A LOOK BACK AT TEDDY

With folks all around looking for change in the breeding industry the buzz words seem to be stamina and substance. Where are we supposed to get that? Well, history tends to repeat itself so here is a look back at French import Teddy who came to Virginia late in his stud career.

From TbHeritage.com:

In the first decades of the Twentieth Century, racing and breeding took on a truly international flavor. When gambling was outlawed in New York in 1908, many of the leading owners in the U.S. shifted a large part of their racing and breeding stock to England and France to compete. French bloodlines became more familiar to American breeders, who appreciated the Gallic fascination with stamina; and the French didn't snub American strains that were considered "impure" in England. There was a healthy play back and forth between the continent and America, and few horses epitomized that more than Teddy and his sons.

Teddy was by a French-bred sire and out of an English-bred dam. Born in France, circumstances forced him to race in Spain, but he returned to stand at stud in his native land and later in America. As a stallion, Teddy's influence spread all over Europe, through his good sons like Ortello, Aethelstan, and Astérus; and important daughters like Anna Bolena and Rose of England. Three of his offspring - Sir Gallahad III, Bull Dog, and La Troienne - changed the face of American breeding altogether.

Teddy was purchased by Americans F. Wallis Armstrong and Kenneth Gilpin and he stood at Gilpin's Kentmere Farm, near Boyce, Virginia. He was joined there by another great French horse with a tie to Edmond Blanc, the mighty Ksar, who arrived in 1935 at the age of 17, and died in 1937. Teddy passed in 1936 from a twisted gut aged 24 years, and was buried near the house at Kentmere. His gravestone has since been lost, but the memory of the great stallion from France remains a legacy of the place.

The entire entry can be read at: http://tbheritage.com/Portraits/Teddy.html