Spinster – the Selene of the Standardbred world.

This post has been prompted by a recent request from one of Premier Pedigrees loyal Victorian based clients requesting information on stallions that have a good connection with Spinster both past and present.
On the surface of it all we would have thought this would have been a very easy question to respond to but having googled for information on this highly influential mare we were surprised at just how little information was at our fingertips to readily reply.
So we have had to gather it through our own hard graft and the valued assistance of our Tesiopower programme.
We thought our resultant findings were worth sharing with fellow breeders as well as our other followers.
The easiest way to have gathered this information was by going into www.classicfamilies.net .
This was available on a compact disk ( some of you may still have one ) and was the brainchild of John Peck ( long time Editor of the Harness Racing International magazine ) along with another chap from WA who’s name currently eludes me for now.
A website was developed for Classic Families but somewhere along the line it changed hands and now one cannot get access to it ( comes up with an Error 304 message ) like it’s been abandoned.
One can only imagine the constant need to update it became uneconomic and it appears to have disappeared into thin air in much the same way as Gordon Campbell’s huge privately owned Computabred database disappeared into oblivion when he and his wife retired to the northern Central Coast.
Spinster is without doubt the most influential mare in the Standardbred Stud Book.
She is the Standardbred equivalent of Selene in the Thoroughbred Stud Book.
The following is not an in-depth look at the influence of Spinster on the Standardbred as a breed but rather one that summarises the various branches of her Family with specific mention of her sons and daughters and her daughters descendants as they have impacted the breed downunder ( both Australia and New Zealand ) with familiar names ( male and female ) both past and present.
Spinster derives her maternal descent from the matriarch Minnehaha ( Family 1111 in the Australian Ian Daff’s famous Black Book ) or Family U2 under it’s equivalent North American classification.
Minnehaha’s daughter Eva gave rise to two famous branches of the family through her daughters who are better known as the “Thompson sisters”, Tillie Thompson and Madam Thompson. They were full-sisters, both being by Guy Wilkes.
Of these two, Spinster is a great granddaughter of Tillie Thompson via The Miss Stokes and Minnetonka.
Spinster had four siblings; Emily Stokes ( Spencer ), Minnie Scott ( Scotland ), Pronto ( Protector ) and Tilly Tonka ( Spencer ), all females with Emily Stokes and Tilly Tonka being full-sisters to Spinster.

Spinster had the following live foals.

1936  ( filly )   Mystery Child
1937  ( male ) Light Brigade
1941  ( filly )   Rose Day
1942  ( filly )   Lady Scotland
1945  ( filly )   The Old Maid
1950  ( filly )   Vixen
1951  ( male ) Thunder On

Of the above, there were two in particular that extended the Spinster dynasty, those being The Old Maid and Lady Scotland with Vixen having a far less effect.

By going through the progeny of these three daughters of Spinster we may be able to identify the lines of influence they have created and some of the more recognised past males and females that belong to the Spinster dynasty.

               1950    Vixen:

1958  filly Sunorama
1961  filly Time Wave
1965  filly Perfect Shadow

Of these, only Time Wave was a significant producer leaving Tudor Hanover ( a sire ), Tyros Hanover, Tarpeia Hanover, Timona Hanover ( Armbro Nashville ), Tissa Hanover and Tika Hanover ( dam of Tika Belle, dam of Shady Daisy and Shady Katie ( dam of Shady Character )).

                1943   Lady Scotland:

1953  filly Breath O Spring – dam of Charming Time, Race Time, Storm Damage and Touch Of Spring ( dam of Spring Romp, Warm Breeze and Toria Hanover ( dam of Telemon Hanover )).
1956  male Hodgen’s Surprise
1957  filly  Hodge Podge – dam of Prelude Lobell ( the dam of Pammy Lobell who left It’s Levity, Paulsboro, Present Laughter and Easy To Love who’s daughter One More Kiss is the dam of Pacific Fella).
1959  male  Harold J
1960  male  Calcaneus
1962  filly    Tar Lady – dam of Ballerina, Tamara Almahurst, Tricia Almahurst, Tullamore and Tanya Almahurst ( dam of Rashad ).
1966  male  Prince Butler
1967  male  Wonder Colt

                 1945   The Old Maid:

1950  filly   Terka Hanover – dam of Gamecock, Tempest Hanover, Tarbel Hanover ( dam of Tiger Lily Lobell ( dam of Clever Innocence ) and also found in the direct maternal line of Tyler’s Best )
1951  filly   Spinster Hanover – dam of Pompanette who had La Pomme Souffle ( dam of French Chef, Plat Du Jour, Peach Melba ( dam of Kentucky Spur ) and French Dressing ( who had Sami Cam ( dam of Sutter Hanover ) ).
1953  male  Bachelor Hanover
1955  male  Thorpe Hanover
1957  male  Dancer Hanover
1958  filly    Truly Rainbow – dam of Truala Rainbow ( dam of Rectory ) and Tual Rainbow ( dam of Man Around Town )
1959  filly    Timely Rainbow – dam of Rosie Sampson ( dam of Mister Hillas ) and Byrdlesk ( dam of Frugal Gourmet ) as well as Sonny Silver.
1960  filly     Tootsie Rainbow – dam of Toliver Hanover and Tona Hanover ( granddam of Lifes Not Fair and Major In Art ).
1961  male    Torpedo Hanover
1963  filly      Truly Hanover
1965  filly      Theo Hanover – dam of Banksia who’s family is now extinct in New Zealand and Eucalyptus who’s family live on in Australia still today.

Looking at the stallion’s available today, both Major In Art and Sutter Hanover are tail female to Tillie Thompson ( Spinster’s branch ) whilst the newer stallions Poster Boy and Yankee Rockstar are tail female to Madam Thompson ( the full-sister to Tillie Thompson ).
Whilst all four of these stallion’s are accessible to Australian breeders only the promising new young sire Poster Boy is available to New Zealand breeders.

Footnote:

A very respected Southland breeder the late Alec McDonald who bred the likes of Lento and Whanau was a huge Spinster fan and liked to use wherever possible over his mares stallions well-endowed in lines of Spinster.
In more recent times a stallion that he frequently used was Grinfromeartoear because he carried the two sons of Spinster’s daughter Breath O Spring ( Race Time and Storm Damage ) up close in his pedigree which he liked.
And a favourite breeding practice was putting Falcon Seelster mares to Grinfromeartoear as the former held the presence of Touch Of Spring, a female sibling of both Race Time and Storm Damage and thus offering highly desirable sex-balancing to Breath O Spring. Any other stallion carrying Warm Breeze e.g. Shadow Play, could offer likewise.
How many Queensland breeders utilised the services of Cammibest to offset his two close-up male lines of Harold J with a female balancing line emulating the same situation with Grinfromeartoear?