Diomed
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Diomed, born in 1777, one year into the American Revolution, was an English bred thoroughbred race horse who led a life of ups and downs worthy of Anna Sewell's fictitous Black Beauty. Like Black Beauty, though he suffered great hardships and numerous indignities, all came out well in the end.
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[edit] Bright Beginnings
A bright chestnut (Diomed means "the marvel"), he was by the unraced Florizel out of the unraced Pastorella's Dam, aka Sister to Juno (both going back to the Godolphin Arabian, and Sister to Juno going back as well to Darley Arabian), Diomed was bred by the Hon. Richard Vernon and owned by Sir Charles Bunbury. He was started 19 times, winning 11, placing in 4, and showing in 3. This means he was out of the money only once if things then were as they are now.
Of these eleven wins, ten were consecutive, which included the inaugural running of the Epsom Derby in 1780. (The Derby would have been called the Epsom Bunbury if Sir Charles Bunbury had won the toss of a coin with the 12th Earl of Derby. Fortunately—he didn't.) During these early bright years of Diomed's life, he was considered by many to be the best colt seen in Britain since the great English Eclipse, known as the Thoroughbred Eclipse.
But then something changed...and it seemed to be Diomed's interest in winning. He was allowed to rest for awhile, and when he was brought back to the races, he wasn't the same horse. Sometimes he would win, and sometimes he wouldn't win, and more often the latter than the former. His last win was a King's Plate in four mile heats carrying 168 pounds. (Considering the distances run, the weights carried, and the amount of races attemped, horses back then seemed built to last.)
[edit] Long dull years
Rather ignobably, Sir Charles retired Diomed to stud. Even more ignobably, his fee was five guineas, or about $25. There were few takers, and for the next decade or so, Diomed's fee went down and down until, by the age of 21, it was two guineas. By then, there were virtually no takers, so the old stallion did nothing but graze alone.
Still, being owned by Sir Charles, he had at least a roof over his head.
[edit] The New World
At what seemed an advanced age, an age when stallions usually retire, Sir Charles offered to sell the 21 year old Diomed. For reasons not quite clear, an American called Colonel John Hoomes of Bowling Green, Virginia bought him for $250, and then shipped him to Virginia where he was returned to stud in 1798. What John Hoomes, who was a very active importer, saw in the old stallion is moot at this distance, but he surely saw something. Aside from importing bloodstock into the US, Hoomes also maintained his own racing stable and sizeable stud service in which his good friend, another influential horseman of the time, John Tayloe III, was a partner. (Poor Diomed—even at this point, his future was very much in doubt since Hoomes and Tayloe's English agent promptly wrote Hoomes a letter stating very clearly that Diomed was "...a tried and true bad foal-getter," and strongly recommended he not be put to stud.) But luck finally found Diomed. When Tayloe saw the horse his partner Hoomes had brought home, he could not help being impressed. Diomed stood 16 hands and was clean and sound and handsome. Aside from this, a stallion of Tayloe's had recently hurt himself, and Tayloe was in immediate need of a stud to replace him. Diomed went to work.
Over the hill in England, Diomed rapidly became top of the heap in America. In those days, stallions did not stand in one place, but moved from stud farm to stud farm. Diomed lived like this until he was thirty-one years old and was active to his very last days. His fee increased with his fame and his fame increased so quickly that Hoomes was able to sell a share in him for six times his purchase price soon after he set all four hooves on American soil.
[edit] Brilliant Endings
Diomed, along with Medley, Shark, and Messenger, were the four most important stallions introduced into early American bloodstock. Diomed threw many of the greatest horses in American turf history: Haynie's Maria, who beat every horse she met until she was nine, and about whom Andrew Jackson said, "...Haynie's Maria can beat anything in God's whole creation," the undefeated Ball's Florizel famous for his bad temper), Potomac, Duroc (sire of American Eclipse), and surely his greatest son of all, Sir Archie. Sir Archie had a huge influence on Thoroughbred history, siring the line which led to Timolean, Boston, and Lexington.
Diomed's get included saddlehorses for Thomas Jefferson and statesman and jurist John Marshall.
At Diomed's passing at the age of 31, it was reported, "...there was as much mourning over his demise as there was at the death of George Washington."
