in New South Wales. In recent years evidence has been discovered that Archer may not have been foaled on the Exeter Farm owned by Roberts but on Royd's previous cattle farm Ballabala, owned by Hassall. This is supported by Richard William Royds' (1922-?) (one of William Edward Royd's grandsons) writing in 1983 that Archer was foaled at Ballabala; this view is supported by his widow and adopted son. All other references state that Archer was foaled at Exeter Farm, including Richard's older brother John Patrick Molyneux Royds (1920-?) in an interview published in 1969. It is also on Exeter Farm that other horses from the breeding partnership of Hassall and Roberts were foaled, including Archer's half-brother Mariner in 1854 (by Sailor By The Sea out of Maid Of The Oaks) and his full-brother William Tell in 1855 (by William Tell (GB) out of Maid Of The Oaks.

Royds died at age 27 in an accident in early 1852. Two years later, his widow Elizabeth Jane "Betsy" Royds (née Roberts) (1824–1875) married Rowland H. Hassall (1820–1904) of Durham Hall in Jembaicumben who, under the laws of the time, obtained all of Betsy's possessions at their marriage. Even though Royds' will gave him no right to do so, Hassall began selling off the Royds horses at Exeter Farm. Betsy persuaded Hassell to keep the imported stallion William Tell and six broodmares (one of which wasMaid Of The Oaks). Her brother Thomas John "Tom" Roberts (1831–1899) had inherited Exeter Farm, and as executor of Royds' estate was trying to protect the interests of his nephews; he would care for the horses. As part of the agreement, the progeny (including Archer) from the breeding program using the six mares bred to William Tell and other stallions were recorded in the stud books under the breeding partnership name of (RH) Hassell and (TJ) Roberts. The names of the two boys to whom the horses had been bequeathed, Edmund Molyneux Royds (1847–1912) (no issue) and William Edward Royds (1849–1910), were not mentioned. When the boys sued their stepfather in the 1870s their interests were finally recognised, and the breeding partnership was renamed Hassell, Roberts and Royds.

Newspaper archives of the day state that Archer travelled south from Sydney to Port Melbourne on the steamboat the City of Sydney with two of his trainer Etienne de Mestre’s other horses Exeter and Inheritor, leaving on 18 September and arriving at Port Melbourne on 21 September. Prior to the Melbourne trip, the horses had arrived in Sydney by steamer from Greenwell Point (near Nowra) on 9 September. Passengers on the City of Sydney included de Mestre and Archer's jockey, John Cutts. Archer travelled by steamboat from Sydney to Melbourne all three times that he raced in Victoria (in 1861, 1862 and 1863). Before railway facilities linked Melbourne to the other states, the only way to transport horses from state to state was by boat. In 1876 de Mestre's entry in the Melbourne Cup, Robin Hood, and ten other horses were lost at sea when the City Of Melbourne was struck by a severe storm off the coast at Jervis Bay.

A steamboat was also the vehicle that de Mestre used to get his horses (including Archer) to Sydney. His horses usually boarded a steamer at Adam's Whalf {near Terara) but due to floods in early 1860 impeding navigation, from 1860 to 1863 the horses walked eight miles (13 km) to Berry's Whalf at Greenwell Point. When horses could not be transported by steamboat, and where railway lines did not exist, trainers needed to have their horses walked and/or ridden to their destinations. In order to race at Windsor Archer would have been sent by steamship or rail from Sydney to Parramatta and overland the last 21 miles (34 km), and in order to race at Maitland Archer would have been sent by steamship to Newcastle and overland the last 20 miles (32 km). The longest distance that Archer would have walked or been ridden was 155 miles (250 km) from the end of the railway line in Campbelltown to Jembaicumbene when he retired from racing in 1864.

Another Archer story is that his jockey for the first two Melbourne Cups, John Cutts (c. 1829–1872), was an Aborigine. Johnny Cutts was (according to legend) born in the area around Nowra, and one of many Aboriginal men who replaced white stockmen who walked off the land to join the gold rush. In truth Johnny Cutts rode for many trainers in his long career as a jockey, was not from the Nowra area, and was never based there. Cutts' brother-in-law Walter Bradbury, however, lived at Terara (since he worked for de Mestre) and helped to train Archer. John Cutts Dillon was the son of a Sydney clerk and one of the best-known, best-liked and most-respected jockeys in New South Wales.