By Peter Gower

Panzer can be considered to be to Polo what Radium is to Campdrafting.
Panzer, bred and owned throughout his life, by Mr Bob Mackay of 'Tinagroo', Scone, NSW was foaled on 26th September 1945 and died on 16th December 1974.
A Thoroughbred carrying excellent bloodlines, Panzer was never recorded in the Australian Stud Book. His dam, Nellie, although mentioned as a foal in the ASB, due to the Second World War, was never returned to the Keeper of the Stud Book.
On returning home from the war, Bob Mackay found that several of his Thoroughbred mares were in the same position. Nevertheless, he made the decision to continue breeding from them to produce Polo Ponies.
When writing about any Thoroughbred it is quite possible to trace its pedigree back to the beginning of the breed and claim its ability as a result of being descended from one of the early 'greats'.
I make no such claim for Panzer, but if any one of his ancestors is to be credited with having had an influence on his ability as a sire, it must be Etra Weenie. Students of Thoroughbred breeding will recognise this mare as being one of Australia's greatest brood mares.
Foaled in 1889 and by Trenton, Etra Weenie was a great-granddaughter of Sappho (1847) one of the colonial taproot mares. The majority of Sappho's descendants racing today trace through Etra Weenie.
Sappho must have been a very good mare and much admired as she was stolen three times by bushrangers, each time to be recovered by her owner, Mr George Lee of Leeholm Stud, Bathurst.
One of Etra Weenie's daughters, Diffidence (1895) won the Sydney Cup, then in 1913 at the age of 17 years, was sold for 900 guineas to JK and WH Mackay. A lot of money to be paid for an aged mare (she was also rather small), but this line of horses was in demand and good horses are usually found where the name Mackay appears.
Diffidence was the dam of a stallion Kangon and great-granddam of a mare Gooroolai (1921). The mating of Gooroolai to Kangon produced Nellie.
The art of inbreeding has long been practised with horses and here is an excellent example. It is accepted by many successful horse breeders that an inbred individual should be outcrossed to a well bred or well performed mate. In this case, Nellie was bred to Panthom (1936), a son of the renowned Tracery sire Pantheon (Imp).
Pantheon (Imp) is probably best known as the sire of dual Melbourne Cup winner Peter Pan. It is interesting to note Pantheon (Imp) was favourite for the 1926 Melbourne Cup, finishing third. Peter by Peter Pan was second in the 1944 Melbourne Cup. Peter Pan's wins were in 1932 and 1934.
Panzer was named after Rommel's wartime Panzer Divisions. Bob Mackay first started using Panzer as a sire at the age of three years, although he did get a foal when two years old. This colt was the outstanding sire Myra Bronze owned by Ted Hooke. (The Australian Stock Horse Vol. 1, No. 2, page 28).
On the North Coast of NSW, Myra Bronze has probably become even better known than his sire. He sired horses which have been used in almost every horse sport except Polo. MYRA SUSIE (MYRA BRONZE/MYRA JANE), ridden by Theo Hill was second at the Expo `75 Campdraft.
Bob Mackay says of his stallion, 'Panzer began his Polo career as a rising five year old in 1949, and should have had his name on his first Countess of Dudley Cup that year, but for the floods at Maitland which washed out the tournament and everybody had to evacuate at short notice.
'My team, Wiragulla, had won the Cup the previous year and won the following years, 1950, 51, 52 and 54. We did not compete in 1953 but defeated the winners, Goulburn later in the Wellington Cup by 9 goals to 3. Panzer also played in the 1952 Australian Gold Cup at Maitland, and at the NSW Night Polo Championship in Sydney.'
'He played Polo until 1956 when he was 11 years old and about reaching his prime. I say this because each chukka he played was better than the one before. That year we won the Northern Challenge Cup at Quirindi for the third successive year, but my health forced me to give up Polo. Panzer retired with me as did two of his daughters, TINAGROO MERSA and Misra, both of whom had been playing beside him for the past two or three years. It was unfortunate for Panzer, as he would have played on for another four or five years at his top. He never developed a heavy neck as stallions do, and become heave to handle, but remained a very orthodox Polo pony; he never pulled or ran on and always played off the single bottom rein of the curb.'
'Although Panzer was a brilliant horse cutting out on a camp - I always used him for this work on the property - I never allowed him to campdraft, as for me he was a specialist as a Polo pony'.
Of the mare Mersa, Bob Mackay adds, 'Mersa was the first of Panzer's progeny to play Polo and was a beautiful mare to play on, being completely orthodox and simple to play in a single rein curb off the bottom ring only. Literally a fingertip control! Her dam Ranmena, was the best of three sisters I played in the 1930s and Mersa was the second of four sisters (three full sisters).'
The one sister Mena, not by Panzer, was bred to him producing the Australian Stock Horse stallions Cairo and Berrico MAtruh. Other stallions by Panzer are Dundee, CHECKERS ALAMEIN, PRANCER and the well known horse NABINABAH THE GUN mentioned several times in previous issues.
There were also several younger sons at stud who have not yet made a name for themselves as sires. Recently Bob Mackay had a three year old registered colt by Panzer for sale, probably the last available of that age.
The Gun carries two crosses of Pantheon (Imp), as his dam is by another Pantheon (Imp) son Pantler. Pantler incidentally also ran in the Melbourne Cup, coming third in 1939. Although Panzer's female line is a very strong one his sire line has also been popular and very successful. Horses of Pantheon (Imp) descent have been sought after not only for racing but particularly for Polo and in a number of cases breeders have combined several lines to gain two and sometimes three crosses of this successful Thoroughbred sire.
Terlings Mountbatten owned by Sinclair Hill is an example of this concentrated line breeding, being by NABINABAH THE GUN out of NABINABAH WREN by Panzer. In addition, Mountbatten has a double cross of another successful Polo sire, Gibbergunyah.
Gibbergunyah by Lingle by Linacre, stood on the property next to Panzer and is considered by some horsemen to be a greater sire of Polo ponies than Panzer. Bob Mackay certainly had a respect for him as did many others, with the result that a number of Gibbergunyah mares were bred to Panzer.
The well performed Copper Key is another example of using some of the abovementioned lines as his sire The Lizard is by Pantler out of a Gibbergunyah mare.
Two more stallions can also claim Panzer as a grandsire on both sides of their pedigree. These are Tongy Mystery by Myra Bronze out of Wirragulla SecreT by Panzer, and Rannock, owned by the author, by Dundee out of TINAGROO MERSA.
Although Panzer did not sire large numbers of foals, most have done well in their fields. The majority went onto the Polo field but now grandsons and granddaughters and even their progeny are competing well in a wide range of equestrian events. As Bob Mackay took only a small number of outside mares to Panzer over the years and rarely sold a mare, Panzer's name continues mainly through sire lines.
Panzer's temperament was excellent and that of most of his descendants follows suit. Bob Mackay considers performance very important and a background of Polo most important when breeding Polo ponies rather than just picking a good Thoroughbred. He prefers a horse of 15 to 15.2 hands (the ideal Australian Stock Horse height) and Panzer at 15.0 + hands was just what he wanted. Panzer held his hocks well under, had a good wither, a refined, well curved neck that was not heavy, was short below the hocks and knees and had a well ribbed body that was not too wide, in fact, almost everything that a good Australian Stock Horse should be.
Bob Mackay once owned KALIMAH, a stallion who raced well and has produced racehorses, show hacks, jumpers and Polo ponies. As good as he was he did not produce consistent height; Panzer did.
Some people have said they thought Panzer was a little too light boned and has left this in his progeny. The British said this of the Australian horses used in the desert campaign of the First World War, but they got the job done. Probably it is mainly a matter of personal preference.
Horses of Panzer descent can now be found from Queensland to South Australia so their influence on the Australian Stock Horse as a breed is rapidly increasing. If Panzer is to be listed along with other Foundation Sires in order of importance, then he can probably be placed after Cecil and his son Radium, Saladin, Bruce and his son Bobbie Bruce. As two father and son combinations are mentioned here, Panzer and his grandsire Pantheon (Imp) should be listed together.
Panzer was a sire who was well recognised while still alive, but now that his descendants are moving into many fields other than Polo, it will be interesting to see just how important his line eventually proves to be.

Postscript: Peter's last sentence - written 23 years ago, can now be reflected on with the passing of time. Panzer's influence, as noted, is best gauged by the reputation of his progeny. In particular, NABINABAH THE GUN, has an impressive legacy - and the many horses that carry his bloodline obviously continue the line of Panzer.