68 HORSE-EACING IN FRANCE 



the cavalry school at Saumur about 1843 ; lago, im- 

 ported in 1853 ; Lanercost, in 1853 ; Nuncio, in 1847 ; 

 Womersley, in 1853; and, above all, the short-lived 

 Emperor (imported 1850, died 1851), the esteemed 

 Sting (imported in 1848), and the famous Gladiator 

 (imported in 1846), of whom it might almost be said 

 by the French, as was said long ago of the ' Godolphin 

 Arabian ' among ourselves, ' There is not a superior 

 horse now on the Turf without a cross of him, ' neither 

 has there been for many years past.' 



The prices paid for these sires to the English sellers 

 were (with the exception of Gladiator, for whom the 

 French Government wisely paid about 2,500/.) so low, 

 for the most part, tliat the State could well afford to all 

 but give their services away, and are enough to astonish 

 a generation which is familiar with such princely outlay 

 as 14,000/. — a small fortune — for a Doncaster, or up- 

 wards of 12,000 guineas for a Blair Athol. The price 

 of Strongbow was but 7,600 francs, or about 304/. ; 

 of Nuncio but 4,000 francs, or about 160/. ; of the 

 great (but poisoned) Lanercost but 12,000 francs, or 

 about 480/. ; of the ' fashionably ' bred Womersley but 

 350 guineas or thereabouts ; of that excellent sire Sting 

 but 15,450 francs, or about 618/. True a little over a 

 thousand g-uineas was £!:iven for The Baron, and about a 

 thousand for Nunnykirk, who is said to have never 

 covered anywhere but in France, and who, though he 

 was sire of Potocki (winner of the French Derby in 

 1857), was not a very great bargain. We, however, are 

 accustomed to see a thousand guineas paid for yearlings 

 that never face the starting-post. 



The fees paid for the services of these sires were 

 sometimes quite ludicrous, calling to mind the 'jere- 

 miad ' that was sung by a sporting writer over the 



