276 THE ENGLISH TURF 



whilst at the same time lacking the experience and cool 

 judgment and patience of an older head. 



Taking figures as a basis, no yearling racehorse is worth 

 more than ^i,ooo, because the figures show that only about 

 two in every five sold for that amount and upwards ever 

 recover the purchase money. There is, however, always an 

 artificial value for the sort that are the fashion of the 

 moment ; thus anything out of the dam of a very recent 

 big winner, or by one of the fashionable sires, is almost 

 certain to top the four figures, so long as he or she is 

 passable-looking in the ring. Public breeders naturally try 

 to hit the fancy of the moment, and those with the greatest 

 amount of capital succeed, while those who cannot afford 

 a big outlay in stud fees, or who do not give much for their 

 brood mares, often come out with a very bad average. A 

 dozen years ago the Blankney stud yearlings used to com- 

 mand the most money, but after a while owners got tired 

 of the stock of Hermit, and everyone wanted something by 

 Galopin, or his sons St. Simon and St. Serf Then the 

 Sledmere stud came to the fore and other establishments 

 in a lesser degree. Even more latterly Kendal has been all 

 the rage, owing to the successes of Galtee More, and we 

 hear in consequence a deal about the Bruntwood stud* and 

 the young Kendals, who, by the way, up to the moment 

 have by no means realised expectations formed about them. 



It is best in the long-run to put aside all or very nearly 

 all prejudice in buying yearlings. Year after year sires that 

 have been little heard of, who were not remarkable in their 

 running days, and who were not standing at a fashionable 

 stud, by sheer merit assert themselves. 



Such a one was Wisdom, unknown and neglected in his 

 early days, but he forced himself to the front by a constant 

 succession of winners, which culminated with Sir Hugo, 

 one of the handsomest big horses that have won the Derby 



* The Bruntwood stud has since been removed to Howbury Hall, Bedford- 

 shire, where the late Robert Peck had a stud during the last few years of his life. 

 The stallion strength of the stud has been added to by the purchase of the 

 Australian sire Patron, for 4,100 guineas; and Janissary, sire of the Derby winner 

 Jeddah, the property of Mr. Peck, has also been taken over. 



