BREEDING HORSES FOR PROFIT 199 



Yet, though so advantageously bred from a 

 racing point of view, Simon Magus proved a 

 failure on the Turf, and never repaid his cost 

 of breeding. The same owner — the Duke of 

 Portland — also could number amongst his numer- 

 ous triumphs the best heavy-weight horse in the 

 world. It is true that he did not breed this 

 prodigy of the hunting-field — an enormous horse, 

 almost ideally shaped, with perfect manners, an 

 enormous weight character, good tempered, and 

 as agile as a polo-pony. Yet how was it bred ? 

 The answer shows the lottery of breeding. Its 

 sire was a good horse, its dam a useful mare ; 

 and though they produced several others — 

 besides the valuable hunter just described — none 

 of them proved to be much above mediocrity. 



There is no doubt whatsoever that jumping 

 runs in certain families, of which Ascetic, the sire 

 of many steeple-chase winners, is an excellent 

 example. Yet Ascetic was not a flyer on the 

 flat. 



The truth of the matter about breeding horses 

 seems to lie halfway between certain laws which 

 have been laid down in books, and also between 

 judges of soundness and suitability in mating. 

 To prove this theory we may take breeders who, 

 having a natural eye for a " blood 'un," start a 

 stud on cheap lines, and purchase a mare who is 

 well shaped, or has a first-rate pedigree, or maybe 

 both, and, by judiciously mating her to a horse 

 which rectifies her faults, produces a yearling 

 which makes money, and another which makes 

 still more, until at length that breeder has gained 



