The Cookson family. 127 



be very distinguished matrons, ' Hybla,' the dam of 'Kettle- 

 drum,' and ' Marmalade,' the dam of ' Dundee.' The list of 

 Neasham sires, those ' future fathers of our kings-to-be,' 

 include 'Fandango,' 'Buccaneer,' 'Marconi,' 'Lord Lyon,' and 

 * The Palmer,' the latter horse bought from Sir Joseph Havvley 

 for ^1,200, and subsequently sold by Mr. Cookson to Count 

 Lehndorff for £y,ooo — a good investment indeed. The list of 

 Neasham winners is a lengthy one. ' Hybla's ' first foal was 

 ' Mincemeat,' the Oaks winner in 1854, and 'Kettledrum' and 

 ' Dundee' were first and second for the Derby in 1861. Since 

 then ' Regalia,' ' Formosa,' ' Brigantine,' ' Pilgrimage,' ' Paul 

 Jones,' 'Jenny Howlett,' have helped to swell the roll, and the 

 amount of public money taken by Neasham winners reaches 

 very nearly, if it does not exceed, ;fgo,ooo. 



" Mr. Cookson considers that his success as a breeder has 

 been chiefly owing to the fact of his never breeding from any 

 mare deficient in speed. We remember talking with him one 

 day last year about ' Robert the Devil's ' wonderful perform- 

 ances, bred as he was, for his dam, ' Cast Off,' was, we 

 believe, only a half-miler, and Mr. Cookson saying that ' Cast 

 Off' was just the sort of mare he would have liked to breed 

 from. He mentioned, also, that he had bought mares which 

 had not shown speed in public — and he instanced ' Lady 

 Audley,' the dam of ' Pilgrimage,' which had been tried at 

 home quite good enough to win the Oaks, but was so often 

 lame, her trainer knew not where, she never could be got out. 

 He much disliked big horses and big mares, but he equally 

 disliked animals that had not sufficient frame, for underframed 

 ones, however speedy, are not weight-carriers. Whenever he 

 could pick up a mare which could carry 8 stones 7 lbs. in good 

 company, albeit she could barely get four furlongs, he bought 

 her. 



