HIS FIRST PURCHASES. 375 



Epsom in 1839 was that he forthwith gave in- 

 structions to Treen to purchase for him some 

 yearlings, one of which Barricade, by Defence- 

 started a good favourite for the Oaks, and ran 

 third. It may not be an inappropriate moment 

 to quote the following letter, which I received 

 from Sir William on the death of his old trainer, 

 William Treen, which took place in January 

 1879 :- 



" COOLE PARK, GORT, 

 Co. GALWAY, Jan. 13, 1879. 



" I shall be in London on Thursday next, and 

 will then tell you more about old Treen. He 

 hailed from Devonshire, and was brought up at 

 Danebury. At first he trained a few horses for 

 local races in Devonshire, and then took the Beck- 

 hampton Inn on the road between Marlborough 

 and Devizes, where he trained Fulwer Craven's 

 celebrated mare Deception, who soon brought him 

 into notice. Lord George Bentinck thought that 

 Treen's bad riding on Deception lost her the Derby ; 

 but good as she was, public opinion at the time 

 favoured the belief that Bloomsbury had a year 

 in hand. 



" This was the first race I ever saw, having 

 ridden from Oxford by relays of hacks to see it, 

 and I was back long before the closing of ' Tom 

 Gate ' at Christ Church. So pleased was I with 

 Treen that I bought the following horses and sent 

 them to him to train viz., FitzRoy and Fitz- 



