192 SAM DARLING'S REMINISCENCES 



" He will go into your stable if I get him " — 

 meaning, of course, in the interest of his client, 

 to stop me from going on ; but I knew Captain 

 Greer wanted the colt, and so I bid another 100 

 guineas, whereupon Mr. Allison said "500, " and 

 got him. 



Then, to my surprise, I found that the purchase 

 was made for Mr. James R. Keene, for whom at 

 that time I trained as well as for Captain Greer. 



Mr. Keene was one of the very best, but sin- 

 gularly impulsive, and he had conceived the idea 



„ . , of wiring to Mr. Allison to buy a year- 

 Buying for ° J J 



Mr. James ling for him up to 2,500 guineas, as that 

 gentleman had some years before bought 

 him a lot of good brood mares, including Bonnie 

 Gal (the dam of Disguise). This wire he sent to 

 the sale paddocks, and it was only by chance that 

 Mr. Allison found it, stuck up in the office window. 

 He had curiously enough selected the same year- 

 ling that I wanted for Captain Greer, and natur- 

 ally, as I should have to train the colt if bought 

 by him, he asked my opinion, which I gave as 

 stated above. 



The result was that we opposed one another, 

 which would have been unnecessary had Mr. 

 Keene been less casual in his methods ; but we both 

 acted for the best, and Mr. AlHson subsequently 

 told me that when he let me know that the colt, 



