SELECTION OF BLOOD 179 



(Curiously enough, the stock of Kingston and Sweetmeat have been 

 remarkable rather for pace than stoutness, but this is probably owing to 

 the number of mares put to them which were deficient in the latter 

 quality. Nevertheless they are both still fashionable, Kingston having 33 and 

 Sweetmeat 19 foals ; Alarm also has 12, but Vatican has only 1.) 



"10. The Sorcerer blood, now chiefly to be depended on in Melbourne 

 (almost worn out in the service), and his sons, West Australian, Sir 

 Tatton Sykes, and Oulston. The first of the three is more Waxy than 

 Sorcerer, the second is mixed with Orville and Cervantes, and the third 

 is very much the same combination as that of Sir Tatton. I have fully 

 commented on these horses at paragraph 272. Large, fast, and loose, they 

 require room to display their peculiar powers, which are calculated to shine 

 over a flat, or any straight course, rather than a small and confined one. 

 Few of this blood are neat, and some are peculiarly coarse and gaunt, like 

 the Melbournes, but yet so Avell proportioned and truly made as to catch 

 the eye of the connoisseur. AVith large heads, roomy frames, big legs and 

 joints, united to. great useful hocks and powerful propellers, they are fit for 

 any work but turning corners, where they are undoubtedly out of their 

 element. Such were the Soothsayers, Comuses, Revellers, Humphrey 

 Clinkers, and Melbournes ; together, also, with the last horse's celebrated 

 sons. Sir Tatton Sykes, West Australian, and Oulston. All are fast enough 

 for anything, but require time to fill up their fine frames, and should have 

 been reserved till five years of age, if justice could have been done them. 

 On the whole, this blood may be considered as inferior to none but the three 

 first described strains, in which it is surpassed in persistence of good 

 qualities for a series of years, though, taking any single horse against him, 

 Melbourne will perhaps make a good fight for supei'iority." 



(I have nothing to unsay here, and I may specially call attention to the 

 fact that prior to the appearance of West Australian's stock I had remarked 

 that he is more Waxy than Sorcerer. Many other descendants of Melbourne 

 in the male line are known in the stud, but there are none of any great 

 promise at present.) 



Turning now to the blood most suitable for getting hunters, I may be 

 pardoned for again inserting wdiat I have already written in British Rural 

 Sports, comprised in the following words, to which I have now nothing to 

 add, and in which there is little or nothing which I should wish unsaid : — 



" For this kind of breeding, nothing answers better than a cross of the 

 Waxy, Orville, and Sorcerer blood, or of the two former with any of the 

 descendants of Sir Peter or Woodj)ecker ; hut in all cases 2J'>'ovided they have 

 good shoulders, and are sound. Thus, Drayton has been remarkable in this 

 way, as also is Windfall, and Retriever promises to be equally useful. Of 

 all others, the Waxy blood seems to be most telling in hunting stock ; and 

 if only it is joined to sufficient size, both of bone and frame, it almost always 

 produces a hunter. The temper, constitution, action, and heart are all good 

 in this strain, and nothing is wanted but the above-named element. Defence 

 is the progenitor of a great number of good hunters, both directly, and 

 through Safeguard and Bath, his sons. Chatham, Cotherstone, Annandale, 

 Weathergage, Newminster, John o' Gaunt, Theon, The Hero, Chanticleer, 

 Harkaway, Connaught Ranger, Footstool, Fugleman, Idle Boy, Newcourt, 

 Ravensbone, and Russborough, are of the very best blood for getting hunters, 



