KING EDWARD AND PERKIER 335 



I have mentioned King Edward, and he was a very 

 successful breeder up to a point, Volodyovski, Persim- 

 mon and Diamond Jubilee being a sort of record in their 

 way, but there was some kind of original sin in their 

 dam, Perdita II., which has come out again and again in 

 some of their progeny, and been the bane of those who 

 had to train them. Some, of course, like Sceptre, have 

 been perfect, and the same can be said of Zinfandel and 

 others such, but the fact remains that there were many 

 great fine sons of Persimmon who flattered only to 

 deceive. And hereby hangs a tale, which I tell now for 

 the very first time. It will serve as a warning to all 

 and sundry who write for papers to be very wary as to 

 what they write. 



It was in the spring of 1908, at the first Spring 

 Meeting, and his Majesty's beautifully bred colt Perrier, 

 by Persimmon out of Amphora (sister to Sundridge), 

 was expected to win the Two Thousand Guineas. Even 

 the Perrier people had a picture of him done as an adver- 

 tisement, and they have used it ever since. In fact, there 

 was general excitement about Perrier, and when I was 

 told, on what I deemed sure authority, that the King 

 himself had .500 on the colt, I was foolish enough to 

 scribble it down in my notes, which you could then wire 

 off from the course. 



That evening, when too late, I thought I had made 

 a bad mistake. Why should not the King back his colt 

 if he liked ? But why should I record the fact to a 

 public poisoned with Nonconformist conscience, the 

 King being supposed to be an equal head of all ? 



When I got the paper next morning, it read worse 

 than I thought it would, and I knew that I was in for 

 trouble. I went down in due time to the paddock 



