MR. WREFORD 171 



until he commenced breeding. In this, however, he 

 excelled beyond most other people. He lived at Gratton, 

 near Bow, Crediton, Devonshire, and bred mostly from 

 cheap, well-bred mares. One of his best brood-mares, 

 Margellina sister to Memnon, winner of the St. Leger, 

 and not worth a guinea herself as a racehorse he gave 

 ,25 for, and many others cost him very little if anything 

 more. On the other hand, when he did make an excep- 

 tion, as in the case of Mouche, for which he gave 700 

 after she had run second to Variation in the Oaks in 

 1830, it proved to be a mistake ; for she was by far the 

 worst mare in his stud, and never bred him anything 

 that could run but Worthless. 



His stud was a small one, seven or eight mares only. 

 And the secret of his success was that he used to send 

 them to the best stallions at any cost, and no distance 

 was too great. Every horse he ran was always half my 

 father's. They were valued at 400 each at the time 

 they came to Danebury, and I think, up to that period, 

 I never saw a better lot of yearlings, year after year. 

 They were just as good as racehorses as they were in 

 appearance. Wapiti was more like a cart-horse five 

 years old than a yearling in point of strength when she 

 arrived at Danebury, and as a two-year-old she won 

 four races at Goodwood, including a walk-over, and gave 

 Deception 2 Ib. and beat her. And next year Deception 

 won the Oaks, and was second for the Derby. The 

 following is a list of some of his best winners : Win- 

 tonian, Winchelsea, Wilderness, Warden, Wisdom, Wise- 

 acre, Free Will, Welcome, Freeholder, Tyrant, Westonian, 

 Westeria, Tory, Worthless, and Wit's End. 



Mr. Wreford betted but little. He preferred to rely 

 for his winnings on the stakes. He generally engaged 

 his horses in most of the larger races, in the Derby 



