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

racehorse and broodmare. 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 yards ...

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 schedul ...

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) on ...

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 a ...

. 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 located in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. Historically part of the Stodden hundred in Bedfordshire, part of Keysoe was originally located in Huntingdonshire. Today the village forms part of the Bolnhurst an ...

and was the female-line ancestor of Display and

Ballymoss Ballymoss (1954–1979) was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career that lasted from 1956 until November 1958, he ran seventeen times and won eight races. In 1957, he became the first horse trained in Ireland to win the St Leger ...

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) styled as Hon. Frederick Stanley from 1844 to 1886 and as The Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United K ...

. The filly was sent intotraining with

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

at Bedford Lodge stables in Newmarket, Suffolk. 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 Oriental persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-per ...

, whose wins included the

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

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 a ...

, Eclipse Stakes and Ascot Gold Cup 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 in September. She ran with some promise although she finished sixth of the eight runners behind the

colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: *Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People * Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places *Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...

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 Danny Maher commenced his career at the age of 14, weighing 65 pounds. He ...

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

Epsom Racecourse Epsom Downs is a Grade 1 racecourse on the hills associated with 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, which has a crowd capacity of 13 ...

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 sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

'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. 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 a ...

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

s 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

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 rac ...

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 city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

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, also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is a species of mint, ''Mentha spicata'' (, native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is nat ...

. Granddam of Display *Trestle, brown filly, 1915, by Swynford. 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) at ...

) *

, 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 Dan ...

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

Phalaris Phalaris ( el, Φάλαρις) was the tyrant of Akragas (now Agrigento) in Sicily, 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 e ...

*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 and o ...

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