S90 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE DUKE OF GRAFTON'S STUD.— OBSERVATIONS ON THE TURF, ETC. 



Without giving an account of every Horse 

 in the stud of this accomplished and success- 

 ful breeder, we shall enumerate, iaowever, the 

 winners of the Oaks. The stud mares are 

 eighteen in number, with a fine progeny of 

 colts and filleys. 



WINNERS OF THE OAKS. 



Pastille, by Rubens, winner of the Oaks in 

 3822 ; a bay mare with black legs. 



Zinc, by Woful, winner of the Oaks in 

 1823 ; dark brown with black legs. 



Turquoise, by Selim ; winner of the Oaks 

 in 1828, a brown with rather light timber, 

 and a good deal of white about the legs. 



Oxygen, winner of the Oaks in 1831, by 

 Emilius ; a very powerful bay mare. 



A talented writer in the " Sporting Ma- 

 gazine," says : 



" Together, occupying a space not larger 

 than the room in which I write, were these 

 four winners of the Oaks. 



" Lord Grosvenor won these stakes half-a- 

 dozen times, in a period, however, extending 

 over twenty-four years : His Grace of Graftori 

 eiglit times ; the last four victories occupying 

 only fourteen. Minuet, who won them in 

 1815, was only shot about two years ago, till 



when she used to herd with this flock of 

 flyers. 



" The Duke of Grafton I should think was 

 the only man in England who ever saw five 

 of his own inares, winners of the Oaks to- 

 gether, at the same time in the same paddock. 

 Music, another winner, is dead also." 



Thus we see the principal nobility of the 

 land employed in succouring and improving 

 the breed of the English racer; and yet in 

 the midst of all this, we hear of nothing but 

 of its degeneracy. At one time we hear of 

 yearlings of the astonishing growth of fifl;een 

 hands two inches in height, with the sub- 

 stance of waggon-horses ; and the next mo- 

 ment we hear from other quarters that the 

 breed of racers are become spindle-shanked, 

 and otherwise so weak and degenerated that 

 nothing but new blood will suflice. Now, al- 

 though we are willing to believe there may 

 have been mistakes committed by bad ma- 

 nagement, yet we cannot come to the conclu- 

 sion that every thing is wrong. The following 

 remarks of the writer, to whom we have be 

 fore alluded, may explain our meaning perhaps 

 with more force than our own language :- 



" Are we indebted to Nature or Art for the 

 generation of men that we find in all quarters 

 of Great Britain riding our eight-stone races'? 



