Hollandoise, or alternatively Hollandaise, (1775–1782) was a grey British

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

mare that won the 1778

St. Leger Stakes 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 a ...

, the first horse to win the event under its formal title. Raced sporadically from 1778 to 1782, Hollandoise won eight races in 14 starts. She died suddenly shortly after her last race in 1782 before producing any offspring.

Background

Hollandoise was foaled in 1775 at the farm of her breeder, Thomas Stapleton, at Carleton near

Snaith Snaith is a market town and parish in the civil parish of Snaith and Cowick in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town is close to the River Aire and the M62 and M18 motorways. The town is located west of Goole, east of Knottingle ...

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. She was sired by the Thoroughbred foundation stallion

Matchem Matchem (1748 – 21 February 1781), sometimes styled as Match 'em, was a Thoroughbred racehorse who had a great influence on the breed, and was the earliest of three 18th century stallions that produced the Thoroughbred sire-lines of today, in ...

, the principal progenitor of the Godolphin Arabian sire line and a sire known for "gameness and soundness." Virago was a daughter of the Panton Grey Arabian, an imported stallion owned by the jockey Thomas Panton that stood at Newmarket. Virago was a successful racehorse in the 1760s that won races over long distances, including multiple King's Plates, before she was retired to Stapleton and Gascoigne's stud. Virago produced nine foals from 1769 to 1779, with Hollandoise being her fifth foal. In addition to Hollandoise, Virago produced her grey full-brother Tarare and half-sister Gunilda. Gunilda (called Virago in the United States) produced the successful American racemare Virago (sired by Shark) and is the maternal ancestor of Kentucky Derby winner

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. Hollandoise was jointly owned by Thomas Stapleton and Sir Thomas Gascoigne during her racing career. Reported to be Stapleton's "favorite mare", no portrait of Hollandoise was commissioned by Stapleton due to her sudden death in 1782.

Racing career

St. Leger

Unraced as a two-year-old, Hollandoise's first start was for the

St. Leger Stakes 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 a ...

. A two-mile stakes race with terms identical to the St. Leger had been run at

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

in September since 1776, but the race was not formally called the St. Leger until the 1778 running on 22 September. Bets were laid 5-2 against Hollandoise with the favorite being a colt sired by Wildair owned by Sir John L. Kaye. Ridden by George Herring, she beat seven horses, the Wildair colt second, in what was deemed an "easy" race.

Later career

Hollandoise did not race during the 1779 season and ran only once in 1780, winning a 500- guinea match race against Mr. Douglas's colt Sting. At the Newmarket Spring meeting in April 1781, Hollandoise was beaten by Dictator for a 200-guinea sweepstakes race. Shortly after the loss, she was sold to Lord Clermont at the Second Spring meeting at Newmarket. Racing again at

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on 25 September 1781, Hollandoise won a 50-guinea subscription race against Mr. Fox's horse Rodney and the following day won a match race against Epsom for £50. However, the purse was split between Lord Clermont and Epsom's owner Mr. Hull to resolve a dispute that arose over the validity of Hollandoise's weight allowance. In October 1781, Hollandoise lost a subscription race to

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in the final race of his career. At Newmarket, Hollandoise won a 140-guinea and 70-guinea Purse race in her final starts of the season. In 1782 at the Craven meeting, she lost the Craven Stakes to the future foundation sire and multiple stakes winner

Pot-8-Os Potoooooooo or variations of Pot-8-Os (1773 – November 1800) was an 18th-century thoroughbred racehorse who won over 30 races and defeated some of the greatest racehorses of his time. He went on to be an important Stud (animal), sire, whose le ...

and lost a subscription race to Buccaneer. At Newmarket, she beat Standby to win the King's Stakes and lost again to Pot-8-Os in a 25-guinea subscription race. A few weeks later at Newmarket she won a £50 race beating Anvil and Arske. Lord Clermont received 85 guineas from Mr. Wentworth when his horse Fearnought backed out of a match race. Hollandoise died shortly after the Second Spring Newmarket meeting in May or June 1782 of an unspecified illness. A correspondent from ''Sporting Magazine'' wrote years after her death that the horse was "allowed to be as good a mare as any that ever ran in England."

Pedigree

*Cade and Lath were full-brothers, causing Hollandoise to be inbred 3x4 to both the Godolphin Arabian and Roxana.

References

{{St Leger Winners 1775 racehorse births 1782 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in the Kingdom of Great Britain Racehorses trained in the Kingdom of Great Britain Thoroughbred family 9-a Godolphin Arabian sire line St Leger winners