104 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



that would go down at all was the Sweetmeat 

 and Beadsman, which nowadays no one will look 

 at. Vedette, the sire of Galopin, I may mention, 

 was sold for 42 guineas. He was seventeen years 

 old at the time, and Galopin and Hermit lived 

 about ten years longer than that. Talk about 

 the vicissitudes of noble families, we have it here ! 

 Vedette, it should be mentioned, when sold for 

 the absurd sum I have stated, had got several 

 good winners. In a modern stud, on the 

 strength of a son like Speculum, Vedette would 

 at once have been promoted to 100-guinea 

 rank. There are sires now at that price who 

 have never got anything within 7 Ib. of what 

 Speculum was. In contrast to the 6-guinea 

 mares by Vedette sold in 1871, we have his 

 great-grand-daughter La Fleche, who was sold 

 by public auction for 12,600 guineas to Sir 

 Tatton Sykes, who, however, was a very 

 unwilling buyer. 



" Mares by Galopin have, during the last five 

 years, thrown stock that have won 100,000. 

 Large as is this sum, it is beaten by Hermit, 

 whose mares have equally distinguished them- 

 selves with a total of nearly 150,000. It is not 

 a little singular that both these sires were the 

 property of Mr. Chaplin at the Blankney stud. 

 Nor did he give an extravagant price for them. 

 Hermit, as a yearling at the Middle Park sale, 

 cost 1000 guineas, and Galopin was purchased 

 after he had made a great name for himself for 

 a very few thousands of pounds. It is not 

 generally known that Prince Batthyany, before 

 withdrawing Galopin from the Turf, tried to 



