Etienne L. de Mestre
| Etienne L. de Mestre |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
9 April 1832 George St., Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 22 October 1916 (aged 84) "Mount Valdemar", Sutton Forest, New South Wales, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Racehorse trainer & breeder |
| Spouse(s) |
Clara Eliza Rowe (1852-1934) |
| Children |
1 (illegitimate) child de Mestre (1897-1981) |
| Parent(s) |
Prosper de Mestre (1789-1844) & Mary Ann Black (1801-1861) |
1 (illegitimate) child
with Sarah Lamb:
Helen Ahoy
nee Bond
nee de Mestre
(c.1850-1934)
11 children
with his wife
Clara Eliza Rowe:
Etienne George
de Mestre
(1874-1932)
Helen Melanie Amy
Ramsay
nee de Mestre
(1876-1963)
Alice Gertrude Kate
Morrice
nee de Mestre
(1878-1939)
John Charles Prosper
de Mestre
(1879-1957)
Hurtle Edward
de Mestre
(1881-1922)
Marie Annette Clare
Badgery
nee de Mestre
(1884-1961)
Edward MacKenzie
de Mestre
(1887-1972)
Nellie Rowe
Yates
nee de Mestre
(1889-1970)
Unnamed Boy
(1893)
Leroy Livingstone
de Mestre
(Roy De Maistre)
(1894-1968)
Etienne Livingston de Mestre (9 April, 1832 – 22 October, 1916), a 19th-century trainer, breeder and jockey of Thoroughbred racehorses, was Australia's first outstanding racehorse trainer. In his 30-year career he experienced all the highs and the lows of the turf in a career which ended with him dependent on donations from racing friends.
With the five wins de Mestre achieved in the Cup's first 18 years, he held the record for training the most Melbourne Cup winners for nearly 100 years. De Mestre won the first two Melbourne Cups with Archer in 1861 and 1862, and later trained a further three winners: Tim Whiffler (1867); Chester (1877); and Calamia (1878). He set a training record for Melbourne Cup winners which was finally broken by Bart Cummings in 1977. De Mestre also trained many other feature race winners including two AJC and two VRC Derbies and an Epsom Handicap. In recognition of his outstanding achievements, Etienne de Mestre was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Australian Racing Museum on 12 September 1992. One could best describe Etienne de Mestre as the "Bart Cummings" (the greatest of all Australian Racehorse trainers) of his day.
Etienne was born in George Street, Sydney on 9 April 1832 in his parents' home, on the same block of land backing onto the Tank Stream that his mother had been born 30 years earlier. He was the third and youngest son of the Frenchman Prosper de Mestre (1793–1844), a Sydney merchant, and Sydney-born Mary Ann Black (1801–1861) and grandson of John Black. His career was a series of triumphs with a long succession of champion horses passing through his hands. Many of these he bred himself, and many others such as Archer, Tim Whiffler, Chester, Yattendon, Plant and "Veno" he trained, and even sometimes rode. De Mestre's association with George Taylor Rowe (1822–1859) of Liverpool, England, the owner of the celebrated Veno, and the father of the little girl who was to grow up and one day to be his wife; and with his good school-friend Thomas John "Tom" Roberts (1831–1899) of Jembaicumbene near Braidwood, one of the owners of many champion horses including Mariner, Sailor, Archer, and Tim Whiffler, was at the forefront of a wonderful career of thirty years. He occupied a leading place among the racing celebrities of Australia and was the first national sportsman to represent the Shoalhaven district where he lived.
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Wikipedia