6 MR. HENRY PAD WICK 



did not remain long at Danebury after this, being trans- 

 ferred in 1853 to Findon, where my father had still the 

 management of his now small but choice stable. Mr. 

 Padwick had bought a property here and built some 

 excellent stabling, and from it he raced with extraor- 

 dinary success such success as he never had before 

 or after, or indeed as scarcely anyone else has ever 

 enjoyed. 



It was at Findon that Virago was trained in 1853. 

 She was bought for Mr. Padwick by my father privately 

 from Mr. Stephenson when a yearling for 300, but had 

 to go through the sale-ring at Doncaster, when he once 

 more, ostensibly, became her owner at this figure or 

 thereabouts. I remember my father saying, before he 

 bought her, that he had seen the finest yearling in the 

 world, and that he should buy her for Padwick, cost 

 what she might. He did, and she turned out the best 

 three-year-old in England, or, indeed, in the world. She 

 was by Pyrrhus the First, out of Virginia, by Bow ton. 

 She was a beautiful, rich, but rather dark-coloured 

 chestnut, with a little white on her off- hind pastern, 

 standing about sixteen hands high, very powerful and 

 lengthy; a small and generous head, with a short 

 straight neck, but a little upright in her fore-legs ; very 

 quiet, and having fine temper. Take her all in all, she 

 was a splendid mare, and quite as good as she looked. 

 She ran only once as a two-year-old at Shrewsbury 

 Autumn Meeting; winner to be sold for 80, and un- 

 placed. I should remind my readers that in those days 

 it was only the winner that could be bought or claimed, 

 or she would not have run, as her merits were too well 

 known at the time to her party to run the least risk 

 of losing her. As a three-year-old she commenced her 

 victorious career by winning the City and Suburban and 



