278 THE HORSE. 



which makes or mars every horse ; and that if the second is not 

 possessed of the same high degree of animal vigor, the result 

 of high health, it is not wonderful when he falls short in per- 

 formances which are the test of his goodness. But, taking the 

 otlier side of the question, it is extraordinary that in some cases 

 there have been a series of successes resulting from the union 

 of the same two parents — as in the AVhalebone and Whisker 

 example, where there were six most extraordinaiy horses and 

 mares resulting from the union of Waxy with Penelope ; and, 

 on the other hand, as remarkable a series of failures when she 

 was put to even such good horses as Walton, Rubens, and Elec- 

 tion. Castrel, Selim, and Rubens, again, are out of the same 

 mare, and all by Buzzard, yet she was put to Calomel, Quiz, 

 Sorcerer, and Election, without a single successful result. 

 Again, there are cases where a horse begets racing stock out of 

 all sorts of mares, and thus we find in more recent clays Touch- 

 stone, a gi-andson of Whalebone, carrying on his grandfather's 

 fame still farther, if possible, and begetting a most extraordi- 

 nary series of winners ; but, be it remembered, with an infusion 

 also of one of the three above-mentioned brothers, Selim, who 

 was his maternal great-grandfather. Barbelle, dam of Yan 

 Tromp and Flying Dutchman, is another similar case ; as is also 

 Fortress, the dam of Old England, and Pyrrhus I. Another 

 remarkable example may be traced in the three sisters by Whis- 

 ker, out of Young Giantess — viz., Cressida, Eleanor, and Julia, 

 which produced Priam, Muley, and Phantom by three different 

 sires. The list of similar examples might be extended to a 

 great length, though not always perhaps occupied with such il- 

 lustrious names as the above ; but still sufficiently so to indicate 

 that winning blood runs in families, and by consequence, that 

 it is not all the result of chance. Sometimes this is the case 

 with the brood-mare, as" in tlie above instances, and sometimes 

 with the stallion, as in the case of those which become the ce- 

 lebrities of their day. Moreover, it has been found that certain 

 unions or crosses almost always succeed, while others as invari- 

 ably fail ; and as there must be a reason for this, it is desirable 

 to investigate the matter, and endeavor to ascertain the facts 

 connected with these successes and failures. For instance; it 

 has been found that the union of the Touchstone blood with 



