Whizgig [SEP] mother
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Background.
Whizgig was a chestnut mare bred by her owner George FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton at his stud at Euston Hall in Suffolk. Her sire, Rubens was a successful racehorse, who at the time of Whizgig's conception was covering mares at Newmarket at a fee of 25 guineas. He sired two other classic winning fillies in Landscape, who won the Oaks in 1816 and Whizgig's contemporary and stable companion Pastille. Rubens was champion sire in 1815, 1821 and 1822. Whizgig's dam, Penelope
the favourite at 2/5, the same odds at which her mother Whizgig had started when winning the race nine years earlier. She failed to emulate her dam as she finished third (officially "unplaced") behind the upset winner Galantine after an extremely slow early pace resulted in the race developing into sprint over the last furlong. The "Sporting Magazine" criticised the "stupid" tactics of the jockeys and described the winner as "a paltry, scratching thing" at least a stone inferior to Oxygen at her best.