274 THE ENGLISH TURF 



occurrence of these big prizes tempts moneyed men to 

 continue to patronise the lottery, and if one or two particular 

 sires happen to be doing remarkably well their stock fetch 

 far beyond their intrinsic value. The competition for the 

 stock of a fashionable sire is no new thing, and it has by no 

 means had its day ; but far better, as a general rule, is it to 

 buy the produce of a mare who has already bred winners, 

 whether the sire be fashionable or not, for the stud-book 

 shows that some mares will throw winners to any and every 

 horse they are sent to, while others — often good performers 

 themselves — are sent to the most expensive sires of the day, 

 only to produce failures. Some nine or ten years ago the craze 

 for expensive yearlings was at its height, and I have seen 

 youngsters, who to all intents and purposes were of no value 

 for racing purposes, reach four figures more than once merely 

 because they were by one of the two or three crack sires of 

 the day. Curby hocks, ring-bone, incipient spavins, straight 

 forelegs, and every other variety of limb unsoundness seemed 

 to be of no account if the breeding was consonant with the 

 craze of the moment ; and this it is that makes the table on 

 page 273 such bad reading. About that time I saw a colt- 

 foal in October by St. Simon out of a mare that had bred a 

 winner. He was a nice-topped colt, but a glance at his legs 

 revealed the fact that he was never likely to stand training, 

 yet ;^2,ooo had been offered for him, and in the following 

 July at the Newmarket sales he brought several hundreds 

 more. That colt never ran, nor have I ever heard of him 

 as a sire. Not long since a St. Simon colt was put up at 

 a Metropolitan meeting without eliciting a bid of 10 guineas 

 even, and St. Simon's stud fee is said to be 600 guineas. 



In these times many wealthy men become recruits" to the 

 Turf with the laudable desire of winning the big races, and 

 so long as these come into competition for the best blood 

 the sale ring is bound to succeed. The new owner, with the 

 money burning in his pockets, and probably trained to the 

 belief that money can accomplish anything, cannot wait 

 until he has bred a good horse ; and though the sale of 

 ready-made racehorses has assumed larger proportions than 

 formerly, the yearling sales present to him his only chance 



