Prince Charles Kinsky 



out of a Buccaneer mare I had bought and trained myself, 

 beating, to my great pride, ' Bay ' Middleton, who had come over 

 to us on a visit and to hunt with the Pardubic Hounds. 



" In 1878 I came over to England for the first time with the 

 late Empress to hunt with the Pytchley from Cottesbrook, 

 after which I had to rejoin my regiment, and it was not until 

 the January of 1881 that my real daydream began to realise 

 itself, when I joined our Embassy in London, of which I 

 remained a member off and on for fifteen years. Besides those 

 in Hungary, and a good many in Austria, I have ridden 

 successfully in England, Germany, and France ; whilst in India 

 I have an unbeaten record, having only ridden twice — a flat 

 race and a steeplechase — for the joint owners Maharajah 

 Patiala and Bill Beresford, winning on both occasion. 



" The best and most satisfactory race I ever won in Hungary 

 was the first big Steeplechase at Pressbourg, then worth a lot 

 of money. I came over to ride the favourite for my brother- 

 in-law. Prince Auersperg, but the horse broke down before the 

 start, and we had to fall back on his second string, a little mare 

 called Contegne, and a very useful substitute she turned out* 

 I attribute this unlooked-for victory in a great measure to 

 balancing the mare well, and letting her go her own proper 

 staying pace all the way through, no matter what the others 

 did — letting her run her own race in fact, whilst facilitating her 

 task in every way I could. As the mare never once showed 

 the same form afterwards, I think I am justified in my 

 supposition. 



"I first saw Zoedone at the Ash Hunt meeting in 1881, 

 when hunting with the Empress in Cheshire from Combermere 

 Abbey, on which occasion the mare won a small Hunt Steeple- 

 chase. I was greatly tempted to buy her for a hunter at the 

 time, but was not sure whether I should be in England the 



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