Artilleryman (7) Brown Horse 1916 by Comedy King (imp) – Cross Battery
Plate 16 in ‘Racehorses in Australia’ (Edited by Dr W H Lang, Ken Austin and Dr Stewart McKay): From a painting of the horse at the age of 4 years by Martin Stainforth; presented to the AJC by Sir Samuel Hordern.
‘Artilleryman’ won the VRC Melbourne Cup; dead-hated in the AJC Derby etc. He died in 1920.
In the early 1900s Sir Samuel Hordern owned a thoroughbred stud ‘Petwyn Vale’ at Wingen just north of Scone. This property still exists although no longer in the ownership of the Hordern Family.
Sir Samuel Hordern also commissioned a Triptych portrait (Plate 17) by Martin Stainforth showing Cross Battery with ‘Artilleryman’ as a foal at foot in 1916; Comedy King (imp) the sire of Artilleryman; Artilleryman winner of the VRC Melbourne Cup in 1919. He also presented this painting to the AJC.