Henryk Wozniakowski

Thoroughbred horse breeder in Stud Widzów. The best horses bred by him are the stallion Casanova, the mare Bastylia and the stallion Bałtyk. Painter.

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He was born on February 16, 1895.

Henryk Woźniakowski is the last representative of this generation of breeders whose studs in the interwar period represented the highest level of Polish Thoroughbred horse breeding.

Henryk Woźniakowski was the son of Marcjan and Maria, daughter of the famous painter Henryk Rodakowski. He graduated from high school in Feldkirch, Austria. He grew up in the cult of the activities of his grandfather - a painter and initially wanted to follow his path. He studied for a year at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow under the supervision of Jacek Malczewski, but under the pressure of his family, especially his father, he changed his mind and took up - in line with family tradition - farming. It allowed him to develop his other passion in life - horse breeding.

Due to an elbow operation he had to undergo as a child, he had limited use of his left hand, which prevented him from serving in the army and taking an active part in equestrian competitions.

He started breeding on a larger scale in 1922, locating his Thoroughbred Stud in the estate of Starzawa near Przemyśl. He gathered the mare herd through purchases in the country and abroad, mostly in England and Hungary, making them with great expertise, and as the future showed - with great breeding intuition.

He did not wait long for success. In 1927, he was born in Starzawa, og. Casanowa (Balthazar - Crescentic), which has confirmed its high class during its long racing career.

In the XNUMXs, for family reasons, Henryk Woźniakowski was forced to move the stud from Starzawa. A convenient opportunity arose for this, namely the possibility of leasing the Widzów farm, known as the breeding place of the famous horses of the Lubomirski brothers.

Henryk Woźniakowski, who appreciated the role of the environment in breeding Thoroughbred horses, could not find an equally proven place for his stud in the country. In 1931, he signed a lease contract with the then owner, F. Kobyliński, but the building was so dilapidated that it was only after a year of cleaning that he could move the horses. Among the horses transferred were two yearlings, Bastylia and Hogarth, sired by Henryk Woźniakowski in Hungary, the stallion Óreg Lak. Both of these horses together with the one year younger stallion Bałtyk (by Forward) were among the best racers in 1935 and thanks to them Henryk Woźniakowski was ranked XNUMXrd among domestic breeders, taking into account the sum of prizes won by the horses bred. Henryk Woźniakowski, thoroughly familiar with breeding issues, also had a perfect command of the pen, publishing interesting articles in "Rider and Breeder" concerning both the problem of inheritance of racing prowess in Thoroughbreds, which troubled him, and his impressions from a trip to Turkey, related to attempts to export Thoroughbred horses to this country.

There were about 20 own mares in Widzów and at least 10 foreign ones "at the boarding house". The Second World War exposed the stud in Widzów to great losses. The Germans exported the entire year of foals born in 1937 and partly the foals born in 1938 and 1939.

During the war, Henryk Woźniakowski, with a view to saving the breeding and helping people working on the racetrack, organized his own racing stable in Widzów. S. Stańczyk became the trainer of the stable, and M. Jednoszewski became the jockey. The horses took part in races in Lviv and Lublin. Viewers at the time occupied a leading position in the country; in 1942, horses bred at this stud won the highest sum of prizes; the best horse was og. Bomber (after Forward).

The supremacy of spectator horses on the racetrack was still visible in 1946; among them stood out og. Odeon (by Forward) and Balkyris (by Bandit). According to Henryk Woźniakowski, he raised a total of 11 class horses and 28 non-group horses.

Almost all the female material of the stud in Widzów was lost during the war in 1945; individual mares went to state horse studs. Henryk Woźniakowski did not find employment in rebuilding the Polish Thoroughbred horse breeding, although due to his extensive experience he counted on it. So he devoted himself to painting, looking for oblivion in it.

Author of the text: Stanisław Deskur (1985)
Published with the consent of the author. Rights reserved.
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