Archer (1856–1872) was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won the first and the second Melbourne Cups in 1861 and 1862. He won both Cups easily, and is one of only five horses to win the Melbourne Cup twice or more and is one of only four horses to win successive Cups. In 2017 Archer was inducted to the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
Breeding Archer was sired by the successful imported sire William Tell (GB) (1843, by Touchstone); his dam, Maid of the Oaks (dam of Mariner and William Tell (1855)) was by Vagabond (GB) (by Cain).Barrie, Douglas M., The Australian Bloodhorse, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1956 Archer's sire and dam had been owned by Thomas Molyneux "Tom" Royds (1824–1852) of Ballalaba, (described as being near Jembaicumbene, which was then a major settlement), New South Wales. Royds formed a breeding partnership with his uncle-in-law Andrew Badgery (c.1804–1857), keeping their many horses on the Andrew Badgery managed Exeter Farm in Jembaicumbene. For £51,First Tuesday in November: the story of the Melbourne Cup by D.L.Bernstein, Heinemann [Melbourne] (1969) Royds purchased the mare Maid Of The Oaks at the dispersal of Charles Smith's Clifton Stud in 1845. Royds also imported the stallion Sailor By The Sea, and in February 1847 the stallion William Tell. Archer's full-sister, Our Nell, won three races in four days at the Goulburn races (1855) and other races at city tracks.
Early life Archer was probably foaled in 1856 at Exeter Farm in Jembaicumbene, near Braidwood in New South Wales. In recent years evidence has been discovered that Archer may not have been foaled on the Exeter Farm owned by Roberts but on Royds' previous cattle farm Ballalaba, owned by Hassall. This is supported by Richard William Royds' (1922–?) (one of William Edward Royd's grandsons) writing in 1983 that Archer was foaled at Ballalaba;The Land, 8 December 1983, Letter from Richard William Royds, Durham Hall this view is supported by his widow and adopted son.Sydney Morning Herald 2008 - Archer took the boat All other references state that Archer was foaled at Exeter Farm, including Richard's older brother John Patrick Molyneux Royds (1920–?) in an interview published in 1969.Interview with John Patrick Molyneux Royds in First Tuesday in November: the story of the Melbourne Cup by D.L.Bernstein, Heinemann [Melbourne] (1969) It is also on Exeter Farm that other horses from the breeding partnership of Hassall and Roberts were foaled, including Archer's half-brother Mariner in 1854 (by Sailor By The Sea out of Maid Of The Oaks) and his full-brother William Tell in 1855 (by William Tell (GB) out of Maid Of The Oaks.
Royds died at age 27 in an accident in early 1852. Two years later, his widow Elizabeth Jane "Betsy" Royds (née Roberts) (1824–1875) married Rowland H. Hassall (1820–1904) of Durham Hall in Jembaicumben who, under the laws of the time, obtained all of Betsy's possessions at their marriage. Even though Royds' will gave him no right to do so, Hassall began selling off the Royds horses at Exeter Farm. Betsy persuaded Hassell to keep the imported stallion William Tell and six broodmares (one of which was Maid Of The Oaks). Her brother Thomas John "Tom" Roberts (1831–1899) had inherited Exeter Farm, and as executor of Royds' estateAlso records in the Mitchell Library in Sydney. was trying to protect the interests of his nephews; he would care for the horses. As part of the agreement, the progeny (including Archer) from the breeding program using the six mares bred to William Tell and other stallions were recorded in the stud books under the breeding partnership name of (RH) Hassell and (TJ) Roberts. The names of the two boys to whom the horses had been bequeathed, Edmund Molyneux Royds (1847–1912) (no issue) and William Edward Royds (1849–1910), were not mentioned. When the boys sued their stepfather in the 1870s their interests were finally recognised, and the breeding partnership was renamed Hassell, Roberts and Royds.
Newspaper archives of the day state that Archer travelled south from Sydney to Port Melbourne on the steamboat the City of Sydney with two of his trainer Etienne de Mestre's other horses Exeter and Inheritor, leaving on 18 September 1861 and arriving at Port Melbourne on 21 September. Prior to the Melbourne trip, the horses had arrived in Sydney by steamer from Greenwell Point (near Nowra) on 9 September. Passengers on the City of Sydney included de Mestre and Archer's jockey, John Cutts. Archer travelled by steamboat from Sydney to Melbourne all three times that he raced in Victoria (in 1861, 1862 and 1863). Before railway facilities linked Melbourne to the other states, the only way to transport horses from state to state was by boat. In 1876 de Mestre's entry in the Melbourne Cup, Robin Hood, and ten other horses were lost at sea when the City Of Melbourne was struck by a severe storm off the coast at Jervis Bay.Newspaper report on the horses lost on the SS City of Melbourne
A steamboat was also the vehicle that de Mestre used to get his horses (including Archer) to Sydney. His horses usually boarded a steamer at Adam's Whalf {near Terara) but due to floods in early 1860 impeding navigation, from 1860 to 1863 the horses walked to Berry's Whalf at Greenwell Point. When horses could not be transported by steamboat, and where railway lines did not exist, trainers needed to have their horses walked and/or ridden to their destinations. In order to race at Windsor Archer would have been sent by steamship or rail from Sydney to Parramatta and overland the last , and in order to race at Maitland Archer would have been sent by steamship to Newcastle and overland the last . The longest distance that Archer would have walked or been ridden was from the end of the railway line in Campbelltown to Jembaicumbene when he retired from racing in 1864.
Another Archer story is that his jockey for the first two Melbourne Cups, John Cutts ( – 1872), was an Aborigine. Johnny Cutts was (according to legend) born in the area around Nowra, and one of many Aboriginal men who replaced white stockmen who walked off the land to join the gold rush. In truth Johnny Cutts rode for many trainers in his long career as a jockey, was not from the Nowra area, and was never based there. Cutts' brother-in-law Walter Bradbury, however, lived at Terara (since he worked for de Mestre) and helped to train Archer. John Cutts Dillon was the son of a Sydney clerk and one of the best-known, best-liked and most-respected jockeys in New South Wales.
Racing career In 1860 Archer was bought and trained by business associate and school friend of Tom Roberts Etienne de Mestre (1832–1916), from Terara near Nowra, New South Wales. De Mestre (who would go on to train four Melbourne Cup winners and win five Melbourne Cups) was the son of Sydney businessman Prosper de Mestre (1789–1844). Although Archer raced in Etienne de Mestre's name, Archer was not legally owned by de Mestre. De Mestre leased some of his horses from Hassall and Roberts for training and racing purposes including Mariner (Archer's older half-brother), Archer and Tim Whiffler (with whom he won the 1867 Melbourne Cup). As a lessee, de Mestre "owned" (was fully responsible for) the horses during their leases.
Archer was three years old when de Mestre began his training at Terara (near Nowra) in May 1860. Nicknamed "The Bull" by locals,Ode to Archer Archer was considered large for a three-year-old; he stood 16.3 hands with powerful hindquarters, a deep girth, well-sprung ribs and a good head and neck. His idiosyncrasies included his curious rolling gait when galloping, and the fact that he galloped with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. He was a long-striding horse, who could cover in 16 strides. Archer's large frame told on his legs, and he was frequently lame. Archer was lightly regarded after he ran badly in his first two races at Randwick in late May 1860. However, at the spring meeting later that year and the autumn meeting of 1861 he was undefeated in seven New South Wales races.
The inaugural two-mile Melbourne Cup on 7 November 1861 at Flemington was an eventful affair. Three of the seventeen starters fell during the race (two of them died); two jockeys sustained broken bones; one horse bolted off the course, but the race continued. At the final turn the favourite, Mormon, made his run but Archer caught and passed him. Before a crowdThe attendance was the largest at Flemington on any day for the past two years, with the exception of the recently run Two Thousand Guinea Stakes. of about 4,000, Archer (a Sydney outsider, who was injured during training a few days before the race and attracted slight betting interest) defeated Mormon by six lengths in a time of 3:52.0 – the slowest time in Melbourne Cup history. Archer also defeated Mormon at Randwick in May over miles in the Australia Plate. In the first Melbourne Cup Archer won for de Mestre his prize was the sweepstake, 710 gold sovereigns (1 sovereign = £1), and a trophy (a hand-beaten gold watch). Before the race Archer was dismissed by the bookies, but after de Mestre of Terara made his wager Archer's odds shortened and he started as the 6-1 second favourite. The winning bets on Archer took money from Melbourne, "refuelling interstate rivalry" and adding to the excitement of the Cup. The next day, Archer won another two-mile race at Flemington (the Melbourne Town Plate) with the same time. In May 1862 Archer won the three-mile AJC Queen's Plate, and on 7 June 1862 Archer and Exeter were shipped back to Melbourne for the second Melbourne Cup. Archer was the Cup favourite; to prepare for the race, he was sent by railway from Melbourne to Geelong. In his first race in five months, Archer ran third on 1 October in the fifth three-mile Champion Sweepstakes.
Six weeks later (on 13 November 1862) Archer won his second Melbourne Cup carrying – – at 2–1 odds in a time of 3:47.0. The race, held before a crowd of about 7,000On This Day In Shoalhaven (nearly double the previous year's crowd), had 20 starters – the largest field of horses ever to start in Australia at that time. Again it was an exciting race; Cutts initially reined Archer back so that he was running last by several lengths, and appeared to be out of the running. He then gradually passed his opponents until reaching the leaders, when the long-striding horse galloped into first place. Archer won by eight lengths, with Mormon again running second. His winning margin is the Melbourne Cup record, unmatched until 1969 by Rain Lover. With a larger field meaning a larger sweepstake, Archer won 810 gold sovereigns and a trophy (a hand-beaten gold watch). Winning the Melbourne Cup two years in a row was a feat not repeated until Peter Pan won the race twice more than 70 years later. Two days later, Archer won the one-mile All-Aged Stakes at Flemington. Archer, Exeter and de Mestre arrived back in Sydney on the steamer Wonga Wonga on 29 November. The following week they caught another steamer to Wollongong, and traveled overland the to Terara.