CRABBET Journal • Winter 2009

MARES OF SIGNIFICANCE - SILVER GREY by Rosemary Archer

SILVER GREY was one of the crop of foalsborn at Crabbet in 1957, the year of LadyWentworth’s death, and thus the last to bebred by her.Her sire, Royal Diamond, was a son of Oran

(by Riffal ex Astrella), a stallion bred atHanstead. Oran was acquired by LadyWentworth as a four-year-old and was in factthe last stallion of solely Blunt breeding to beused at Crabbet. Royal Diamond’s dam wasthe striking Raktha daughter Grey Royal outof Sharima (by Shareer ex Nashisha). GreyRoyal died at a comparatively young age andnone of her offspring remained all their lives inthis country, except her Anglo-Arab daughterGrey Imperial by Derby winner Airborne.Royal Diamond, a very impressive grey,

was exported to the US by Cecil Covey whenhe had to reduce the horses at Crabbet oninheriting the Stud. Royal Diamond left just

three fillies in this country, the other twobeing Dancing Diamond, who was retainedby Crabbet, and Silver Paradise who was soldto Mrs S Bomford.Silver Grey’s dam was the illustrious Silver

Gilt by Indian Gold, the sire of so manygreat broodmares, including Gleaming Goldand Serafina, dam of Serafix, by Raktha,who was exported to the U.S. and at onetime was the leading sire of show winners inthat country.Silver Gilt’s dam, Silver Fire, could be said

to have founded a dynasty of her own andher fame has spread throughout the world.She was by Naseem out of Somra and tracedin the female line to Sobha, the mare ofAbbas Pasha blood-lines bred by MahmudBey who kept his horses with Ali PashaSherif in Cairo, and imported by the Bluntsin 1891.

Silver Grey had nine foals and her first,Silver Sheen by Bright Shadow was born in1962, stands out as the most successful ofher offspring. She was bred by Cecil Coveyand bought as a weanling by Mrs EileenThomas whose Metcombe Stud was thenone of the most important in the country.Silver Sheen had sixteen foals and proved herworth under Wilfred Blunt’s criteria of atruly valuable brood mare as she producedsons who became top-class sires.Silver Grey and Silver Sheen were not only

exceptional brood mares, they created arecord at the AHS National Shows which isunlikely to be beaten by any other motherand daughter combination.In 1963 Silver Sheen was Champion Filly

and then stood Reserve to her mother for theFemale Championship. Silver Grey, thoughnot shown as often as her daughter, was

■ history

8

Silver Grey as an older mare with Iona Bowring Photo: Photonews

CJ Winter 09 QX ABR:- 22/11/2009 0:22 pm Page 8

CRABBET Journal • Winter 2009

history ■

never beaten in her class and twice won theFemale Championship, whilst Silver Sheenwon it three times in succession from 1968.In fact, these two mares between them wereFemale Champion on six occasions andReserve Champion three times, twice to eachother! In 1974, Silver Grey and Silver Sheen,with their foals and Silver Sheen’s daughterSilver Shimmer, won the Princess MunaSaddle of Honour Class for Family Groups.Silver Sheen’s most influential son was

undoubtedly Silver Blue, by Azrak andfoaled in 1969. Azrak was by Blue Dominoout of Silent Wings and Mrs Thomas, whowas known to make candid comments onher own horses, said this of Azrak, “He wasa charmer at home but a lunatic in theshowring, so he went to South Africa. I thinkthis was one of my greatest mistakes, he hasleft three first class foals behind from hisonly three mares.” Azrak’s daughter BlueSylphide (out of Crystal Magic) and sonSilver Blue, both inherited his brilliantaction, and passed it on to their descendents.Silver Blue won at the AHS National

Show when two years old and was ReserveJunior Champion to the three-year-oldHaroun. Mrs Thomas kept only mares in thestud and the few stallions she had wereboarded out. Silver Blue was broken in as athree-year-old and then stood at Mrs PHowell’s Kingsettle Stud. Later, when illhealth forced Mrs Thomas to cut down herhorses, Silver Blue was bought by Mrs andMrs Crosswell. Then in 1975, Mr and MrsDavid Wright bought a half share in him.Four years later, Lady Townshend boughtthe Crosswell’s share and Silver Blueremained in this partnership, spendingalternate years at the Sky and Moulton

Studs. He had many successes in the show-ring, including Champion at the RoyalShow in 1977 and Reserve Champion toRalvon Pilgrim at the first InternationalClasses held at Ascot.Silver Blue sired a very large number of

foals but space does not permit the mentionof more than just a few of them. Suffice tosay that he had a colossal influence and hisname appears in the pedigrees of manypresent day top horses in the showring and

in performance, for his descendants areknown for their striking action.At the Moulton Stud, Silver Blue was

particularly successful with mares ofYemama’s line. She was by Indian Magic andout of Silent Wings (Azrak’s dam) so thefoals of this breeding carried a double crossto her. Silver Blue Wings had an impressiveshow record, and others include Silver BlueDream, whilst Ivory Wings would be famousmerely as the dam of Imad.Lady Townshend bred for performance, as

well as good looks, and Silver Blue siredwinners in-hand, under saddle and racing,from her mares, including Apollo Sky, SkyHermes and Atlanta Sky.The lovely Golden Silver, out of Golden

Ludo, was perhaps Silver Blue’s best son. He,too, was a very successful sire of showwinners and performance horses, includingShaded Silver, Sunne in Silver and RosaliahGold. Golden Silver’s son, Blue Lucius outof Ludovici, sired Shimmering Blue Jasminewho has competed with the BritishEndurance Team.Two sons of Silver Blue still alive are Silver

Blue Ludo out of Golden Ludo, with theCarpenters in France, who has bred goodstock which are breeding on in the U.K., andSilmalia Blue, out of Gamalia, with MrsPaulette Weir in Norfolk.In 1971, Silver Sheen was purchased by

Mrs Iona Bowring (now McVean) and thefollowing year had her first filly, the lovelySilver Shimmer by Fari II. Her daughter

9

Silver Gilt with Sunset as a foal

Silver Grey as a yearling

CJ Winter 09 QX ABR:- 22/11/2009 0:22 pm Page 9

CRABBET Journal • Winter 2009

Silver Starlet, by Indian Star, bred some highquality foals but at the age of eight SilverShimmer was exported to Australia when infoal to El Shaklan. The resulting foal, SilverGlint, was the dam of two AustralianNational Champions. One of these,Windella Silver Fascination, was put to theAmerican-bred SK Shakla Khan whose damwas mainly of old Crabbet blood-lines fromthe Kellogg and Selby importations. Theclock has now gone full full-circle for the foalshe produced, Windella Silver Sensation,after twice winning the Australian NationalChampionship, was imported into the U.K.and in 2006, in the ownership of HeatherBrown, was British National Champion.In 1973, Silver Sheen produced Silver

Sword, by Ringing Gold. He was bought byMr and Mrs Walls and made an importantcontribution to Scottish breeding before hewas exported to the U.S. in his middle age.His progeny included Ringing Sword andRinging Sovereign.In fact, several of Silver Sheen’s foals went

abroad but Silver Mantilla, by Manto bornin 1975, remained in England. Her foalsincluded the lovely mare Mantilla’s Pride, by Sabek.In 1979, Silver Sheen was covered for the

first time by a stallion carrying lines otherthan ‘English’. This was Ben Rabba, who wascarried Davenport blood, and was importedinto the U.K. on loan to Mrs Beatrice Paineto re-introduce the Nasik sire line. SilverAura was National Champion mare whenfour years old and she bred some good foals.She spent the last few years of her life withAnne Brown who describes her as having anexceptionally kind nature. Silver Aura hasleft some promising performance horses.Silver Sheen’s 1982 foal was a bay filly,

Silver Sheba by Fari II. She produced thevery successful endurance mare Jade Rani,by Dhruv, another who has competed withthe British Endurance Team.The following year, Silver Sheen had

Crystal Sheen, by Crystal Magician, anothersuccessful show mare. Her daughter, thelovely Silvern Sheena, who is in fact double

Silver Grey, her sire being Silvern Sceptre,has won top honours under saddle.Silver Sheen’s last foal, born when she was

24, was Spirit of Silver by Ludomino, and soonce again combining the Wright’s verysuccessful blood-lines of Silent Wings andBlue Domino with this branch of the SilverFire line. Spirit of Silver was bought byRichard and Carol Carpenter and spentsome years in France. He is a good sire ofendurance horses and is now back inEngland owned jointly by Mr and MrsTobin and Mrs Hazel Crowle. Thispartnership also have Lufti Pasha, a son ofSilver Blue Ludo and Lusarah.Silver Sheen was retired from stud in1987

at the age of 25 and was put down two yearslater. With such an enormous extendedfamily it is understandable that she shouldhave a great influence here and overseas andapologies are due for those horses notmentioned in this article.Silver Grey was not such a prolific breeder

as her famous daughter, nevertheless, there

are other lines from her which have provedto be of importance.Silver Grey had only three foals at Crabbet

before Cecil Covey disbanded the stud andshe went Iona Bowring. It was discoveredthat she had not been producing enoughprogesterone and once this was rectified,Silver Grey had another six foals.Her second foal Silver Crown, by Indian

Magic and born in 1964, had no foals atCrabbet before she was bought by Frances,Duchess of Rutland. She was not a prolificbreeder but in 1970 she had the importantmare Crowning Glory, by Mikeno. She wasput Bright Shadow (who Cecil Covey hadgiven to the Rutland Stud in 1971) andproduced Bright Crown in 1975. He had agood show record and proved to be avaluable stallion.Bright Crown sired a number of top

winners in-hand and under saddle,including Bright Cavalier, out of Soumanaof Fairfield, an International RiddenChampion. Another son, Silvern Gleam, out

■ history

10

Royal Diamond

Rose of Bediya Bright Cavalier

Bright Crown, grandson of Silver Grey, breed at the Rutland Stud Photo: Ross Laney

CJ Winter 09 QX ABR:- 22/11/2009 0:22 pm Page 10

CRABBET Journal • Winter 2009

history ■

11

of Silvern Dream, was exported to SouthAfrica where he and his progeny have wonnumerous National Championships in-handand under saddle.The beautiful Silver Circlet, out of

Argenta, was an outstanding daughter ofBright Crown. At the Rutland Stud she bredSilver Sceptre, by Silver Idyll, who wasbought by David and Jean Peck. He not onlywon Championships in-hand and undersaddle but proved a valuable sire. His sonsinclude PHA Silver Risalm and the geldingSilvern Enchanter, both HOYS Championswho need not introduction, and thepreviously mentioned Silver Sheena.Silver Grey’s next foal, Silver Rani 1970 by

Hanif, was the third and last born atCrabbet. She was bought by GeoffreyPlaister. Possibly her best daughter wasRachinka, by Marania Gold, who went toWendy Carr. Put to Rezolute Bay sheproduced the lovely Razilka who won atNational level as a filly.Silver Aatifa, also by Hanif, arrived in

1972. She went to the Brogden family inCumbria and left some descendants, butmost of their lines appear to have died out.In 1973 Silver Grey produced her first

colt, Silver Sabre by Ringing Gold. A lovelyfoal, he sadly turned out to be a rig and sowas gelded. Bought by Libby Whittome hebecame a great ambassador for the breed inScotland competing in shows and HunterTrials, as well as Long Distance Rides andRide and Tie.

Silver Scimitar, by Bright Shadow andthus a full-brother to Silver Sheen, was bornthe following year. He is the only son ofSilver Grey to have been used at stud in thiscountry. Amongst his progeny are thebeautiful mare Diamond Treasure, out ofSun Diamond, and Silver Auriole out ofSilver Aura.Silver Grey’s next foal Autumn Silver, by

Fari II and born in 1975, left offspring atSilverdale Stud before she was exported to Canada.Shimmering Silver, by General Grant and

foaled in 1977, was one of Silver Grey’s bestfillies. Sadly she died young and her twocolts, by King Cotton Gold, also went to Canada.At the age of 21 Silver Grey had her last

foal, Boroboedoer by Banat, who wasexported to Holland and later went to theU.S.. That year she was retired from stud.Through many descendants she has

abroad as well as in the U.K. she has left alegacy which should be treasured as avaluable contribution to the influence ofCrabbet blood-lines. ■

Naresh

Spirit of Silver Silver Sheen 1969 Photo: Photonews

Silvern Sceptre Photo: Peter & Marilyn Sweet

CJ Winter 09 QX ABR:- 22/11/2009 0:22 pm Page 11