342 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE i " 



six lots and cabled result. Next morning there was a 

 reply : 



Have cabled 6000 your credit Tattersalls. Very pleased. You 

 can exceed instructions if you think fit. 



On that I hurried to Park Paddocks, where Ixia, by 

 Springfield out of Crocus (in foal to Donovan), and Sun- 

 down, by Springfield out of Sunshine (in foal to Ayrshire), 

 were coming up the first lots, and outbid Captain Machell 

 for both of them, giving 2000 for Ixia and 1000 guineas 

 for Sundown. Finally came an instruction to increase 

 the total number to twelve, including one maiden mare, 

 if very good. The maiden that I secured was Bonnie 

 Gal, four years, by Galopin out of Bonnie Doon by Rapid 

 Rhone out of Queen Mary. She was the property of 

 Colonel North, who never meant to let her go and had put 

 two men up to buy her in. A misunderstanding between 

 these two, who were on different sides of the auctioneer, 

 resulted in my getting her, to the consternation of both, 

 for 1600 guineas. She was the finest Galopin mare I 

 ever saw, and later on became the dam of Disguise II. 

 and many other winners. The whole twelve mares were 

 bought for not more than 20 guineas over the 12,000 guineas, 

 and as I had no instructions what to do with them, I 

 arranged for them to go to Cobham, where Mr A. J. Schwabe 

 was then breeding in a small way. I thus took up the 

 threads again after some fifteen years, and Mr Keene 

 on hearing where I had sent the mares was very satisfied. 

 Everything went well. Each one of the eleven foaling 

 mares had a good foal the following season (1893), and 

 they were sent to the most expensive sires of the day. 

 Later in the year they reached New York safely with their 

 eleven foals, and they produced ten foals at the Castleton 

 stud, Kentucky, in the following year. 



That was the real foundation of Mr Keene 's greatest 

 successes on the turf, and some few years later he won 

 more money in one season, in stakes, than anyone has 

 ever done in any country. It was also the really sub- 



