LORD CHARLES KER 231 



but a man arrived from Bradford and offered 80, so he 

 got the dog. Later on this man refused 150 for him 

 so there were decent prices, even in those days. 



I ought not, I suppose, to have cast back and least 

 of all into a dog story but as I have, in fact, got back 

 into 1875, I may as well tell the story of the starting of 

 Sandown Park as it was told to me by one who knew. 



Lord Charles Ker and the late Mr Millward first con- 

 ceived the idea of securing the land and making it into an 

 enclosed race-couise. Neither was an affluent man, but 

 both had plenty of assurance, and having interviewed the 

 solicitor who had the property to sell, they closed with his 

 offer at a certain price, and paid a deposit in the shape of 

 a promissory note for 1500. The bargain was such a 

 good one that they succeeded in mortgaging the land for 

 4000 more than the purchase money, and thus they had 

 a margin of working capital after completing the purchase. 

 It was a very clever and entirely correct business trans- 

 action so far as it went, but how far it would have 

 gone, had not the late General Owen Williams and Mr 

 Hwfa Willams come to the rescue, it is needless at this 

 period to speculate. 



Lord Charles Ker was always one of the cheeriest and 

 most undefeated sportsmen that ever breathed, but he 

 never was nor ever could be a financier or skilled business 

 man. All honour to him, at the same time, for having, 

 so to speak, invented Sandown Park, which grew into a 

 far-reaching success, not only in itself, but by reason of 

 other successful enclosed courses which followed on the 

 same lines. I have not seen Lord Charles Ker for some 

 years, but I am sure he deserves a testimonial. He used 

 to think, indeed, for a good many years that he still owned 

 Sandown Park and had been wrongfully dispossessed of it. 

 That was a mistake on his part, but there is no mistake 

 about the initiative of this brilliant success having been 

 his. He also was responsible for the big Aintree type of 

 fences which were at first built up at Sandown. 



Sir Wilford Brett, brother of Sir Baliol Brett (after- 



