Breeding
Stockwell was foaled in Stockwell, England, at the stud farm of William Theobald. His sire, The Baron was a successful racehorse and sire. His dam Pocahontas was a roarer – a trait never demonstrated in Stockwell himself, but passed to several of his descendants. Pocahontas later also produced the successful sires, Rataplan and King Tom.
The chestnut was not a particularly pretty horse; he was described by one turf writer as "the very incarnation of ugliness," possessing a plain head with a slight Roman nose and hindquarters like a carthorse. He had good feet, strong legs and was very powerful, however, giving him the ability to carry high weights. Although a poor mover he was very fast; his speed made up for his terrible temperament, which was considered "a bit savage". Stockwell stood over 16 hands high with a stripe on his nose, a sock on his off (right) hind leg, another mid-cannon sock on his near (left) hind leg and Bend-Or spots on his coat.
Although the colt was thought to be "over-large," Brownlow Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Exeter purchased the yearling for 180 sovereigns, with the contingency that he would pay £500 more if Stockwell won the Epsom Derby.
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Famous quotes containing the word breeding:
“We have been God-like in our planned breeding of our domesticated plants and animals, but we have been rabbit-like in our unplanned breeding of ourselves.”
—A.J. (Arnold Joseph)
“Good breeding and good nature do incline us rather to help and raise people up to ourselves, than to mortify and depress them, and, in truth, our own private interest concurs in it, as it is making ourselves so many friends, instead of so many enemies.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Civility, which is a disposition to accommodate and oblige others, is essentially the same in every country; but good breeding, as it is called, which is the manner of exerting that disposition, is different in almost every country, and merely local; and every man of sense imitates and conforms to that local good breeding of the place which he is at.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)