1 90 CHASING AND RACING 



him. I had one go at Lewes and finished third in a 

 big field. I had great hopes of him in later days ; 

 but he contracted a fatal stable vice, which sapped his 

 strength and substance. 



A little fellow worthy of note was one " Penny 

 Plain, " by Discount St. Valentine (note the nomen- 

 clature ; I won a two-guinea prize for it). This was 

 the first winning racehorse I ever bred. He first saw 

 the light at my Chorleywood Stud farm. His sire. 

 Discount, who won the 1880 Portland Plate at Don- 

 caster, was given to me by Lord Chesham ; but at the 

 time, I had only a few galloway and hunter mares to 

 put to him. One of the former was the dam of Penny 

 Plain. As she was incapable of winning even a selling 

 hurdle (pony) race, it says much for Discount's prowess 

 as a sire, or the excellence of the Chorleywood pastur- 

 age, that she should produce a colt capable of winning 

 a couple of superior selling races at big meetings. 

 He was only a midget, very little over fifteen hands, 

 but as pretty as a picture. When a two-year-old 

 I gave him to " cousin Ted," in whose colours 

 he ran and won. This emboldened his owner to 

 invest in a useful plater of the name of Stanton, with 

 which he annexed " The City Bowl " at Salisbury. 



I have already explained how because I had a 

 limited income and no capital I was unable to buy 

 expensive yearlings on the " p'raps " principle. I 

 had to content myself with picking up undersized 

 youngsters at the sales ; or " platers " at racecourse 



