BLOOD MARES. 221 



or a Cain mare, for 25, and that he chose the latter. 

 Jarl Zetland, who scarcely ever seems to breed a 

 bad one, sent the hollow-backed Castanette out of 

 compliment to his double victor, to Barnton, in 1851, 

 who was merely serving half-breds, and had Fan- 

 dango as the reward of his loyalty. 



The luck of the best and most fashionable sires is 

 especially fluctuating. Lanercost had the picked mares 

 of England in 1847-48, Ibut without success. Irish 

 Birdcatcher, on the contrary, had a wonderfully fine 

 season in 1848, and his stock carried everything 

 before them when they ran in 1851-52 ; but those of 

 1849 were of quite another stamp : and Mr. Plum- 

 mets Alice Hawthorne, although her Lord Falcon- 

 berg looked big enough to carry his half-brother 

 Young Hawthorne, had again a most unworthy repre- 

 sentative of her own prowess. The Flea was equally 

 eccentric when she produced the mite of a Cimicina, 

 and then after a year's rest, the great roundabout 

 Canary. Scarcely any sires run successfully after 

 being once put to the stud. Even " Sammy King 

 and Catton," who were almost invincible in their day, 

 failed when they essayed it ; and Jericho's " revival " 

 in the Flying Dutchman's Ascot Cup is the best 

 modern performance of the kind. 



Nature has no set laws, or at least no turf Newton 

 can discover them, as to the best age for breeding 

 from a mare ; and, in fact, all our great runners have 

 been born at hap-hazard, between three and twenty- 

 three. A sire may go on for five or six years more ; 

 but a mare generally becomes very feeble after that 

 age, and either misses or throws diseased foals. It 

 is no doubt very desirable, as with greyhounds, to 

 have youth on one side ; and it invariably happens 

 that if a mare is very old, or has been very much 

 knocked about before she is put to the stud, she re- 

 produces unsoundness, which may be slumbering in 

 herself, and seems to lose all power of counter- 



