288 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



thoroughbred has been in our own country may be 

 gathered from our knowledge that whereas the 

 fee charge for the services of Herod at stud was 

 but ten guineas, and for Touchstone only sixty 

 guineas, to-day the fee for the use of a " fashion- 

 able" stallion is frequently from 500 to 600 

 guineas. 



The Committee of the House of Lords that 

 met in the year 1873 to discuss the question of 

 horse breeding did much to encourage the rear- 

 ing of the very best stock obtainable. The 

 famous race horse, Common, by Isonomy out of 

 Thistle, bred in 1888, made his first appearance 

 as a three-year-old and won for Lord Arlington 

 and Sir Frederick Johnson his joint owners 

 the Two Thousand, the Derby and the Leger, a 

 performance that at once places him in one of the 

 most important niches of fame in the latter part 

 of the last century. 



Another of the "immortals" who won the 

 three great races is Gladiateur, a name that 

 recalls to mind a host of thoroughbreds whose 

 fame will be handed down to posterity Blue 

 Gown, Blair Athol, Harkaway, Ormonde, St 

 Gatien, Robert the Devil, Hermit, Persimmon, 

 Flying Fox, Donovan the names come tumbling 

 into one's thoughts pell mell ; but as the triumphs 

 of these and many other giants of the turf of 

 comparatively modern times have been described 

 in detail again and again in the many volumes 



