Variation (horse)

Variation (1827–1847) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare who won the classic Oaks Stakes at Epsom Downs Racecourse in 1830. The Oaks was Variation's racing debut and she went on to win a total of eight races from fifteen starts. Her other successes included three match races, the Oatlands Stakes, and two editions of the Garden Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse. Her best performance was probably her win in the 1831 Garden Stakes in which she defeated a very strong field over a distance of two miles. She was retired from racing in 1833 and had some success as a broodmare.

Variation
SireBustard
GrandsireCastrel
DamJohanna Southcote
DamsireBeningbrough
SexMare
Foaled1827
CountryUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
ColourBay
BreederMr Nowell
OwnerWilliam Scott Stonehewer, Sr.
TrainerR Pettit
Record15:8-2-2
Major wins
Oaks Stakes (1830)
Match against Zucharelli (1830)
Match against Mouche (1831)
Oatlands Stakes (1831)
Garden Stakes (1831, 1832)
Match against Rough Robin (1832)

Background

Variation was a bay mare bred in 1827 either by Mr Nowell[1] or by William Scott Stonehewer, Sr.[2] Stonehewer, a "great sporting man" from a "good old Yorkshire family",[3] owned her during her racing career. She was the eighth foal produced by her dam, a daughter of Beningbrough named Johanna Southcote (1811–1834).[2] Variation was the only classic winner sired by Bustard, a horse which won the Dee Stakes at Chester Racecourse in 1816.

Racing career

1830: three-year-old season

Variation made her racecourse debut in the Oaks Stakes over one and a half miles at Epsom on 28 May. She was ridden by George Edwards and started a 28/1 outsider in a field of eighteen fillies with the 1000 Guineas winner Charlotte West being made the 3/1 favourite. She won the classic by two lengths from Lord Sefton's filly Mouche, with Charlotte West unplaced.[4] Stonehewer reportedly rewarded Edwards with £500 for his riding of the filly.[5] Variation next appeared at Goodwood Racecourse in August, where she raced against colts in the Drawing-room Stakes. Carrying top weight of 122 pounds she finished unplaced behind Erymus.[6]

In autumn Variation had three engagements at Newmarket's Second October meeting. On the opening day of the meeting she ran a match race at level weights against a colt named Zucharelli. She won the ten furlong match very easily[7] for a prize of 200 guineas.[8] Four days later she ran in the Newmarket Gold Cup over the Abington Mile course and finished second of the twelve runners, finishing a head behind the four-year-old colt Harold after hanging to the left in the closing stages.[9] On the same day, Variation collected a prize of 100 guineas without having to race, when her scheduled opponent, a filly named Carmine, failed to appear for a match over ten furlongs.[10]

1831: four-year-old season
The start of the Goodwood Gold Cup, 1931, Lord Chesterfield's Priam, His Majesty King William IV's Fleur De Lis, and mr Stonehewer's Variation (John Frederick Herring, Sr., 1831)

Variation began her second season on 4 April, the opening day of the Newmarket Craven meeting. She met the Oaks runner-up Mouche in a match race over ten furlongs. Ridden by James Robinson, she carried three pounds more than her opponent and won the match by half a length[11] to win a prize of 200 guineas.[12] Three days later at the same meeting, the filly carried top weight of 113 pounds in a class of the Oatlands Stakes which was run over the two mile Ditch In course. With Robinson again in the saddle she started the even money favourite and won by three lengths[13] from the colts Donegani and Beagle.[14] At the next Newmarket meeting she started the 4/6 favourite for a sweepstakes over ten furlongs but finished last of the three runners behind Sir Mark Wood's Captain Arthur. The Sporting Magazine commented on the filly's inconsistency by saying that "she has not her name [Variation] for nothing".[15]

Variation ran twice without success at the meeting at Goodwood Racecourse in July. She finished unplaced in the Goodwood Stakes and last of three runners behind Priam in the Goodwood Cup on the following afternoon.[16]

The filly returned to winning form at Newmarket in autumn. On 17 October she contested the two mile Garden Stakes and started at odds of 5/1 in a field of seven runners. Ridden by Robinson she won the £900 prize, beating the 2000 Guineas winner Augustus with Captain Arthur third and the Ascot Gold Cup winner Lucetta fourth.[17] At the Newmarket Houghton meeting on 3 November, Variation ended her season by beating Lord Wilton's Rough Robin in a 200 guinea match over ten furlongs.[18]

1832: five-year-old season

All of Variation's races in 1832 took place at Newmarket. She began her five-year-old season on 7 May when she finished second, attempting to concede fourteen pounds to General Grosvenor's colt Sarpedon in a sweepstakes over the Ditch In course.[19] The Sporting Magazine's correspondent felt that a lack of fitness contributed her defeat on this occasion.[20] Later that month she finished unplaced when carrying top weight of 124 pound in a ten furlong handicap race.[21]

After a break of almost five months, Variation returned in October for a second Garden Stakes. Conceding at least fifteen pounds to her opponents, she won from Colonel Peel's three-year-old colt Sluggard and two others.[22] On 30 October at the Houghton meeting, the mare carried top weight in a two-mile handicap and won from Isaac Day's five-year-old Mazeppa.[23]

1833: six-year-old season

Variation made one appearance as a six-year-old in 1833. On 22 April she started 4/7 favourite for the Optimist Stakes over two miles at Newmarket but was defeated by her only opponent, a mare named Volage.[24] She was then sold to Thomas Thornhill and retired from racing.[25]

Stud record

Variation became a broodmare for Thornhill's stud. She bred eleven live foals for a variety of owners in thirteen years, all but one of them sired by The Derby winner Emilius. Variation died in 1847 at the age of 20.[26]

The best of her foals was Pompey (foaled 1840), a colt who won the Great Yorkshire Handicap and finished second in the Northumberland Plate. An unnamed daughter of Variation was the direct female ancestor of Phaeton, a colt who was exported to Kentucky where he sired King Alfonso, who became a successful breeding stallion.

Pedigree
Pedigree of Variation (GB), bay mare, 1827[27]
Sire
Bustard (GB)
1813		 Castrel
1801		 Buzzard Woodpecker
Misfortune
Alexander mare Alexander
Highflyer mare (1780)
Miss Hap
1806		 Shuttle Young Marske
Vauxhall Snap mare
sister to Haphazard Sir Peter Teazle
Miss Hervey
Dam
Johanna Southcote (GB)
1811		 Beningbrough
1791		 King Fergus Eclipse
Creeping Polly
Fenwick's Herod mare Herod
Pyrrha
Lavinia
1802		 Pipator Imperator
Brunette
Highflyer mare (1790) Highflyer
Cardinal Puff mare (Family:9)[28]

References
  1. Edward and James Weatherby (1840). The General stud book. 4. Charles Reynell. p. 473. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  2. Charles and James Weatherby (1855). The General stud book. 3 (3 ed.). Reynell and Weight. p. 114. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  3. "23 May 1882 - OBITUARY. WILLIAM SCOTT STONEHEWER, ESQ., J.P". Launceston Examiner. 23 May 1882. Retrieved 2013-01-03.
  4. Edward and James Weatherby (1831). Racing calendar. 1830. C & W Reynell. p. 54. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  5. Sporting magazine (May-Aug. 1830). M A Pittman. 1830. p. 184. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  6. Edward and James Weatherby (1831). Racing calendar. 1830. C & W Reynell. p. 130. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  7. Sporting magazine (Nov. 1830-Apr. 1831). M A Pittman. 1831. p. 47. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  8. Edward and James Weatherby (1831). Racing calendar. 1830. C & W Reynell. p. 214. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  9. Sporting magazine (Nov. 1830-Apr. 1831). M A Pittman. 1831. p. 51. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  10. Edward and James Weatherby (1831). Racing calendar. 1830. C & W Reynell. p. 219. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  11. Sporting magazine (May -Oct. 1831). M A Pittman. 1831. p. 5. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  12. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1832). Racing calendar. 1831. C & W Reynell. p. 9. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  13. Sporting magazine (May -Oct. 1831). M A Pittman. 1831. p. 7. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  14. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1832). Racing calendar. 1831. C & W Reynell. p. 14. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  15. Sporting magazine (May -Oct. 1831). M A Pittman. 1831. p. 68. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  16. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1832). Racing calendar. 1831. C & W Reynell. p. 153. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  17. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1832). Racing calendar. 1831. C & W Reynell. p. 231. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  18. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1832). Racing calendar. 1831. C & W Reynell. p. 243. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  19. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1833). Racing calendar. 1832. C & W Reynell. p. 25. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  20. Sporting magazine (1832). M A Pittman. 1832. p. 130. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  21. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1833). Racing calendar. 1832. C & W Reynell. p. 47. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  22. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1833). Racing calendar. 1832. C & W Reynell. p. 211. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  23. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1833). Racing calendar. 1832. C & W Reynell. p. 224. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  24. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1834). Racing calendar. 1833. C & W Reynell. p. 24. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  25. Edward and Charles Weatherby (1834). Racing calendar. 1833. C & W Reynell. p. 545. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  26. C, J and E Weatherby (1866). The General stud book. 5. C, J and E Weatherby. p. 129. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  27. "Variation pedigree". equineline.com. 2012-05-08. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  28. "Family 9 Descent Chart". Tbheritage.com. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
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