" ' SCEPTRE ' WINS!" 



685 



tempt me." Between 1881 and 1902 inclusive, the Duke of Portland won ,244,153 

 in 266 races, with half shares deducted in such cases as Amiable, La Roche, 

 St. Aldegonde, and others. From 1883 to 1902 inclusive, Sir J. Blundell Maple 

 won no less than 487 races, a record which the house of Rothschild is alone 

 likely to surpass; but he only scored ,171,808 in stake-money. As member 

 for the Dulwich Division of Camberwell, Sir Blundell drew attention in Parliament 

 to the mismanagement of the horse supply sent out to the South African War, 

 and every word he said was more than vindicated by the revelations that were 

 published later concerning the Re- 

 mount Department. His stud farm 

 contained no less than seven stallions, 

 sixty-nine brood mares, and twenty- 

 eight foals when I saw it two months 

 before his death. It is sad to think 

 that so concentrated an opportunity 

 for the permanent benefit for horse- 

 breeding should not have been in 

 some way preserved intact for the 

 nation their owner served so well. 

 He was as sincerely mourned in the 

 Newmarket and St. Albans districts 

 as in those parts of London where 

 his commercial prosperity and fine 

 business instincts meant so much to 

 the enormous number who depended 

 on the great firm of which he was 

 the head. 



In drawing attention to the question of remounts. Sir Blundell Maple did very 

 real service ; for those who object to the Turf on principle have had a very powerful 

 weapon put into their hands by the utter failure of this country to produce enough 

 horses for a sudden crisis. Supporters of English racing had hitherto loudly asserted 

 that it was racing alone which kept up the English breed of horses. They had 

 pointed to the facts that in 1813 there were barely 800 horses running on the flat, 

 whereas we began the twentieth century with over 4,000 in 1901. Yet the country 

 does not seem to have benefited by this, if the remount statistics are to be believed ; 



VOL. III. H H 



'..' 



By permission of 

 " Country Life," 



Sir J. Blundell Maple. 



