Fisherman was a hardy English-bred Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse who won 70 races including the Ascot Gold Cup

Ascot Gold Cup

The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles and 4 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in June....

 on two occasions. Exported into Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 he became a leading sire there.

Breeding

He was a brown stallion bred by Mr. Fowler in 1853 in England. Fisherman was by Heron (son of Bustard), his dam Mainbrace, was by Sheet Anchor from a Bay Middleton

Bay Middleton

Capt. William George "Bay" Middleton was a noted English horseman of the 19th century. He was equerry to John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1869-1874 and 1882-1885....

 mare from the Bruce Lowe

Thoroughbred breeding theories

Thoroughbred horse breeding theories run the gamut from the more common careful statistical analyses to the fanciful and the superstitious. The dream of the next legendary racehorse arising from the perfect pairing of sire and dam motivates the manager both for potential financial gain and for...

 number 11 family. He was inbred to Orville in the third and fifth generations of his pedigree (3m x 5f). Fisherman was a half-brother to Mainstay and The Peer.

Racing record

Fisherman was the best stayer of his time and the winner of 70 races, including 21 wins from 35 starts in one season. After winning the Ascot Gold Cup on one occasion Fisherman was saddled for the following race, the Queen’s Plate contested over three miles, and won that race, too. Altogether he won 26 Queen’s Plate trophies and two Ascot Gold Cups.

Stud record

Hurtle Fisher purchased Fisherman for 3,000 guineas and imported him to South Australia in November 1860. He later stood at Fisher’s renowned Maribyrnong Stud in Victoria. Fisherman was regarded as one of the best English stayers imported to Australia during the nineteenth century.

In Australia he was a great sire where his offspring included 10 Australian stakes-winners that had 27 stakes-wins, including:

• Angler (VRC St Leger Stakes, Victoria Derby
  Victoria Derby
  The Victoria Derby is an Australian Thoroughbred horse race held annually on the first day of Melbourne's annual Spring Racing Carnival, Victorian Derby Day, held at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. A Group One race for three-year-old horses, it is raced on a left-handed turf course at a...
  
  ; sire),
• Cowra (Adelaide Cup
  Adelaide Cup
  The Adelaide Cup is a SAJC Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race held in South Australia. It is handicap race run over 3,200 metres at Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide Australia. Total prize money for the race is A$400,000....
  
   twice),
• Fanny Fisher (dam of Kingfisher, won Auckland Cup
  Auckland Cup
  The Stella Artois Auckland Cup is an annual race held by the Auckland Racing Club . It is an Open Handicap for thoroughbred racehorses competed on the flat turf over 3200 metres at Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, New Zealand. The race is graded as a Group One and was first contested in 1874...
  
  ),
• Fenella (VRC All-Aged Stakes, VRC Ascot Vale (2yo) Stakes, AJC Champagne Stakes
  Champagne Stakes (Australia)
  The Champagne Stakes is a Group 1 horse race in Australia for two-year-old Thoroughbreds at set weights run at Randwick Racecourse over a distance of 1,600 metres during the Sydney Autumn Carnival...
  
  )
• Fishhook (Launceston Cup, VRC St Leger
  VRC St Leger
  The Victoria Racing Club's St Leger Stakes is one of Australia's oldest Thoroughbred horse races held on ANZAC Day at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. First run in 1857, the Listed race is open to three-year-olds and is run on turf over a distance of 2800m .Once one of the most prestigious...
  
   Stakes, AJC Australian St Leger, Sydney Cup
  Sydney Cup
  The Sydney Cup is an Australian horse race, held for Thoroughbred horses and run over 3200 metres. It is run every year at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, New South Wales in April/May...
  
  , AJC Champagne Stakes etc.)
• Gasworks (VRC St Leger Stakes, Australian Cup
  Australian Cup
  The Australian Cup is a Group 1 Weight for Age race for Thoroughbred racehorses run over 2000 metres, at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia in March...
  
  )
• Kingfisher (ex Grisi), Kingfisher (ex Melesina),
• Lady Heron (VRC Ascot Vale (2yo) Stakes, VRC Oaks)
• Maribyrnong (sire),
• My Dream (Victoria Derby
  Victoria Derby
  The Victoria Derby is an Australian Thoroughbred horse race held annually on the first day of Melbourne's annual Spring Racing Carnival, Victorian Derby Day, held at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. A Group One race for three-year-old horses, it is raced on a left-handed turf course at a...
  
   VRC Oaks),
• Seagull (Victoria Derby, VRC Oaks etc.)
• Sour Grapes (VRC All-Aged Stakes,VRC Ascot Vale (2yo) Stakes),
• Sylvia (VRC Oaks Stakes; dam of Goldsbrough, Martini Henry and Robin Hood).

Fisherman stood only five seasons at stud before he died in June 1865 at the Maribyrnong Stud.

John Frederick Herring, Sr.

John Frederick Herring, Sr.

John Frederick Herring, Sr. , also known as John Frederick Herring I, was a painter, sign maker and coachman in Victorian England.John F. Herring, Sr. is the painter of the 1848 "Pharoah's Chariot Horses"...

painted the above portrait of Fisherman prior to his export.