142 MEMORIES OF MEN AND HORSES 



the Blair Athol line, and I have never quite satisfied 

 myself that Mr Tattersall, as holding a commission of 

 1000 guineas, did not forget his duty as auctioneer, for I 

 should have undoubtedly gone beyond it had I known, 

 and, after all, it was a sale at my stud. However, it 

 matters little save to poor old Great Scot, one of the 

 kindest and nicest horses ever seen, who ill deserved to 

 end his life among Bolshevists. 



i 



MORE FOREIGN BUYERS 



The most notable Russian buyer on his own account 

 has been Mr Leon Mantascheff, of Baku Oil Wells fame, 

 and he has been unique among his fellow-countrymen 

 in saving his property, or, rather, the value of it for 

 he is understood to have sold the oil wells to the Shell 

 Company and the British Government. For two or 

 three years immediately preceding the Russian Revolu- 

 tion he was the principal buyer at the Newmarket 

 December sales of brood mares, his outlay on one 

 occasion amounting to between 50,000 and 60,000 

 guineas ; and in 1920 he showed renewed vitality, as he 

 not only bought freely but bid 15,500 guineas unsuccess- 

 fully for Salamandra, whom Lord Furness secured for 

 16,000 guineas. 



Before the death of his father, which occurred, I 

 think, in 1913, Mr Mantascheff s operations in blood 

 stock were of a very limited character. He got one or 

 two cheap mares I provided him with one, which pro- 

 duced him a winner by Collar. I remember him coming 

 to Cobham to see that mare and foal, and I could see 

 that he was genuinely interested in breeding and racing, 

 but I presume the old man was adverse to such ideas, 

 for it was imperative that letters on the subject of blood 



