Spadassin, in French, means a swordsman. It also means a bully. The Spadassin (b/br 1936 Spike Island - Rosy Legend by Dark Legend) that Maharaja Sir Pratapsinh Gaekwar of Baroda imported in 1939 could be playful at times but he was never a bully. Spadassin's dam Rosy Legend was by Dark Legend, a horse who placed second in the Derby to the Triple Crown winner Gay Crusader, later came to India and won the King-Emperor's Cup as well as Viceroy's Cup and went back as a stallion to France. Rosy Legend won four races in France, all over staying trips. Spadassin, her first foal, was born in France and bred by M. Francois Dupre. She went to England in 1936 with Spadassin at foot. At Tattersall's September Sale, trainer H.L. Cotrill bought Spadassin for 1,550 gns. for his patron Mr. W.  Murray. Spadassin raced eight times as a 2YO, winning two ordinary races and placed thrice, once at Epsom in the race just after Bois Roussel had won the Derby. At 3, he had only three starts and in one of them he was third in the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot behind Fairstone and Solar Cloud. World War II broke out shortly afterwards. The future of racing was uncertain, Spadassin had had a setback and the colt was sold to come to India for 3,000 gns.

In India, he had six starts and was twice second, both times to Kashmir's Steel Helmet, including in the Eclipse Stakes of India. He had led from the start and was a good four lengths clear of the field but Britt brought Steel Helmet with a scintillating run and short-headed him on the post. Spadassin was ridden by the Australian jockey Bobby Maxwell who was second in 24 races that season at Mahalakshmi with Britt getting the better of him on 22 occasions. Spadassin remained in training with M.C. Patel who could never get him right enough to win a race. He was retired to Baroda Stud in 1943.

Spadassin's sire Spike Island, a son of Epsom Derby winning stallion Spearmint, won the Irish 2000 Guineas and Irish Derby. He then went as a stallion to Argentina from where he returned to France via Italy. He was, at best, an average sire.

In his first year at Baroda Stud, Spadassin covered six mares. Three of them failed to conceive; one aborted twins and one produced a dead foal. A brown filly out of Curfew III was his only living foal from the first crop. That Curfew III filly was among the four lots picked up by Maharaja of Idar at the 1946 Auction Sale for total outlay of Rs. 1,12,000. The filly was named Jeanne d'Arc. Trained by L.W. Marrable, she won the 1948 Indian Derby. A record number of 22 runners contested that Derby and it ended in one of the closest finishes as Jeanne d'Arc prevailed by a short-head over Kunigal Star with Maduri another short-head behind in third. Spadassin had won the Indian Derby with his very first foal. It was also the first foal of Curfew III to race. Her previous three foals had all died young.

Four years later Jeanne d'Arc's full-brother Martial Law won the Indian Derby. Spadassin was the first stallion to get two winners of the Indian Derby and Curfew III remains, till today, the only mare to have produced two Indian Derby winners. Martial Law was owned by Maharani Seeta Devi Gaekwar and bred by her husband Maharaja Pratapsinh Gaekwar of Baroda who was present to lead the colt in. Another fun fact concerned jockey K. Gethin who rode Martial Law. Sixteen years earlier, he had ridden Curfew III to the first of her six wins in India at Madras. Jeanne d'Arc and Martial Law were balanced inbred to several horses, most notably 4x4 to Dark Ronald.

In 1954 came Commoner (Spadassin - My Patsy by Pomme d'Api), India's first Triple Crown winner. Owned by Mr. Diamond and trained by Sion F.Nessim, Commoner was ridden by Shamu Chavan in his three big wins. That gave Spadassin his third Indian Derby winner and it was a record till Rock of Gibraltar equalled it with Prince Khartoum in 1972. Grey Gaston bettered it in 1984 when Enterprising became his fourth Derby winner. Spadassin was by a son of Spearmint while his grandam was a St. Just mare; Pomme d'Api, the maternal grandsire of Commoner, was by a son of Spearmint out of a mare by St. Just. Thus, Commoner was inbred to the Spearmint/St. Just cross. Commoner was retired to Bhopal Stud. But, after just a year at Bhopal, he was passed on to Mr. Inayat Ali Khan of Muzzafarpore. In eight years at stud, Commoner covered only 20 mares and his only named foal, Miss Commoner, was a minor winner. At Muzzafarpore, Commoner twice covered his own half-sister On Trust. The incestuous mating proved infructuous as the mare remained barren both times. 

Spadassin died of colic on 2 Jun 1950. He had not been used in the covering yard that year. In seven years at stud, he covered just 68 mares (these days some stallions have more foals in a single crop !) and from them got only 26 named foals. From that paltry number, he sired three Indian Derby winners including a Triple Crown winner. Another good son of his was Maharaja of Parlakimedi's Der-Neu-Way who was fourth in the Indian Derby, Gr.1 and third in Indian St. Leger, Gr.1. Der-Neu-Way later won the Indian Champion Cup at Calcutta. When Princess Beautiful was sent to England, she was in-foal to Spadassin. She dropped the foal in 1949. That foal was called Sirius and he won three races in England. Spadassin had more colts than fillies and the number of his daughters who went to stud can be counted on ones fingers. The best of them, of course, was Jeanne d'Arc who had just three foals before she died. One of those foals was a colt who died as a yearling. The other two were fillies -- Arc de Triomphe and Petite Parisienne -- who were minor winnners. Both went to stud but never got a live foal. Thus, Spadassin never had a chance to shine as a broodmare sire.

Even before Jeanne d'Arc won her first race Spadassin's profile had already got a tremendous boost with his Nearco half brother Dante winning the Derby of 1945 at Newmarket and Sayajirao triumphant in the Irish Derby as well the St. Leger in 1947. Sayajirao, a full-brother to Dante, had been purchased by Maharaja of Baroda as a yearling for the then world record price 28,000 gns. Dante and Sayajirao both became stallions but neither did as well as might have been expected of Classic winning sons of Nearco though both sired Classic winners. A full-brother to Dante and Sayajirao called Da Vinci was brought by Mr. M.P. Davis to stand at his Andanipura Stud in Coorg and Baroda Stud added his half-brother Pratapsingh to its stallion roster. Neither Da Vinci nor Pratapsingh can be termed as successful.

PAST THE POST

Though Da Vinci and Pratapsingh failed as stallions, a much later import called Santiago, also from the Rosy Cheeks family, was a Champion Freshman Sire. Santiago stood his first season at Poonawalla Farms but drifted to lesser establishments later on and never fulfilled his early promise. Two mares from this family have done exceptionally well in India. First was Byerly Stud's Nicola, the dam of Classic winners Red Divine, Red Chieftan, Nicolette and the grandam of Recommender. More recently, there was Vision of India at Usha Stud who produced five black-type winners in Crown Treasure, Nationalistic, King of Hearts, Andreyan and Amazing Power. An unraced half-sister of Vision of India called Naseem el Fajr was also at Usha and she produced Lombardia (Nizam's Gold Cup, Gr.3). If Rosy Cheeks family hasn't quite scaled the heights of Dante-Sayajirao days in subsequent years, it still continues throwing up good black-type winners internationally. One such horse was the brilliant sprinter Sound Track. A moderate sire who was soon dispatched to Japan. Two daughters of Sound Track -- Dusty at Poonawalla Farms and Traxana at Usha Stud -- came to India and proved outstandingly successful.