GALOPIN AND PETRARCH 



he was more remarkable for elegance and quality 

 than for bone and substance, still he stood 15.3 

 when he won the Derby, and a horse of that size 

 is quite big enough for anything, if he is only 

 good enough. Prince Batthyany was, perhaps, a 

 little lucky to obtain possession of the best horse 

 he ever owned. Flying Duchess was one of the 

 choice collection of mares that the late Mr. Blenk- 

 iron sTot together at the Middle Park Stud, and 

 her yearling was, in due course, brought into the 

 rins: at the annual sale in 1873. The Prince and 

 John Dawson were present, but had not purchased 

 anything when the latter had to leave to catch a* 

 five o'clock train. However, he selected a couple 

 of yearlings, the Flying Duchess colt and another, 

 and advised the Prince to buy one or other of 

 them. After this lapse of time he cannot identify 

 the second one, but remembers that he did not 

 quite like the look of his hocks, and that his 

 suspicions in this respect proved well founded, as 

 the colt, though a remarkably good-looking one, 

 never ran in public. It was fortunate indeed, there- 

 fore, that Prince Batthyany went for the Flying 

 Duchess colt, though he could little have guessed 

 the bargain he had secured when the hammer fell 

 at 520 guineas. He was tried twice as a yearling 

 on the Side Hill, and did all that was asked of 

 him on each occasion. Unfortunately John Dawson 

 has never kept a trial book, and is unable to recall 

 the names of the horses with whom he was 

 galloped or the weights they carried, but he well 

 remembers that Galopin gave promise of turning 

 out something quite out of the common. Blanton 

 had been asking a question of Balfe, a brown 

 colt by Plaudit out of Bohemia belonging to 

 Prince Soltykofi* at about the same time, and, 

 when the two trainers compared notes, they came 



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