Keystone (also known as Keystone II, 1903 – 1929) was a British

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorse and

broodmare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...

. Having suffered from ill-health as a juvenile she recorded an emphatic win in the

Epsom Oaks The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 ya ...

on her second racecourse appearance. She went on to win the

Coronation Stakes The Coronation Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 7 furlong and 213 yards (1,603 metres), and it is sche ...

and three other races as well as finishing second in the

Jockey Club Stakes The Jockey Club Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs (2,414 metres) ...

and a possibly unlucky fourth in the

St Leger The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over ...

. She failed to win in the following year and was retired from racing. As a broodmare she produced the St Leger winner

Keysoe Keysoe is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bolnhurst and Keysoe, in the Bedford district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 432. On 1 April 1934 the parish was aboli ...

and was the female-line ancestor of

Display Display may refer to: Technology * Display device, output device for presenting information, including: ** Electronic visual display, output device to present information for visual or tactile reception *** Cathode-ray tube (CRT), that uses an el ...

and

Ballymoss Ballymoss (1954–1979) was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse trained in Ireland by Vincent O'Brien for whom he became the first top-class horse on the Flat. In a racing career that lasted from 1956 until November 1958, the horse ran se ...

Background

Keystone was a bay mare bred in England by her owner

Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby (15 January 1841 – 14 June 1908), known as Hon. Frederick Stanley until 1886 and Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886–1893, was a Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician in the Un ...

. The filly was sent intotraining with

George Lambton George Lambton (23 November 1860 – 23 July 1945) was a British thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse horse trainer, trainer. He was British flat racing Champion Trainer in the 1906, 1911 and 1912 seasons. Early life The Honourable George Lamb ...

at Bedford Lodge stables in Newmarket,

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. She was sired by

Persimmon The persimmon () is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus '' Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Chinese and Japanese kaki persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki''. In 2022, China produced 77% of the world's p ...

, whose wins included the

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

St Leger The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over ...

Eclipse Stakes The Eclipse Stakes is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Sandown ...

and

Ascot Gold Cup The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards (4 ...

and who went on to be British champion sire on four occasions. Her dam Lock and Key was a minor winner and a descendant of the influential British broodmare Splitvote.

Racing career

1905: two-year-old season

Keystone was troubled with a respiratory infection in 1905 and made her only appearance in the Champagne Stakes at

Doncaster Racecourse Doncaster Racecourse (also known as the Town Moor course) is a racecourse in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It hosts two of Great Britain's List of British flat horse races#Group 1, 36 annual Group One, Group 1 flat races, the St Leger ...

in September. She ran with some promise although she finished sixth of the eight runners behind the colt Achilles.

1906: three-year-old season

On her first run as a three-year-old Keystone was partnered by the American jockey

Danny Maher Daniel Aloysius Maher (October 29, 1881 – November 9, 1916) was an American Hall of Fame jockey who also became a Champion jockey in Great Britain. U.S. riding career Daniel Aloysius "Danny" Maher commenced his career at the age of 14, wei ...

in the 128th running of the Oaks Stakes over one and a half miles at

Epsom Racecourse Epsom Downs is a Grade 1 racecourse in a hilly area near Epsom in Surrey, England which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. The "Downs" referred to in the name are part of the North Downs. The course has a crowd capacity of 130,000 includin ...

on 1 of June. Despite her lack of experience she was made the 5/2 favourite ahead of the

Duke of Portland Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ...

's Quair (3/1) and William Bass's Gold Riach (5/1). The race began in "very threatening" weather conditions and finished in a

hailstorm Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

. Keystone took the lead two furlongs out and never looked in any danger of defeat, winning the race "in very easy style" by three lengths from Gold Riach with a gap of six lengths back to Snow Glory in third. Later in June the filly was dropped back in distance for the Coronation Stakes over one mile at

Royal Ascot Ascot Racecourse is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, about 25 miles west of London. Ascot is used for thoroughbred horse racing, and it hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 races and three Gra ...

. With Maher again in the saddle she won at odds of 8/13. On 12 September at Doncaster Keystone was matched against male opposition in the

St Leger The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over ...

and started the 5/4 favourite. In a very close race she joined the leaders in the straight but after being hampered in a very rough race she faded in the final strides and finished fourth behind the colts Troutbeck, Prince William and Beppo, beaten less than a length by the winner. Two weeks after the Leger she finished second to Beppo in the £10,000

Jockey Club Stakes The Jockey Club Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs (2,414 metres) ...

over fourteen furlongs at Newmarket. In October she returned to form to take the £5,000

Sandown Park Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt races and one Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Stakes. It regularly has horse racin ...

Great Foal Stakes, starting at odds of 1/4 and winning easily from Wombwell and Prince William. She won at least two other races that year including a minor race at

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

at the end of the year.

1907: four-year-old season

Keystone remained in training as a four-year-old but failed to recapture her best form and did not win a race.

Assessment and honours

In their book, ''A Century of Champions'', based on the Timeform rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Keystone an "average" winner of the Oaks. Keystone was the biggest winner of first-place prize money in England in 1906, with her five wins yielding £12,832.

Breeding record

After her retirement from racing Keystone became a broodmare for Lord Derby's stud. On her owner's death in 1908 she passed into the ownership of his son the 17th Earl. Keystone was euthanised in 1929 after not being bred since 1925. She produced at least eight foals between 1911 and 1924: *Lock Up, a chestnut filly, foaled in 1911, sired by Bridge of Canny *Keynote, filly, 1912, by Radium. *Hemlock, bay filly, 1913, by

Spearmint Spearmint (''Mentha spicata''), also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is naturalized in many othe ...

. Granddam of

*Trestle, brown filly, 1915, by

Swynford Swynford (January 1907 – 18 May 1928) was a British Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse. Bred at the Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, 16th Lord Derby's stud in Lincolnshire, England he was sired by John O'Gaunt (horse), John O'Gaunt, a so ...

. Granddam of The Nile (

Poule d'Essai des Pouliches The Poule d'Essai des Pouliches is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) ...

) *

, brown filly, 1916, by Swynford. Won the St Leger. Female-line ancestor of

*Archaic, chestnut colt, 1917, by

Polymelus Polymelus (1902–1924) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who was the leading sire of racehorses in Great Britain and Ireland for five years (1914, 1915, 1916, 1920, 1921). Among his most famous descendants are Secretariat and Northern Dancer ...

. Runner-up in the Derby *Phalange, bay filly, 1921, by

Phalaris Phalaris () was the tyrant of Akragas (now Agrigento) in Sicily in Magna Graecia, from approximately 570 to 554 BC. History Phalaris was renowned for his excessive cruelty. Among his alleged atrocities is cannibalism: he was said to have eaten ...

*Bythorne, brown filly, 1924, by Swynford

Pedigree

* Keystone was

inbred Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders an ...

4 × 4 to Lord Clifden, meaning that this stallion appears twice in the fourth generation of her pedigree.

References

{{Epsom Oaks Winners 1903 racehorse births 1929 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Thoroughbred family 2-u Epsom Oaks winners