JAMES R. KEENE'S MARES 153 



foaling mares, each one of whom produced a good foal 

 at Cobham the following season, and the maiden mare 

 bought was Bonnie Gal, by Galopin out of Bonnie Doon, 

 by Rapid Rhone out of Queen Mary. This was, without 

 exception, the finest Galopin mare I ever saw, and she 

 would have been a great winner had it not been for her 

 owner, Colonel North, who used to insist on her and all 

 the rest of his horses in training being brought out at 

 any odd time, for a private race meeting at Newmarket 

 for the edification of friends whom he would take down 

 by special train, just as the spirit moved him. 



There must, of course, have been a lot of good luck 

 befriending me when I made those purchases, and it is 

 really wonderful to look at the photographs 1 of the 

 mares with their foals of 1893, hanging now on the walls 

 of the stud groom's bungalow at Cobham. Some of 

 these are sufficiently interesting to reproduce. For 

 example, Sylvabelle, with her filly foal by Galliard. 

 This filly subsequently became the dam of the great 

 American stallion Broomstick, whose fee is now 250x5 

 dollars. There is no need to wonder at such a success, 

 for Sylvabelle was by Bend Or out of the dam of St 

 Gatien, and this filly foal, Elf, was by one of the very 

 best sons of Galopin. 



Yet Sylvabelle, in foal to Galliard, cost only 900 

 guineas. Broomstick, son of Elf, won fourteen races to 

 the value of 75,225 dollars, and he has three times 

 headed the list of winning sires in U.S.A. 



Atala (by Uncas) is almost as interesting, for she was 

 bought, in foal to Amphion, for 700 guineas, and her 

 filly foal (produced at Cobham) was named Harpsichord, 



1 The photographs are by Clarence Hailey, whose portraits of blood stock 

 were then just coming into favour. 



