144 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



driving horses, and to the breeding of shire 

 horses. 



Some of his Eastern sires, indeed and we 

 know that he had a large stud of them are 

 said to have been among the most valuable of 

 the breeding stock that until then had ever been 

 known, which may have been the reason that in 

 after years Queen Elizabeth expended such vast 

 sums upon increasing and still further improving 

 the stud that had been Wolsey's. 



Elizabeth, however, as we shall presently see, 

 upon the whole took greater interest in " running 

 horses " than in the clumsy shire stallions, and 

 though it is said that she never was actually 

 present at a race meeting held at Newmarket, 

 she is known to have owned a number of race 

 horses the majority of which were stabled near 

 Greenwich and trained chiefly upon Blackheath. 



In connection with Wolsey and his undoubted 

 fondness for horses, it is interesting to learn that 

 he cared but little for any form of gambling, 

 though "the sight of a contest between running 

 horses of high spirit delighted him." Until the 

 period when he gave up riding he preferred at 

 all times to be himself on horseback rather than 

 watch others, a statement that has been mis- 

 interpreted by one writer to mean that Wolsey 

 preferred to ride in races rather than watch others 

 ride races for him ! 



I believe I am right in saying that Wolsey 



