Mentmore Stud and Crafton Stud were

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 c ...

horse breeding Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in ...

operations that were part of the

Mentmore Towers Mentmore Towers, historically known simply as "Mentmore", is a 19th-century English country house built between 1852 and 1854 for the Rothschild family in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. Sir Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law, George ...

estate on the

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

and

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

borders, England. The Crafton stud farm is located at

Crafton, Buckinghamshire Crafton is a hamlet in the civil parish of Mentmore, in Buckinghamshire, England. The hamlet's name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'farm where saffron grows'. Edith of Wessex, a queen of England, had a hunting lodge in the small area betwee ...

, approximately one mile from Mentmore Towers and was founded circa 1850 by

Baron Mayer de Rothschild Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

. The most notable horses from this era included Rothschild's founding

stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

King Tom King Tom was the Temne ruler of the land where the Province of Freedom, Sierra Leone was first located. He was described by John C. Lettsome as "a very fine fellow, so far as dress goes, for he generally has variegated bright colours; his hat ...

and his offspring Favonius and Hannah who between them won the Epsom Derby,

1,000 Guineas The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 ...

, Oaks, and

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 d ...

in 1871. Mentmore Stud was built between 1913 and 1914 by

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian, (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death of ...

to complement his nearby stud farm at Crafton which he had acquired through his 1878 marriage to Baron Mayer de Rothschild's daughter Hannah. The first two

s to stand at

Mentmore Mentmore is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about three miles east of Wingrave, three miles south east of Wing. The village toponym is derived from the Old English for "Menta's moor" ...

were

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

and Neil Gow. The 5th Earl won The Derby three times with Crafton-bred horses at Ladas,

Sir Visto Sir Visto (1892–1914) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and Horse breeding#Terminology, sire. In a career that lasted from 1894 to 1896 he ran thirteen times and won three races. As a three-year-old in the 1895 he won both Epsom Derby, ...

, and

. In 1929 both Crafton and Mentmore studs were inherited by

Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery Albert Edward Harry Meyer Archibald Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery, 2nd Earl of Midlothian (8 January 1882 – 31 May 1974), styled Lord Dalmeny until 1929, was a British liberal politician who briefly served as Secretary of State for Scotland ...

who subsequently bred numerous winners; two of the most notable

stallions A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" neck ...

bred at Mentmore were Epsom Derby winners

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

(1939) and

Ocean Swell A swell, also sometimes referred to as ground swell, in the context of an ocean, sea or lake, is a series of mechanical waves that propagate along the interface between water and air under the predominating influence of gravity, and thus are oft ...

(1944).

References

{{Reflist 1850 establishments in England British racehorse owners and breeders Horse farms in the United Kingdom * Buildings and structures in Buckinghamshire Culture in Buckinghamshire