Noor, the forgotten champion who defeated two Triple Crown winners

Occasionally, it seems like the universe is nudging me to write about a certain subject, and apparently the racehorse Noor is clamoring to have his story told. The first little push I got came with the passing of the Aga Khan (IV) a few weeks ago whose horses I have followed for many years. I was sitting on my bed reading the news, musing on what a sad loss it was for the racing world, and wondering if any of his family would take over his world-famous breeding and racing operations when my eyes happened to land on the little Grand Wood Carving model of (what I thought was) Noor on my shelf. Noor was bred by the late Aga Khan's grandfather (III) who held the same hereditary title and was the founder of one of the greatest breeding dynasties in horse racing. 

The subject of Noor then came up again tangentially in another project I recently finished, and I was reminded of the fact that Noor was the first of only two horses to ever defeat two Triple Crown winners.*  His story is quite an interesting one, but the universe does like its little jokes, and so I wrote this whole long post about Noor thinking I had a model of him. I don't. I have a model of Needles, the first Florida-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby.

In my defense, the names both start with N and Noor was black while Needles was bay. I have no idea why Grand Wood Carving made their Needles models black instead of brown. (They also played fast and loose with white markings on all of their horse models.) Anyway, I spent a lot of time writing this, so by golly, I'm going to share it. Noor was an incredible talent who never really got the accolades he deserved, and perhaps this post will someday inspire an OF run in his likeness. (Don't mind me innocently looking in the direction of New Jersey, Indiana, and Tennessee.)

Plot twist! This is not Noor...

So, back to the Aga Khan III. Ever since I can remember, I have been obsessed with two of the greatest horses of the British turf, The Tetrarch and his fleet grey daughter Mumtaz Mahal. Neither were bred by the Aga Khan, but when he began to seriously acquire horses in the 1920s, his purchase of Mumtaz Mahal at auction ended up being one of those flukes of history that changes everything.

Mumtaz Mahal was a sensational racehorse, so much so that she is still considered one of the fastest horses of all time. She also proved to be a hugely influential broodmare---while her offspring were middling for the most part as racehorses, as producers, they were quite literally superstars. Mumty's daughters produced, among others, the Epsom Derby winner and top sire Mahmoud, Arc winner Migoli, champion sprinter Abernant, and most important of all, the super-sire Nasrullah. (Mumty's tail-female line also gave us Petite Etoile, Royal Charger, Shergar, Octagonal, and Zarkava, to name just a few, but that's a story for another day.)

This tale begins with Nasrullah, a son of Nearco out of Mumtaz Begum (Blenheim x Mumtaz Mahal), who was bred in Ireland by the Aga Khan and foaled in 1940. His racing career was somewhat chaotic coming as it did in the midst of World War II and because Nasrullah himself was a temperamental horse who had a tendency to loaf when he made the lead in a race. Nonetheless, when he felt like running, he proved to be sensational enough to be considered the top two year-old in England in 1942, and he won the prestigious Champion Stakes and finished a good third in the Epsom Derby as a three year-old the following year.

While Nasrullah was assuredly a talented runner, his true greatness came in the breeding shed. He found immediate success in his first six seasons at stud in Ireland and England, getting winners of the Epsom Derby, the 1000 and 2000 Guineas, the St. Leger, the Irish Derby, the Champion Stakes, and more. Just as his stud career was really taking off, Nasrullah was purchased by Claiborne Farm in 1950. He was imported to the USA where he became one of the most influential stallions of the 20th century---not just a great sire, but a sire of sires. His sons include the likes of Bold Ruler (sire of Secretariat), Never Bend (sire of Mill Reef), Red God (sire of Blushing Groom), and the great champion Nashua to name but a few.

Following the example of Bull Hancock at Claiborne Farm who, in addition to Nasrullah, had imported European-bred stallions like Sir Gallahad (sire of Gallant Fox), Blenheim (sire of Mahmoud through whose daughters descend Northern Dancer and Sunday Silence), and Princequillo (whose daughters made an ideal nick with Nasrullah), a number of other American owners were on the look-out for the next great stallion prospect from Europe. One of these was Charles Howard who had raced Seabiscuit to much acclaim during the Great Depression. Howard's champion had died in 1947, and he hoped to find a new potential champion to race for a year or two before setting him up as a stallion. He was also in failing health due to a degenerative heart condition and was looking for a last taste of greatness.

In 1948, he purchased two sons of Nasrullah from the Aga Khan, Nathoo and Noor. Nathoo had won the Irish Derby and Noor's best performance had been a solid third place finish in the Epsom Derby. Nathoo ultimately never took to dirt racing and was a flop at stud for Howard. Noor on the other hand was destined for greatness.

Noor in 1950

The word "noor" means "light" in Arabic, a rather ironic name for a coal black horse. His dam, Queen of Baghdad, had already produced a stakes winner, and she was a tail-female descendant of the great filly Sceptre who won four of the five English classics, a feat no other horse has ever duplicated.** So it's not surprising that a horse with a pedigree like Noor's turned out to be something out of the ordinary.

Travel from England was hard on Noor, and he arrived in California too thin and suffering from osselets. Howard and his trainer Burley Parke decided to let the colt rest and recuperate for nearly a year before slowly bringing him back to racing form. Their patience paid off, and Noor began to exhibit some talent when he took to the dirt for the first time at Bay Meadows in October of 1949. Noor was a closer, so he started off with a late rushing win by a nose followed by several hard charging close second and third place finishes. He showed enough promise that he was moved into stakes company where he continued to run well, so much so that Howard and Parke decided to run him in the San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita in February 1950.

Noor faced Citation, the 1948 Triple Crown winner, for the first time in the San Antonio. Like Noor, Citation had spent most of 1949 recovering from osselets, but rather than being sent to stud, his owner, Warren Wright, Sr., of Calumet Farm, had sent him back to the track in hopes of making him the first horse to win one million dollars. Also in the field was Calumet's 1949 Kentucky Derby winner Ponder whom Noor has bested in their mutual previous start though Noor had carried 13 pounds less than Ponder (and both horses were beaten by a longshot called Solidarity). In the San Antonio, Ponder turned the tables, winning by a length over his stablemate Citation with Noor closing fast to finish third by half a length. It would be the only time Citation finished ahead of him.

Noor's connections were so pleased with his performance that they entered him in "the Hundred Grander," the Santa Anita Handicap that Seabiscuit had so famously won for Howard in 1940. Calumet Farm sent out Citation, Ponder, and their champion filly Two Lea. Also in the field were But Why Not, another champion filly, Solidarity, and Miche, the horse that broken Citation's famous 16 race winning streak. The two fillies set the pace for much of the race, and as the field swept into the homestretch, Citation and Ponder both began their closing runs. Noor (carrying 22 pounds less than Citation) found another gear and swept past all three Calumet horses, wining by a length and a quarter over Citation and breaking the old track record for a mile and quarter set by Seabiscuit 10 years earlier. It was the last race Howard would attend in person.

Noor and Citation faced off again a little over a week later in the mile and three quarter San Juan Capistrano. Noor once again received a weight break of 13 pounds from Citation. Noor closed from well-back as usual, and he and Citation dueled all the way down the stretch with Noor finally prevailing by a nose at the wire. He set a new American record for the distance, and technically Citation broke the old record as well. 

After 10 tough races, Noor was given a break for several months during which Charles Howard passed away after suffering a heart attack. He left his racing stable to his beloved wife Marcella and his sons. They dispersed most of the horses but kept Noor to finish out the year as a tribute to Howard. 

Noor and Citation met once again in Noor's first start back in June 1950, the mile and an eighth Forty Niner Handicap, and this time, Noor carried only five pounds less than Citation. Noor stalked the pace from behind while Citation was more forwardly placed. At the top of them stretch, Citation took command from the leaders and looked home free. But Noor kicked in the afterburners and closed quickly, collaring his rival and battling him stride for stride to the wire. Noor prevailed by a neck and broke the world record for the distance in the process. Once again, Citation also broke the record in defeat.

The two champions faced off for the last time a week later in the Golden Gate Handicap where Noor was finally given a higher impost than Citation---he carried 127 pounds to Citation's 126. Noor's naysayers claimed that only uneven weights had allowed him to best Citation, but Noor put that story to rest when he walloped Citation by three lengths in the mile and a quarter race in which he once again set a world record. 

In his next start, the American Handicap, Noor won carrying 32 pounds more than the second place finisher. He was then shipped east to Belmont Park against his trainer's better judgement, but Marcella and the Howard boys wanted to try him against the best east coast runners. As ever, Noor was a poor shipper and didn't handle the travel well. He ran second in all three starts at Belmont which included the prestigious Manhattan Handicap and the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the traditional year-ending championship race in the years before the Breeders Cup. In the latter, he was defeated by Hill Prince, that year's Preakness winner who was ultimately named three year-old champion and Horse of the Year. 

Upon returning to California, Noor was rested for almost two months before being entered in an allowance race as a freshener. He won by an easy seven lengths, defeating the good stakes winner Palestinian and the 1946 Triple Crown winner Assault. Noor closed out the year and his career with a scintillating win over Palestinian and Hill Prince in the Hollywood Gold Cup. Had the Horse of the Year award been determined at the end of the year instead of after the Jockey Club Gold Cup in October, Noor might have earned that title after getting his revenge on Hill Prince. He was at least awarded the title of champion handicap male horse (now the champion older male Eclipse).

Many great horses who ran in California in the 1940s and 1950s like Seabiscuit, Swaps, Citation, Terrang, Kelso, and Silky Sullivan were immortalized by the Hagen-Renaker company and later produced by Breyer. Despite his record-breaking season in 1950, Noor was seemingly overlooked.

At this point, I had planned to tell a bit of the history of the Grand Wood Carving company and the racehorses they produced, but that's a moot point as far as this post is concerned, so I'll tackle it another day.

In 1951, Citation did finally top one million dollars in earnings, making him the first horse to do so. Noor by that time had been retired to stud at Howard's Ridgewood Ranch, and once that property was sold, he moved to several other California farms. He was largely a failure at stud, but he did produce the stakes placed filly Noor's Image who is best known as the dam of Dancer's Image, the first horse to be disqualified from a Kentucky Derby win.

Noor spent the last 10 years of his life at Loma Rica Ranch in Grass Valley, CA. He died at the ripe old age of 29 in late 1974 and was interred in the infield of the little training track on the ranch. Loma Rica eventually became an organic farm, and finally in 2010, it was slated to become a housing development, the sad fate of so many old horse farms. Intrepid racing fans stepped in and located Noor's remains, and they were eventually conveyed to Old Friends near Lexington, KY, where he was reburied beside fellow legends like Springsteel and Skip Away.

One could argue that Assault and Citation were past their prime when they faced Noor, and in the case of the former, that is likely true. Assault was retired to stud after his four year-old season, but proved to be infertile and was returned to training. He never quite regained his top form, and he faced Noor in his final season as a seven year-old. Citation on the other hand was only narrowly beaten by pushing Noor to set multiple speed records. Citation was still a world beater even in defeat, and it only goes to show just how talented Noor really was.

Not Noor and his not-rival Citation hang out in model form on my shelf. I'm bummed that my model is not Noor after all, but he resembles that great horse more than Needles, so I'm just going to pretend he's Noor for a while. I hope you enjoyed this post even though it doesn't really have any model tie-ins. Maybe someday, it will.

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* Noor defeated Assault and Citation, the 1946 and 1948 Triple Crown winners respectively. The only other horse to accomplish that feat was Exceller who beat Seattle Slew (1977 TC winner) and Affirmed (1978) in the 1978 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

** In 1902, Sceptre won the 1000 Guineas, the 2000 Guineas, the Epsom Oaks, the St. Leger, and ran a good fourth in the Epsom Derby despite a foot bruise. This would be akin to a filly in the USA winning the Triple Tiara, the Preakness, the Belmont, and running fourth in the Kentucky Derby. Granted, the St. Leger is run in the fall, so it's not an exact comparison, but it's an absolutely insane achievement.

A Window in Time: The 1948 Dodge Incorporated catalog

A little over a year ago while looking for various things on eBay, I stumbled across a remarkably well-preserved piece of model horse history, and in my inimitable slow fashion, I am finally making time to write about it. Regular readers of this blog will recall my surmise that the plastic Hartland Victor and Breyer Western Horse clocks made for the Mastercrafters Clock and Radio Company were very likely inspired by a metal horse standing over a clock produced by Dodge, Incorporated, a company that specialized in trophies, cutlery, metal serving dishes, figurines, and more. The horse was sculpted by noted artist Gladys Brown Edwards in 1947, and Dodge produced them in various sizes, with and without clocks and bases.

A Dodge, Inc, clock, circa late 1940s (photo from eBay)

I intend to write a post about Gladys herself in the near future, but the story of Dodge, Inc, needs to be told first. It's really rather fascinating in my opinion---I confess I'm always a little amused when our weird niche hobby has ties to the wider world, especially to fame and celebrity, and this is definitely one of those stories. Dodge, Inc, was founded by Ray Edgar Dodge, a native of Woodburn, OR, in the Willamette Valley just south of Portland. Born in 1900, Dodge was the son of a successful department store owner, but he didn't immediately follow in his father's entrepreneurial footsteps. In college, Dodge joined the track team and was so talented as a middle-distance runner that he not only participated in the 1924 Paris Olympics, but he also spent the next few years winning championships on an international stage. [1]

He returned to the United States in 1927 and went into business for himself with his Olympic teammates as his primary stockholders. He opened stores in Chicago and Los Angeles selling high quality class rings, medals, and trophies. By 1935, his booming business expanded to New York and began to include items like flatware and figurines. During World War II, like so many other American businesses, his company switched gears to produce metal goods for the war effort.

While Dodge did manufacture affordable trophies that could be ordered by groups like horse show associations and the like, the company is most famous for producing the Oscar trophies for the Academy Awards as well as those for the Emmy Awards, the Rose Bowl, and the Orange Bowl. [2] It's pretty cool to think that these famous statuettes may have rubbed shoulders with GBE's parade horses at one time.

Oscar trophies (photo via CNN)

My eBay find of course was not an Oscar statuette nor even a Dodge horse clock, but it's something even better in my opinion. I stumbled across a perfectly preserved copy of the 1948 Dodge, Inc, catalog complete with a price list and additional product inserts. Paper ephemera from the 1940s and 1950s related---even tangentially---to the model horse hobby, is so rare. I'm sure most of it was produced with no thought of it being preserved for even a few years, let alone nearly 80 years. I feel incredibly lucky to be the current caretaker for this amazing piece of history, and I'm thrilled to be able to post about it here.

History is meant to be shared, so I will eventually get all of the pages of this catalog uploaded to my Model Horse History website. In the meantime though, I thought these pages were particularly interesting to model horse collectors.

The catalog opens with a nice piece about Gladys Brown Edwards and her sculptures for Dodge, beginning with the horses.

It also features some of her other animal sculptures, like dogs and wildlife.

When I bought the catalog, I had no idea what was inside other than a couple of random page views included in the auction listing. I gasped out loud when I found this gorgeous double page spread showing the Western parade horse in all of the various sizes and iterations.

I love having the original advertising for pieces in my collection. If I ever haul these heavy guys to a live show, I'll have the perfect provenance to display with them.

I hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse into the past as much as I have! I'm finally through the busiest part of the current academic year work-wise, so I should have more time for blogging again going forward. Next up will be more on the Chris Hess papers held in the Stone Horse company archives. That story also has some fun ties outside the world of model horses, and I'm looking forward to telling it soon!

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Works Cited:


1) https://www.dodgefamily.org/Genealogy/RayEdgarDodge.ht%23

2) https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-03-31-me-18962-story.html

Problems with Old Western Horses: Vinegar Syndrome Redux?

The subject of Breyers with vinegar syndrome (aka shrinkies/oozies) comes up regularly on social media, and my post here on the subject is the second most viewed post I've ever written. The TL;DR version of it is that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Breyer unknowingly used some bad plastic that is now spontaneously breaking down. It results in models that shrink, ooze, discolor, and slowly collapse. This problem seems to be akin to vinegar syndrome in old film. The vast majority of models affected by vinegar syndrome were made between about 1987 and 1992 although a handful of slightly earlier outliers have been found (from about 1984-1985, but they are very rare).

That said, Western Horse fans have been aware for a while now of some problematic models from the very beginning of Breyer's history. They are the early chalky plastic palomino and alabaster Western Horses with black hooves made from about 1950-1952. Thankfully, only a small percentage of these early models seem to be affected, but it's sad to see all the same. 

I first encountered one of these problematic Western Horses about 10 or 15 years ago when my mom discovered that one of our palominos mounted beside a Mastercrafters clock had strange filmy, discolored paint where his hind legs connected to his body. The damaged area was about an inch wide and had deep grooves etched into the plastic. The horse had looked completely normal when we bought the clock some 15 year earlier, and we wondered if it had been touched up by the somewhat unscrupulous dealer from whom we had purchased it. My mom had planned to just throw the horse away since fixing him would be more trouble than it was worth, but I rescued him and took him home with some thoughts of customizing him. I put him in my body box and forgot about him for a while.

At some point, while rooting around in the box looking for another body, I realized that the cracks in one of the Western Horse's hind legs had gotten so deep that his leg had completely separated and fallen off. A few years later, the other hind leg fell off as well. Since then, the horse has developed the same weird filmy deposits where his front legs meet the body. They will undoubtedly fall off at some point, too.

The current state of the Western Horse. My sister dubbed
him Pick Up Sticks.

This model has been out in the open since I brought him home years ago (the body box was not covered), so whatever ooze has leached from the plastic has evaporated quickly leaving behind the weird white-ish film. It's definitely become worse and more extensive over the years, but interestingly, the body, head, neck, and tail show no signs of shrinking or warping unlike the later shrinkies from the '80s and '90s. His lumpy back is (I think) partly a known mold flaw and partly the result of this horse having been intended to stand over a Mastercrafters clock when he was first made. He has the typical belly depression to accommodate the clock, but he must have been made just as Mastercrafters switched to horses standing beside clocks instead of over clocks. The depression on this one is deeper than on either of our Western Horses standing over clocks (which, knock on wood, do not seem to be vinegar syndrome victims). Interestingly, you can see the weird filmy dried ooze in his belly depression, too.

 

This photo shows the very opaque nature of chalky plastic.

For years, the hind legs showed no signs of disintegration except in the area between the rump and hocks where they ultimately split. Now, the detached hind legs feel powdery all over and have started developing pimples on the pasterns.

The front legs have warped inward as well as forward (see the first picture above for the latter). I imagine the front legs will fall apart at some point in the next few years. I'll be curious to see what if anything happens to the body.

When I was visiting my family a few weeks ago, while going through boxes of show horses to photograph and inventory, I sadly found a second vinegar syndrome Western Horse victim, this time an alabaster. Only a few years ago, this model was absolutely pristine. He looked practically new from the factory despite being almost 75 years old. He was stored in a clear plastic bag, and as soon as I pulled him from the box, I saw that his formerly bright gold bridle and breastcollar had turned green, and the reins were corroded and rusty-looking. I wondered briefly if we'd accidentally gotten the model wet at some point, resulting in the unsightly tarnished paint and damaged metal reins. As soon as I pulled the horse from the bag though, I caught the tell-tale whiff of vinegar. I also quickly realized that the model was actively oozing from the bottom of his hind feet. Yuck!

Ooze in the bottom of the storage bag

Ooze leaking from the bottom of the feet. (I'm not sure if
the seam split is new.)

You can see the hind legs starting to curl forward a bit and the
faint discoloration beginning between the rump and hocks.

As with the palomino, the legs
have warped together.

 

 

All of the gold paint has become badly tarnished.

 

 

The reins are now badly corroded.

 

 

The ooze from the horse has turned the old show tag into little
more than tissue paper, and all of the ink has been eaten away.

 

 The hind legs on this model are just starting to show signs of discoloration and pimpled plastic. It's harder to see the discoloration on a white model, but it's definitely there.

 

 

I'm pretty bummed this formerly lovely old Western Horse is doomed to disintegrate. Needless to say, my sister and I went through all of the rest of our early black-hooved Western Horses to check them, and thankfully they all seem to be fine. Fingers crossed they stay that way!

 

Sadly, early Breyers do not seem to be the only models affected. Collectors on Facebook have reported  two models by other manufacturers that seem to have suffered a similar fate. One was a brown Superior Plastics horse whose legs fell off but the rest of the body was otherwise apparently unaffected. And the other was an early palomino Hartland Champ with the peg hole saddle that shrunk as well as disintegrated. (The Hartland may be a separate aberration.) All of these models date to the early 1950s, and all three companies may have sourced their problematic plastic from the same manufacturer (quite possibly Tenite from Eastman Kodak). It was early days for the plastic toy industry, so it's not entirely surprising that some of the kinks had not been worked out.

The good news is that so far, these non-typical shrinkies (disintegraties?) are not common. I've only seen a few examples of black-hooved Western Horses that are falling apart; the vast majority of them seem to be unaffected. Sarah and I have about a dozen of them between us---on clocks, on lamps, and freestanding---and only the two shown in this post have become problematic. I'm hoping that if any of the rest of our early Western Horses were made of problematic plastic that they would be showing signs by now. Only time will tell.

Playing catch up, 2024 wrap up, and 2025 plans

Reentry into work and life in general after a long holiday break is always a challenge, especially when your break was more of a working vacation. But that work involved playing with our model horse collections, so at least it was very enjoyable! Over the holidays, I visited my family in Georgia, and my sister Sarah and I put in some long hours organizing our giant herd. Much of it is boxed up at the moment---you know that last scene from Raiders of the Last Ark? It's kind of like that. We worked hard to put together an accurate inventory and photograph a number of our models for this blog. It's an ongoing project, but a fun one! 

Taking stock of the collection has led to some interesting surprises and discoveries. We already knew we had duplicates of a number of models---Sarah and I both have our own distinct herds, and because we have similar taste in models (vintage and weird), we often both have examples of the same rare models in our collections.

These perfectly matched Woodgrain Belgians came from
the same estate sale. Somebody had good taste!

We discovered we have three (and sometimes four or even more) of a number of models as well, the result of purchasing upgrades or finding bargains in antique malls over the last 30+ years or being unable to resist fun color variations (looks askance at seven all very different woodgrain Fighting Stallions). Doh! These duplicate models will hopefully make for excellent trade fodder down the road. We generally think of ourselves as black hole collectors (things go in but never go out), but realistically, we will have to let some models go (if only to exchange them for new ones, mwahaha). 

Part of the goal of our inventory work over the last year has been to find a few cherished models to put back out on display. My sister's favorite Pacer, the stunning 1984 Riegsecker's special run in dapple grey, had disappeared after being stashed in a random box several years ago in the wake of a small leak that had compromised his original storage box. Happily, while working our way through boxes and adding or correcting the labels on them, we found him!

I was also delighted to find one of my favorite models, the 1979 mail order special run dapple grey Clydesdale Mare. Naturally, she was literally in the very last box in a big stack of 40+ boxes that we knew she had to be in. My girl came from Marney Walerius' collection, so not only is she lovely, she's a treasured part of my herd.

We did find a few new shrinkies in the process, one of whom is destined to be the subject of a post here eventually, but for the most part, I think we've managed to eradicate most of those poor sad models from the herd. We did also find a couple of stripped chalkies that have begun to crack and shatter. It's so sad because they were so very cool. (We bought them stripped before we knew what could happen.)

Even the plastic on her legs is cracking and crumbling away

Now that we finally have a pretty solid handle on our Breyer collection inventory, we'll tackle our much smaller Hartland, Stone, and china herds in the coming year. Which segues more or less well into discussing that fun end of old year/beginning of the new year topic---what we did and what we hope to do going forward. 

An enjoyable trend on Facebook and Instagram in recent years has been for collectors to share their favorite acquisitions of the previous year. For me, 2024 was a very lean year---my disposable income was  mostly non-existent---but I was happily able to add a few really cool models to my collection for pretty bargain prices.

I'm delighted to finally own Gladys Brown Edwards' large metal parade horse sculpture made by Dodge. His one hind leg needs a repair and he's missing his reins, but I couldn't pass him up for $40. This is very likely the piece that inspired Mastercrafters, Hartland, and Breyer back in the late 1940s.

My Breyer Money Manager was another thrilling $40 find. I'm so happy to finally have this goofy bit of Breyer history in my collection.

At the beginning of the year, I paid off a Hartland holy grail that had been on long time payments with an amazingly kind friend, and it's just too awesome to not include. I have wanted a Hartland Champ clock for at least 20 years, but they're so hard to find. Two slipped through my fingers over the years, so I'm elated to finally have this very rare piece in my collection at long last.

My only big expenditure of the year was my Young Ferseyn from Hagen-Renaker Tennessee. I socked away money for him for months beforehand knowing I would never be able to afford him on the secondary market, and he arrived just in time for my birthday which was a really nice treat.

In terms of less tangible things, though I haven't been able to blog every week as I would like, I've been better about posting a couple of times a month at least, and I'm hoping to keep that momentum going in 2025. I have so much I want to write about! I have now had the opportunity to take a bunch of the photos I've been needing for planned posts, and with our new inventory system, my darling sister can easily find things to photograph for me when she visits my parents every few weeks if I need more.

The weather here in Chicago is of course ugly cold---in the single digits or teens lately with subzero windchills---which means it's much too cold to paint, primer, or spray fixative. I am anxious to get back to work on customs, but for the next few weeks, I'm going to take advantage of the crappy weather and get some writing and website work done. I am also hoping to get started on organizing and culling some of my Chicago herd, both OFs as well as bodies I'm just never going to get around to painting.

I have some plans to do a spring sale of customs, probably more minis, very likely with Jane Austen and bad Regency-pun names because what is spring without a good thunderstorm and Northanger Abbey? Or a pond-soaked Mr. Darcy pining for Lizzie Bennet's fine eyes?

This little mare may be part of that sale---she is clamoring to be finished, but I'm not sure I'll be able to part with her. I just love this mold so much! 

And speaking of irresistible sculptures by Maggie Jenner-Bennett, I think my only real OF acquisition goal for the coming year is to buy a Stone mule. I'd love to get one of the fun stripey ones like The Squad or Charade eventually. In the meantime, I have a trad mule body I acquired at Stone Horses Country Fair, and I should really decide on a color to paint it! Stripes? Unicorn horn? Realistic? Too many choices!

So anyway, hopefully 2025 will be a year of productivity, writing, and more organization. Losing myself in creative outlets is also going to be important for a number of reasons, and my sister (who is also an artist) and I have challenged each other to do something frivolous and artistic every week. Paid work doesn't count, just fun art for ourselves, whether it's sketching, cross stitching, sculpting, or painting customs for our own collections. I may share some of that here depending on how rusty my drawing skills are!

Breyer's 50th Anniversary Golden Clydesdales

If you've been following the news from Breyer lately, you'll know the coming year, their 75th anniversary, is going to be absolutely bonkers amazing. There are so many exciting models that have been sneak peeked for the various clubs---Breyer is really going all out to bankrupt me! With that in mind, I figure I'd better hurry up and write about the their 50th anniversary and the interesting models they released in 2000.

In the fall of 1999, my parents, sister, and I attended a Breyer event at a local toy store to promote Eclipse, a black Legionario that was the Fall Show Special for the year. Though it wasn't a particularly limited model in retrospect, it still drew a large crowd of local collectors. While we were there, my family was introduced to the Breyer rep for our region. We enjoyed chatting with him that day and discovered that he, like our dad, had an interest in model railroads.

The following year, my dad ran into the rep again at a hobby shop he frequents for model railroad magazines that also happens to carry Breyers. The rep mentioned that he had a couple of special models that he wanted to give to me and my sister. Even though we were both young, only in college and high school respectively at the time, he recognized that we were serious collectors and wanted the models to go to an appreciative home. He met with my dad and sister a few weeks later at a model railroad show (I was stuck at college and couldn't join them), and they were astonished to receive these beautiful gold electroplated G2 Clydesdales!

The rep told them that the models had been given to him at an annual meeting Breyer held for their sales reps and that not many had been made. Over the years, I've never heard anyone give a definitive number, but I've seen maybe 10 or so in the hands of collectors. They're quite scarce these days.

By 2000, all of the Stablemate models were being molded in ABS plastic, so unlike the silver G1 Saddlebreds, Breyer didn't have to mold them in a special kind of plastic before electroplating them. Like the Saddlebred, the Clydesdales have a hole drilled into their undersides which was used to suspend them in the electroplating bath.

The hole is just in front of the word Breyer

In addition to the rep models, Breyer marked the occasion of their 50th anniversary in 2000 with several regular run and special run offerings as well. The most interesting piece they offered as a regular run was Kathleen Moody's beautiful new standing Saddlebred sculpture standing over a clock. It was a fabulous homage to the Western Horse clocks that had begun it all for the company back in 1950.

At BreyerFest that summer, the volunteer model was a stunning glossy dapple grey Moody Saddlebred, and 15 of them were also offered on clocks as prizes for the live show. Several of the special runs were nice nods to Breyer's past as well, especially the silver and gold bolo ties (which technically may have been leftovers from BreyerFest 1998).

Breyer has teased some incredible models for next year, including a new clock for the Vintage Club. It wouldn't be a Breyer anniversary without one! This one features a Western Pony in a realistic dappled palomino color called Pioneer. The Vintage Club is sold out for 2025, but I know members will be excited by the other offerings yet to be revealed!
 

Photo from Breyer's Facebook page

Tha mi air bhioran! A plastic Highland Pony!

Photo shamelessly yoinked from Breyer's announcement

I mostly blog about vintage models here, but I can't help but squeal "tha mi air bhioran!" (Scots Gaelic for "I'm excited!")*  about this amazing new Premier Club reveal for 2025. Sculpted by Kelly Sealey with a soft creamy dappled dun coat designed by Tammi Palmarchuk, this new Highland Pony model dubbed Rowan is a dream come true. I adore the Native pony breeds of the UK and Ireland, and I have been hoping for a good plastic Highland Pony sculpture for literally decades. Even more exciting, Rowan will be available in two distinct variations---as a loose maned Highland Pony stallion or as a lighter-framed, braided and clean-legged sporty pony mare.

I had not planned to join the Premier Club next year---money is extremely tight---but I'm going to have to find a way to swing these ponies. I am an ardent Celtophile, and I have a soft spot for Highland Ponies in particular. Back when I was in college in the late 1990s at the University of Georgia, I was lucky enough to visit Bill Begg-Lorimer who imported the first breeding pair of Highland Ponies to the United States.

Quartz of Croila as a youngster with Bill

Nora of Croila and Bill

Sadly, Bill passed away a short time later, and his pony herd was dispersed. Quartz proved to be a well-regarded stallion here for over a decade before being exported back to Europe in 2013. (I don't know what became of Nora.) I'm sure both ponies have crossed the rainbow bridge to greener pastures by now, but they left a lasting impression on me.

Not being able to afford a real pony myself, I actively searched for an appropriate Highland Pony model instead. Unfortunately, at the time, there simply weren't many options. However, the summer after I met Quartz and Nora, I did find one of the few models actually sculpted as a Highland Pony, this handsome dun Beswick chap. I found him for sale in a room at BreyerFest, and I felt sure it was fate.

In the intervening 20+ years, Donna Chaney of Animal Artistry has produced a few lovely Highland Pony resins (and a few more that can pass as Highlands with a little work), but the hobby has lacked a widely available, mass-produced traditional scale pony of the appropriate type. Finally getting a proper plastic Highland plus a lovely sport pony alternate version to boot is such a terrific addition to the Breyer line. I can't wait to see them as regular runs in more fun colors, and I am itching to get my hands on extras to paint my own little herd of Highlands.

Now if only I had more shelf space!

 

 

 

* pronounced "ha me ay-r virrin"