MR GETTING COOKS 173 



he was for a year or two. His brother is the leading 

 Argentine jockey, and it was in that stable I first saw 

 Grey Fox, in the spring of 1920, when it immediately 

 became obvious to me that this of all horses I had 

 ever seen was the one to secure for the stud in our 

 country. 



Grey Fox was then in training, and subsequently 

 won a good race, but all who have seen him in England, 

 where he now is, agree that I spotted a gem that time, 

 whatever mistakes I may have been guilty of on other 

 occasions. 



Now as to trips to Buenos Aires the sea voyage 

 is costly, beyond dispute, but there is no need when 

 you get there to go to hotels such as the Plaza. The 

 old Grand Hotel is good enough for anybody, and 

 compares just as the Gordon Hotels do with the Ritz 

 or Carlton. Moreover, the porter speaks English, and 

 the whole place is quite homely. I have good reason 

 to write this, for I have stayed there many times. I 

 believe there was an occasion in the early days of the 

 hotel when the late Mr W. Samson was the prin- 

 cipal owner, and the cooks struck. Then it happened 

 that my good friend, Mr James Getting, buckled to, 

 with various associates, and did the cooking. How 

 they did it goodness knows, but they kept the flag 

 flying somehow or other and the strike soon ceased. 

 I could write on ad infinitum about the Argentine, its 

 cattle, its land, owned by leagues and not by acres, 

 the beauties of the buildings of Buenos Aires, especially 

 as you drive out to Palermo, but I must close down 

 this subject, or fail to write about any other. 



