Cover image courtesy of Inglis

Dingwall pushes for Vinnie filly

Trilogy Racing have been a familiar name on the buyer sheet throughout the Sales in 2022 and on Thursday they continued their spending spree when they secured the only weanling by Yarraman Park-based sire I Am Invincible offered at the the Inglis Great Southern Weanling Sale for $280,000.

Catalogued as Lot 19 and offered by Rushton Park, the daughter of I Am Invincible is the first foal out of Listed winner and Group 3-placed mare Private Dancer (Oratorio) and she is herself a stakes-placed Sweet Serenity (Pearl Of Love {Ire}).

For Trilogy Racing, the decision to go hard on the I Am Invincible filly came largely off advice from Ampulla Lodge’s Steve Jostlear, who has been assisting Trilogy’s Sean Dingwall during inspections this week.

“Steve was a big fan of (Group 1 winner) I Am A Star as a weanling and felt this filly was a dead ringer for her. That helped me make my mind up that she would be the one we attacked,’’ Dingwall said.

“We’ve tried to buy an I Am Invincible all year and they’ve been very hard to get but we liked this filly so we pushed on.

“This sale is as strong as any of the other sales for the quality animals. The horses that are the nice horses are making great, great money. We’ve managed to buy four but obviously we’ve been underbidder on quite a few too.’’

Great day for Rushton Park

The filly was the headline act of a brilliant afternoon for David Johnson’s Rushton Park, who sold four weanlings for $100,000 or more and they finished the day as the leading vendor by aggregate selling 16 weanlings for a gross of $1,188,500 at an average of $74,281.

Rushton Park’s David Johnson told TDN AusNZ he was pleased with the day's trade and said they were hoping the I Am Invincible would be a stand-out in the catalogue.

“It’s been a good day. She is by one of the best stallions in the country, she is out of a good mare and she is a good physical. Those sorts of good horses are always going to be well found at the Sale,” said Johnson.

Gallery: The three other Rushton Park lots which sold for over $100,000, images courtesy of Inglis

“The market for weanlings has been good, it doesn’t matter where you take them it seems, they are going to make their money. Being the only I Am Invincible catalogue, she was definitely a big fish in a small pond and that was the theory behind putting her in this Sale."

A few lots later, a filly by I Am Invincible’s Darley-based son Brazen Beau from the Rushton Park draft proved popular with the buying bench when she was purchased by James Bester Bloodstock for $210,000.

Johnson said he expected the filly to sell, given that she was strong and athletic, exactly what the Australian market looks for.

A 'keg on legs'

“She is what I call a ‘keg on legs.’ She is a good mover and is just really strong,” he said. “She looked like she was early and fast and those are the sorts of horses everyone wants to buy. She is just what the market in Australia likes.”

Catalogued as Lot 63, the filly is out of Segenhoe Valley (Dane Shadow), making her a half-sister to Listed winner Shelby Cobra (Toronado {Ire}), while further back this is the same family as Listed scorer Roulettes (Flying Spur) - the dam of Group 3 winner Sun City (Zoustar) - who stands at Telemon Thoroughbreds.

Later on in the afternoon, a filly by Arrowfield Stud’s Dundeel (NZ) handed the Victorian nursery another good result when he was purchased by New Zealand-based outfit Suncroft Bloodstock for $220,000.

The filly was offered as Lot 74 and she is out of Silver Tiara (Ferocity) making her a half-sister to Listed winner Silvera (High Chaparral {Ire}).

Silver Tiara herself is a half-sister to multiple Group 1-winning champion Shoot Out (High Chaparral {Ire}) and Group 3-winning pair I’m A Princess (High Chaparral {Ire}) and Cassandara Shadow (NZ) (Johannesburg {USA}).

Johnson said he was pleased to see the filly realise that price-tag and said that she made well above her reserve.

“We had a $100,000 reserve on her and I thought she would make a fair bit more than that, but I wasn’t expecting what she made,” he explained. “She is a very nice filly that was well-received and to be fair to her she probably deserved to make that sort of money in this market.

“He is a stallion that is doing good things at stud and everytime we have taken one of his progeny to a Sale we have done exceptionally well with - he is a stallion we like and he will get another mare of ours this year. I think he is a very safe bet to use and the market seems to really like.”

Johnson said after the buyer's inspection process he had high hopes for the Sale and was happy to see everything come together on the day.

“On Wednesday, as far as inspections go, it was the busiest day I have had at a Sale ever. We did 128 inspection cards for 27 horses which is just phenomenal and I did think with our vetting and x-ray hits today, people would be strong on our good horses and they sold exceptionally well,” he said.

“It has been a very good, firm and strong Sale - we are very happy. Over the last couple of years we have targeted this Sale, it is very convenient for us and the Sale has been very good to us.”

Toronado proves popular

Shadowbrook Bloodstock were celebrating a good day's trade on Thursday when they sold five weanlings for a total receipts of $566,000 at an average $113,200 and their results were spearheaded by a colt by Swettenham Stud shuttler Toronado (Ire) who was purchased by Justin Bahen for $240,000.

Catalogued as Lot 89 and offered by Shadowbrook Bloodstock, the colt is out Listed winner Spectrolite (Stratum), who Shadowbrook purchased for $40,000 at the Inglis Sydney Broodmare and Weanling Sale in 2019.

Spectrolite is a half-sister to dual winner She’s Sirius (Galileo {Ire}) - the dam of Group 3 winner Sirileo Miss (Pride Of Dubai). Further back this is the same family Listed winner Hit It Star (Hit It Benny) and she in turn produced stakes scorer Hitapotomoss (Twig Moss {Fr}).

The colt was one of six purchases signed down to Bahen, who ended the day leading buyer by both aggregate $1,120,000 and number of lots bought with six.

“My client wanted to make a bee-line for the weanling market on the belief the yearling market will continue to be strong next year and he and I are both rapt with the quality of both colts and fillies we’ve been able to buy today,’’ Bahen said.

“He’s trying to buy the best horses at the Sale and was certainly very active because he liked what he saw there in the catalogue.

“We’re very happy with the results from today, he’s got a nice spread of horses.’’

Shadowbrook’s Carol Hassell was ecstatic with the result and said the colt had been very popular during the inspections leading up to the Sale.

“He’s a lovely horse, he’d been very popular here all week, had lots of x-ray hits and then lots of action in the ring. He’s been out of his box basically all week, all in all we’ve done at least 450 individual parades from our eight horses, it’s been fabulous,’’ Hassell said.

“It’s been a fabulous week, there’s been people everywhere, so many people here on the grounds, Inglis has done a wonderful job. The Great Southern Sale is getting stronger and stronger and the future looks bright.’’

Toronado (Ire) enjoyed a brilliant day in the sale ring, with 10 of his weanlings selling for a leading aggregate of $1,130,000 at an average of $113,000 and he was also responsible for the third highest-priced lot of the day, when Bahen paid Gippsland Bloodstock $230,000 for a filly from the family multiple Group 1 winner Samaready (More Than Ready {USA}).

Written Tycoon filly a Classic purchase

Early on in the day, Bevan Smith Bloodstock and Andrew Williams Bloodstock (FBAA) provided Shadowbrook Bloodstock another fine result when the bloodstock agents teamed for a filly by Yulong Stud resident Written Tycoon, going to $200,000 to secure the youngster who was catalogued as Lot 11.

A product of the stallion’s only crop conceived at Arrowfield Stud, the filly is out of winning Snitzel mare Paris Lights, who was recently bought by Sheamus Mills for $105,000 at the Inglis Australian Mare Sale.

Paris Lights herself is out of Listed winner City Of Song (Bel Esprit), while further back this is the same family as stakes winner Songs Of Vienna (Umatilla {NZ}) and Group 2 winner Lavish Girl (Xtravagant {NZ}).

Smith said he would be happy to race the filly himself and is hoping when she is offered at the yearling Sales next year, people will have the same confidence in her.

“We think that the Classic Sale is the Sale we will target with her and we have done that previously with our pinhooks and have had good success. We will hopefully really stand-out at that Sale next year with this filly,” said Smith.

“She is a really lovely loose-walking filly and she had all the attributes that we like from an athletic racehorse point of view. We are sending her back through a ring next year,” said Smith.

“She is a filly that we would like to race ourselves and we are hoping that there are buyers at the yearling Sales who are thinking the same way that we do.

“She is the first foal out of a Snitzel mare and she looks like a sharp early going 2-year-old and the market likes these sorts of horses.

“The second dam was a very good racemare and an early type as well. I think she has all the attributes that the market will like when it comes to reoffering her next year. We were expecting $200,000 and that was about the mark we valued her at and we were pleased with the price we paid.”

Price happy with 'strong' trade

At the close of trade on Thursday, the auction house reported that 157 weanlings sold for an aggregate of $7,467,000 at an average of $47,561, while the median finished at $25,000. After the first session last year, 175 youngsters sold for a gross of $6,160,750 and the average finished at $35,204 and the median was recorded at $18,000.

Inglis’ Victorian Bloodstock Manager James Price told TDN AusNZ he was satisfied with the ‘solid’ day of trade at Oaklands Junction.

“It was a strong and solid trade. As predicted, those weanlings that had select yearling Sale credentials that could be offered next year, those horses sold exceptionally well and those vendors were very well-rewarded. We are really happy with today and looking forward to tomorrow (Friday).

"We sold seven horses for $200,000 or more which equals last year’s number of $200,000 or more and every one of those was by a proven stallion, it showed the appetite for proven stallions was very good and again they were all the weanlings that had that select yearling Sale credentials."

Looking ahead to the broodmare section of the catalogue, Price said: “The inspections have been good. It is obviously a number that is smaller than previous years, because of the success of Inglis Digital.

“But a number of people wanted to present mares at this Sale and what they have presented is a nice select group of mares that are commercial off the track prospects who are in foal to stallions we have seen sell very well today (Friday).”

Day 2 of the Inglis Great Southern Sale commences at 10am AEST.

Top lots

Top buyers

Vendors by aggregate

Vendors by average (2 or more sold)

Sires by aggregate

Sires by average (2 or more sold)

Cover image courtesy of Cambridge Stud

In February 1954, just a year after her coronation, the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II came ashore at Sydney Harbour. She was 27 years old and her visit, the first by a reigning British monarch, set off a long line of visits across the following 70 years.

What she showed was that she was committed to her duties as the head of the Commonwealth, and not just to her duties as the Queen of England. Elizabeth has visited Australia 16 times and, south of the Tasman, she has visited New Zealand on 10 occasions.

Like any devout horse girl, she has seemed to bring her passion for racing everywhere.

In 1953, on her inaugural tour of New Zealand, The Queen went to the races at Ellerslie on Boxing Day. In 1992, she opened the Paddock Stand at Randwick and granted permission for the use of the name ‘Royal Randwick’.

By most accounts, Elizabeth wove these visits into her ceremonial obligations, and she was a useful and picturesque figure, one eye on the throngs of loyal fans and another on the racehorses going around.

“She’s very sharp,” said jockey Willie Carson, speaking during the Platinum Jubilee preparations this year. “Racing is her passion, and I wouldn’t call it her life but it’s her passion, her hobby. She really enjoys doing it.”

Cambridge Stud, 1990

In the summer of 1990, to wrap up the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, The Queen made a Royal visit to New Zealand. Squeezed into a hectic, official calendar of commitments, she insisted on visiting Cambridge Stud.

At the time, a young Marcus Corban was working on the farm. He’d been there 14 years and he had little idea that he’d spend the best part of 40 years at Cambridge Stud.

But in February 1990, on a very bright morning, he was there when Queen Elizabeth II showed up.

“It wasn’t on her official itinerary,” Corban said, digging up his memories this week for TDN AusNZ. “She contacted Sir Patrick and so we knew about two months out what we had to do to get the place looking spick and span.

“It was all kept very, very quiet and we really couldn’t discuss it, and that was the honest truth of it. Her visit wasn’t on the official itinerary but it was something she wanted added, and that’s what happened.”

Sir Patrick Hogan (his knighthood was granted in the year 2000) had already met The Queen before her visit in 1990. The studmaster knew what to expect, but for Corban it was a different story.

“I’d never seen so much security,” he said. “They came and checked the farm, the stables and the houses about two weeks before she came, and they came again the day before her visit. They came again on the morning with the dogs, and they had people down the road to check everyone out. It was unbelievable.”

At that point, Cambridge Stud had been a local fixture since 1976. The farm’s foundation sire, no less than Sir Tristram (Ire), had arrived to the property the same year, and his influence was not only roof-raising. It was world renowned.

Her Majesty spent part of her four hours at Cambridge Stud with Sir Tristram, and the rest of it touring the pretty farm with its neat fences and impeccable grounds. She talked shop with the Hogans before disappearing for lunch.

“She came up to the stables to see Sir Tristram, and then Patrick took her for a walk with some of her entourage,” Corban said. “Before they went in for lunch, we’d put a couple of mares and foals into a lovely paddock next to the house, and so she came out after lunch and walked right into the paddock to inspect the horses. It was really quite amazing to see her touching them and looking at them.”

In the twilight of the visit, Sir Patrick decided to lease The Queen one of his Sir Tristram fillies.

The opportune youngster was a daughter of the brilliant mare Taiona (NZ) (Sovereign Edition {Ire}), making her a full sister to Gurner’s Lane (NZ), Sovereign Red (NZ) and Trichelle (NZ).

It was a barnstorming pedigree and the filly, named Queen’s Choice (NZ), went to Lindsay Park in South Australia, where she became her dam’s fourth stakes winner with a victory in the Listed Walter Brown S.

“Colin Hayes got that filly to a stakes win at her first start,” Corban said. “And that was the result of Her Majesty’s great visit to Cambridge Stud. It was a lovely occasion because she knew all about Sir Tristram and she knew the number of mares that Sir Patrick had bred. It was one of those days that always sticks in your memories.”

Lindsay Park, 1977

Over the years, many people, like Corban, have met The Queen through racing and breeding, and so many have recounted her knowledge and undivided interest.

It shouldn’t be surprising given she’s an earnest owner, breeder and racegoer, but with all the ceremonial duties she’s had to contend with, and all the names, places and facts she has to digest, it’s a marvel that she has put aside time to follow racing on the other side of the world.

Corban acknowledges this. He mentions that the other folks working at Cambridge Stud in 1990, the likes of Russell Warwick and Shane Keating, noticed Her Majesty’s passion too. She wasn’t at the farm that morning for squeaks and giggles; she was genuinely curious to see the place.

Some 13 years before, it had been a similar story at Lindsay Park.

The studmaster and trainer, Colin Hayes, had welcomed Queen Elizabeth II to Angaston, sandwiched between her commitments to a Silver Jubilee tour of the Commonwealth. It was March 1977 and, as at Cambridge Stud, Her Majesty was fascinated by the property and its success.

A short time before, a young Englishman called William Hastings Bass had spent a few months working at Lindsay Park and, in later life, he became Lord Huntingdon. He also became a famed trainer for Her Majesty not long after her visit to Lindsay Park, something he stopped after 22 years, in 1998.

“I was at Lindsay Park in 1975, and one of the prime people who was there that impressed Her Majesty enormously, apart from C S Hayes, was Peter Jones,” said Lord Huntingdon, speaking to TDN AusNZ.

“Peter showed the stallion Without Fear during her visit, and he demonstrated his young-horse education and techniques with breaking in, and I know that influenced The Queen and Prince Philip enormously.”

Without Fear (Fr) was a magnificent sire in Australia, a ‘flawlessly conformed individual, exhibiting much of the balance and symmetry of his important genetic relation, Mill Reef’. The Lindsay Park sire set a seasonal record for 2-year-old winners in his time (30), a figure that was only broken by Snitzel in 2016.

He was the stallion The Queen had come to see, and Peter Jones put the horse in lunge gear and a round yard, and the pair demonstrated working horsemanship to the visiting Royals.

“As a follow up to that, Her Majesty later on became very impressed and closely involved with the American, Monty Roberts, and it could well have started with Peter Jones,” Huntingdon said.

“I remember talking to The Queen about it, and I saw the film that was made at the time with him down in the roundyard, and his techniques were very similar to Monty Roberts’.

“When I was training for Her Majesty, I sent my main breaker to Roberts for a couple of months to his ranch in California, and it was all very similar to what Peter Jones had done during that visit in 1977.”

Australia fair?

Huntingdon has a long association with Australia. He first arrived in 'the colonies’ in 1967 and, before he landed at Lindsay Park, he worked for TJ Smith and Bart Cummings.

As an English horse trainer, he held a licence from 1976, and the following year he assumed many of The Queen’s horses in training.

His yard was the pretty West Ilsley Stables near Newbury, and among his best horses were Indian Queen (Ire) (Electric {GB}), a dual Group 1 winner, and Drum Taps (USA) (Dixieland Band {USA}).

Between them, these two stars gave him consecutive victories in the G1 Ascot Gold Cup in 1991, 1992 and 1993.

For The Queen, he trained Colour Sergeant (GB) (Green Desert {USA}) to win the 1992 Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot, and also Phantom Gold (GB) (Machiavellian {USA}) to win the Ribblesdale some years later.

Huntingdon also has the rare distinction of being the first trainer ever to represent the Royal silks in Australia.

In the Melbourne Cup of 1997, he sent out Arabian Story (GB) with Frankie Dettori aboard and the pair was sixth to Might And Power (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}). It was the first time The Queen’s colours had ever been carried in Australia.

“There really wasn’t much pressure to having Her Majesty’s horses,” Huntingdon said. “The only time there was pressure was when her horses would run badly, and then her racing manager, who at that time was Lord Carnarvon, would ask me if I’d spoken to her lately and that maybe I should.

“And I often did speak to her. It was very easy because you’d know what day to catch her and what time, and it was always an easy call because she was genuinely interested in all her horses. She had bred most of them and she knew them extremely well.”

As Queen’s Choice would be a gift from Cambridge Stud in 1990, in 1977 the heads at Lindsay Park also presented Her Majesty with a filly.

The youngster was called Australia Fair, a daughter of Without Fear, and she had an interesting life after she was foaled to Northern Hemisphere time in February 1977.

“They dreamed up this scheme between them, Colin Hayes and Bob Hawke, where they covered a few mares to Without Fear on Northern Hemisphere time,” Huntingdon said. “This filly was the one chosen eventually to come to Her Majesty, and let’s say she had a little bit of a temperament problem.”

Huntingdon’s manners are exceptional as he recounts the tale of Australia Fair. Down in Lindsay Park, the filly would probably have been called much worse.

“She ended up jumping into the hedge one day on the gallops at Newmarket, and she raced once but she had this slightly questionable temperament,” he said. “She didn’t have the ability to overcome it, shall we say?

“Her Majesty kept her as a broodmare and the best horse she ever bred was a Town And Country horse called Double Blue, one they suddenly decided to get rid of and sold. And of course it was almost the first good horse that a gentleman called Mark Johnston ever had.”

Huntingdon thinks The Queen knows all about Double Blue (GB) (Town And Country {GB}) and his irascible dam Australia Fair.

“She would have enjoyed the vagaries of horse racing, in that respect,” he said, “that you can hang on and hang on and hang on, and then when you decide to get rid of something, that proves to be the best horse the mare ever bred.”

A Royal ride

Like every owner, Queen Elizabeth has had to ride the swings with the roundabouts when it comes to racing.

She’s won every Classic on the English turf bar the Derby, but she hasn’t done it in an overwhelming manner. It’s been gradual, a slow drip of brilliant winners spread out over decades.

One of her saltiest experiences, and there have been many, was in the English summer of 2011 when Carlton House (USA), a son of Street Cry {Ire}), was third to Pour Moi (Ire) in the G1 Epsom Derby.

In the Royal silks, Carlton House had a grand career, winning the G2 Dante S. and G3 Gerard S. before running second to So You Think (NZ) in the G1 Prince Of Wales's at Royal Ascot.

He didn’t make it right to the top of his class, which included names like Excelebration (Ire) and Treasure Beach (GB), but he was given a second coming when The Queen sent him to the care of Gai Waterhouse at Tulloch Lodge in 2013.

When he debuted in the G2 Ajax S. in March that year at Rosehill, it was one of the first times since Arabian Story in 1997 that the Royal colours had been seen in Australia.

“I’d seen the silks when I was riding in the UK but I’d never actually worn them,” said Hugh Bowman, who was tasked to ride Carlton House on his Australian debut. “I didn’t ride for Her Majesty in England, but when Gai acquired the horse she asked me would I like to ride him. Because I had experience in the UK, she thought it would be fitting.”

For Bowman, who has had so many highs in the sport, donning the Royal silks was a bucket-list item.

“I remember being extremely proud to wear them,” he said. “Carlton House was a really beautiful horse and an outstanding mover, and I don’t think he quite achieved the heights that we expected but he was a really decent animal.”

Waterhouse said later on that Carlton House came to her with arthritic joints, and she was able to nurse him to an Australian-best effort of second to Silent Achiever (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}) in the G1 Ranvet S., and third to Dundeel (NZ) in the G1 Queen Elizabeth S.

“He was a horse that came here with quite a big profile,” Bowman said. “He was trained by Michael Stoute and he’d been third in the English Derby, and these sorts of horses come over here regularly now, but back then it wasn’t common for such a high-achieving horse to come to Australia. It was a really big thing.”

Bowman hasn’t ridden in the Royal silks since. In Australia, the opportunities to do so are slim, but his recollection of the occasion is one that’s important to him, as it would be for most professional riders.

In a way, it’s a statement of the affection that the racing industry holds for Queen Elizabeth, and that even a single moment in her company or a half-hour in her colours, or indeed a whole morning with her on an important breeding farm, will stay in the mind’s archives forever, dug up in important weeks like this.

Cover image courtesy of Kia Ora Stud

Bill Bishop was 92 years old when he died in 2015, the last of four old fellows from the township of Goondiwindi who owned the great grey racehorse, Gunsynd.

Bishop was a local newsagent and, in 1969, he’d been roped into the horse by his friend, local farmer ‘Winks’ McMicking. They dragged in shopkeeper Jim Coorey and publican George Pippos, and the quartet set off for the Brisbane Yearling Sales with $1000 apiece in their pockets.

In the catalogue, the grey colt Gunsynd was a son of the Star Kingdom (Ire) horse Sunset Hue.

He’d been bred at John Clift’s sheep and wheat property, The Dip, which was sat on farming land in Breeza, close to Gunnedah. It was here that the ‘Roman-nosed, sway-backed’ Sunset Hue stood for duties, and the 1967-bred Gunsynd was from Woodie Wonder (Newtown Wonder {GB}), a granddaughter of a full sister to the 1943 Melbourne Cup winner Dark Felt.

The yearling Gunsynd had a swollen knee when he was sold, which helped the Goondiwindi foursome get the colt for just $1300. As time would tell, it was a steal, because Gunsynd would retire from the track in 1973 as the then greatest stakes-earner in Australian history.

He won at two, three, four and five years of age, and they were monstrous wins that included that the Epsom H., the Toorak, the Doncaster and Futurity, the Rawson S., Hill S. and the 1972 Cox Plate, among others.

“It changed my life,” said Bill Bishop, speaking to ABC Local two years before his death. “I never imagined that the horse would be as successful as he turned out to be. And it was the only thing to talk about for a while, was our horse. A lot of people followed him and a lot of people won a lot of money on him.”

Initially, Gunsynd was trained in Queensland by Bill Wehlow, with his owners expecting a good race or two from him and not much more. But, as good horses do, the grey colt showed plenty of brass and, in 22 starts for Wehlow, Gunsynd won 12 races.

While he didn’t cut the mustard in Baguette’s Golden Slipper, and he managed third in the AJC and Queensland Derbies, he was sharp enough to chase brighter rainbows in the south. So he went to Sydney to the stables of Tommy Smith, where his best races were run and won from 1971 to the autumn of 1973.

Gunsynd became something of a folk hero around Australia with his affable, knockabout ownership from the bush and his bargain-basket price tag, and even when he didn’t win (he was third to Piping Lane in the 1972 Melbourne Cup), he was cheered for the champion that he was.

By the time of his retirement, the horse had cut a path through Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, and his peculiar galloping style, with his ears always pinned and mouth ajar, was regular fodder for track photographers, who loved his inexpert dash.

Gunsynd headed for stallion duties in 1973 to Kia Ora Stud, syndicated for a value of $270,618. At the time, Kia Ora was owned by George Ryder, and it was a curious twist of circumstance that the farm was later bought by Gunsynd’s breeder, John Clift, and the pair were reunited.

Clift stood Gunsynd alongside Sunset Hue and the wildly brilliant Baguette, and the great grey horse whiled away his good and simple life until April 29, 1983, when he was euthanised with nasal polyps.

In Goondiwindi, the horse wasn’t forgotten. A journalist, visiting the border town just weeks after the horse’s death, found to his astonishment, ‘the Gunsynd Hotel, the Gunsynd Bar, Gunsynd Street, Gunsynd Terrace and the Gunsynd Statue in the Gunsynd Park just beside the Gunsynd River’.