184 THE GOODWOOD STABLE IN 1845. 



Before concluding this chapter I wish to put on 

 record a few words about the way in which Miss 

 Elis came into his Lordship's possession. She was 

 bred by Mr S. Reed of York, who sent her to 

 Doncaster to be sold by auction as a yearling. 

 Although very light in flesh and rough in her 

 coat, she struck me as being a sound racing-like 

 filly, who would improve upon good keep. I 

 therefore offered Mr Reed forty guineas for her, 

 and a thousand more if she won the Oaks, for 

 which he had entered her. He was anxious that 

 she should get into a good stable, and let me have 

 her at that moderate price. I told Lord George 

 what I had done, and when he saw her he was 

 only too glad to take her on the same terms. Be- 

 fore the end of the Houghton Meeting I tried her 

 with seven other yearlings, and, although beaten, 

 she showed more form than I expected from her, 

 six weeks after I had bought her, a mere bag of 

 bones. Her trial told me, however, that she was 

 game and looked like staying, so that Lord George 

 engaged her in ten races, most of them over long 

 distances of ground. Stockport, her sire, was own 

 brother to Elis and Epirus, both of them good 

 horses ; and her dam, Varia, was by Lottery out 

 of a Blacklock mare. She stood rather more than 

 sixteen hands, and although of a very nervous dis- 

 position, was as game as a pebble, and liked to 

 make her own running. 



