Taken as a single incident, the story of Silver Fowl, alone is of passing interest, not so much a forgotten life, but one unremembered. But, in the light of that which came to pass, she cast a die on the future, which, on reflection makes a truth of: “Where destiny with Men for Pieces plays…” In 1904, the filly, Silver Fowl, was foaled in Ireland. Racing there in 1906, she ran to 3 victories, including the important National Produce Stakes. She was then sold to England, but her form deteriorated, and she failed to improve her reputation.
At the conclusion of the 1906 racing season, she was sent to stud, but before she could be bred, she injured herself in a paddock accident. Her injuries so severe that the studmaster, not wishing for the mare to endure unnecessary pain, immediately despatched a messenger to bring back with him the ‘vet’ to destroy her.
But chance was on hand… Almost simultaneously, Richard Wootten arrived in the studmaster’s office.
Australian-born Richard Wootton, who had prepared Silver Fowl during the 1906 season, was on an unannounced visit to the Stud, and her plight was made known to him. Had he visited the stud a day earlier, his “courtesy” call would have found her fit and well; a day later and she would have been dead. As fortune decreed, his call was so timed that years after the passing of all concerned, his visit on that particular day would influence the future of racing, and notably four people, bringing fruition to the dreams of three, and a sore disappointment to England’s reigning monarch.
Although severely distressed, it was Wootton’s opinion that Silver Fowl could be saved – and Wootton’s was an opinion that only a fool would ignore, for his knowledge and skill was unquestioned. Treatment was immediately started, and Silver Fowl was nursed back to health. In the course of the next years, she proved a fecund matron, breeding 14 foals, 11 of which were winners.
This story, then, which should have ended with the instruction to destroy Silver Fowl, was suddenly a simmering pot that Wootton had placed on the stove, and the culmination of his intervention was not realized until some 45 years later.
Among Silver Fowl’s 14 offspring was a daughter Soubriquet, foaled in 1919, her twelfth foal. She showed marked ability, winning five races at three years, and was runner-up in Newmarket’s One Thousand Guineas and Epsom’s Oaks Stakes. In the course of time, she bred nine foals, among them a filly, Pasca (1928), a winner of 2 of her 5 career starts who in turn bred, Pasqua. (1939)
Pasqua was one of only two filly foals of Pasca, the sixth of her dams seven produce. She showed little racing ability being unplaced in each of her six career starts. In 1949 she came up for sale, carrying a foal by Chanteur II. Fred Darling, legendary, and benchmark trainer, holidaying in South Africa, perused the sales catalogue. Liking the pedigree of Pasqua, he wired England and arranged for her purchase. Later, he was notified that he had paid the substantial sum of 2,000 guineas for his purchase. Returned to England, he viewed his purchase… and almost immediately decided that he didn’t like what he saw. He retained her just long enough for her to deliver her colt foal, and sent her off to the sales again, where under the hammer, she realised just 525 guineas!
Darling, a knowing and as astute a judge of the racehorse as there ever was, also decided that he didn’t much like the look of the colt foal either, and dispatched him to the Newmarket July Sales, 1951. It was a decision he was to rue. The beneficiary of Darling’s decision to sell Pasqua’s foal at those July Sales, was an aging Sir Victor Sassoon, who for a modest 1,500 guineas acquired the yearling. Then 69 years of age, he had spent a fortune in his endeavours to secure good horses. The best to this time was his One Thousand Guineas winner, Exhibitionist (1934)... but the Epsom Derby was the prize he sought… the prize he had always sought.
On the English Racing Calendar, only one major race, Epsom’s Derby Stakes, had eluded Britain’s perennial Champion Jockey, Gordon Richards,. In 27 attempts, he had failed to steer home a winner of the race he most desperately wanted to win. Wootton intervention those many years ago on the fateful day that Silver Fowl was injured, was about to chance 1953 was a special year in England – Coronation Year, the year beginning of a second Elizabethan Age. Pageantry was everywhere, and hope filled the air. Epsom, 1953, was a vintage year.
Darling, so dismissive of the colt he had bred (and from which he did not see any profit, his outlay of 2,000 guineas recovering only 2,025 guineas (which became a loss when commissions were deducted), was desperately ill and confined to his bed. Now he fervently hoped that he would crown his achievements, and add breeder (it could have been, should have been owner/breeder) of a Derby winner to his credit of trainer of Derby winners.
Gordon Richards reflected on his 27 rides, and with a resigned, but determined will, silently promised to do all to guide his mount to victory, and put lay to his hoodoo. Sir Victor Sassoon, in the vale of his years, silently prayed that his colt would achieve his dream. The colt son of Pasqua, named Pinza, duly obliged, and each player in that Coronation year, achieved his Chateau en Esapagne.
Shortly after, Fred Darling died. Gordon Richards, knighted just prior to the running of Epsom’s Classic, within two months was injured in a paddock accident, the filly he was riding rearing over backwards and rolling on him. He retired forthwith. And Sir Victor Sassoon, he, despite his advanced years, went on to own three more winners of this race, his last when 79 years!
The young Queen Elizabeth II was the dispossessed. Had Wootton not been on hand that fateful day, Pinza would not have been born, and Her Majesty’s horse, Aureole, second to Pinza, would have been the winner; and Queen Elizabeth II would have become the only reigning monarch to own a winner of the most sought after Classic in the world, Epsom’s Derby Stakes.
Ergo…
