662 



A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



difficult to quote two better modern instances than Galtee More and Ard Patrick. 

 It was in 1894 that Mr. J. Gubbins first sent his horses to Beckhampton, the 

 famous training stables of Mr. S, Darling, near Calne, in Wiltshire. Chiefly owing 

 to the good material received from this source, Darling took second place in the 

 list of winning trainers in 1897, when Galtee More won the Guineas, Derby, Leger, 

 and four other races, worth .22,637 m a ^- ^ n ^98 Captain Greer's Wildfowler 

 won the St. Leger from the same stables. In 1900 Darling turned out seventeen 

 winners, and in the following season he did particularly well for Mr. Foxhall Keene, 

 owner of Disguise II., winning the Oaks with Cap and Sells, while Sinopi and 

 Olympiart put other good races to the credit of the establishment. In 1902 he 



did well with Port Blair, 

 but of course his greatest 

 triumph was with Ard 

 Patrick, whose races 

 with Sceptre at Epsom 

 and elsewhere will never 

 be forgotten by any 

 one who saw them. It 

 was a proof of Darling's 

 skill that Ard Patrick, 

 after being practically 

 crippled by the bad 

 going at Ascot in 1902, 

 was got perfectly sound 

 again in 1903, and won 



his great race with Sceptre and Rock Sand at Sandown. Count Lehndorff bought 

 him for the German Government ; and soon afterwards, so pleased was that 

 acutest of critics with the blood, that he bought Galtee More as well from the 

 Russians ; so the same foreign country now enjoys the services of two of our 

 best sires. In 1903 Darling was second on the winning list with 19,182, having 

 horses under his care from Mr. Gubbins, Lord Ilchester, Mr. L. Robinson, Captain 

 Greer, and Mr. G. Faber. 



Of Lord Rosebery it used to be said that he had made up his mind to win 

 the Derby, marry an heiress, and become Prime Minister. If these wishes were 

 expressed in his Eton days, the order of their importance is probably rightly given 



By permission of" Country Life," 



Melton." 



