XVII 



GALOPIN AND PETRARCH 



It is almost needless to write that there was no 

 connection between the two horses to whom this 

 chapter is devoted beyond the fact that they were 

 both trained by John Dawson, sen. In the course 

 of a pleasant afternoon spent at Warren House 

 he kindly gave me some particulars of them, and 

 it seems the most convenient plan to put them to- 

 gether. Galopin was a bay by Vedette out of Fly- 

 ing Duchess. Some doubt has occasionally been 

 expressed as to whether he really was by A^edette, 

 and things were conducted in such curious hap- 

 hazard style at the Diss Stud, where Vedette was 

 standing when Flying Duchess visited him, that 

 it is quite conceivable that any number of mistakes 

 might have been made. Still Dawson has not the 

 remotest doubt that the pedigree is right enough, 

 and points to the Voltigeur crest and other 

 characteristics of the breed that Galopin exhibited 

 as strong corroborative evidence of his descent from 

 Blacklock. Vedette was seventeen at the time he got 

 Galopin, whilst Flying Duchess was no less than 

 nineteen when he was foaled, and it is remarkable 

 indeed that the union of two animals of such ages 

 should have produced such a clipper. The advanced 

 age of his dam probably accounts for the fact that 



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