CHAPTER XI 



SAM DARLING 



Horses in the Bloom of Condition Galtee More and other Happy 

 Memories Strange Deeds at the Sale General Arapoff and the 

 " Beautiful Lady" Mr Gubbins does not want to sell after all 

 The Work of Vigors in that Connection My Last Letters from 

 Sam Darling Extraordinary Purchase of Ard Patrick 



WITHIN the lifetime of any of us there has 

 been no better trainer than the late Sam 

 Darling. His horses, when he got them 

 really to his mind, carried a bloom of health, strength 

 and vigour which seemed to distinguish them from all 

 others. In himself he was one of the very best and a 

 persona grata in any company whatsoever. 



I came to know him very well many years ago, and 

 was incidentally the medium for selling the two greatest 

 horses that were ever in his charge viz. Galtee More 

 and Ard Patrick ; the former to the Russian Govern- 

 ment and the latter to the German, for 20,000 guineas 

 each. 



The circumstances of Galtee More's sale were referred 

 to by me in The Sportsman of the i5th January 1921, 

 when good old " Sam " was still alive, but I, who was 

 just off to South America, did not expect to see him 

 again. Here is what I wrote : 



BLUE TIT'S SONS 



IT is interesting to know that the three-year-old and 

 two-year-old sons of Blue Tit are at Beckhampton in 



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