The great horse of San Mateo (and the Captain’s mare)
by Lisa Harkema
Read the story about The Captain’s mare here
Though Joe Bunker was one of the best horses of his time, it was Lady Dunn’s 1873 foal, Lady Bunker, by Mambrino Patchen, who ensured the family’s growing legacy. Bred at 5, her first foal was the spectacular Guy Wilkes 2:15 1/4 (1.24,1).
In 1885, Wallace described him as “a well balanced combination of excellent points from his head to his heels, and it would be very difficult to pick out a place where you would want to change him. His color is a faultless bay, he is fifteen hands three inches high, and weighs 1,130 pounds (512,5 kgs). In his external form there is not much of the Hambletonian peculiarities about him. He has a beautiful head, well set on to a fine neck of good length and right side up. His shoulders are very strong, and he is high enough on the withers. He ribs out well, making him round in the barrel, and is very deep through the heart. His loin is very strong, his croup is just the right elevation, and his quarters are immense. To look at him sideways we have such a profile as Jerome Eddy, without exuberant style, but lines everywhere indicating solidity and goodness. Our adverse criticism must be confined to two points, and these points are not without their advantages. He is very wide-breasted, throwing his forelegs so far apart that it is just possible this formation may prevent his attaining the highest rate of speed. The other criticism has reference to his hind legs, which are unusually straight. We don’t mean they are too straight for either symmetry, beauty or strength, but they are straighter than the ideal hind leg of a flying trotter, and straighter than the type of the Hambletonian family.”
The colt was bought at 3 by William Corbitt for his San Mateo Stock Farm, which was situated around 18 miles from San Francisco, on the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, for a price reputed to be a whopping $20,000. Guy Wilkes first stood stud and started in his maiden at San Francisco on Aug 6, 1884. The blue-blooded colt won the race after capturing the second, third and fourth heats in 2:24 1/2, 2:24 3/4 and 2:21 1/2 (1.29,8, 1.30,0 and 1.28,0). The time in the final heat immediately marked Guy Wilkes as one of the fastest stallions, but he was just getting started.
The son of George Wilkes started eleven times that year and won every single time, the fastest in 2:19 1/4 (1.26,5) at San Francisco on Oct 11. The following year he tasted defeat for the first time, winning three of five starts and lowering his record to 2:18 1/2 (1.26,1). He further lowered his record in 1886 in a great season here he only lost once, to Harry Wilkes. At Santa Rosa, on Aug 21, he won the fourth heat in 2:15 1/4 (1.24,1), which wound up being his record. All in all, Guy Wilkes finished his career 18-2-1 in 21 starts and had the remarkable ability to run faster in the concluding heats of a race.