TPIE 'BIG STABLE' 113 



Meanwhile, in the early autumn, the dreaded coali- 

 tion had taken place ; Count F. de Lagrange and Baron 

 Niviere had made common cause, creating a great 

 sensation, exciting wide apprehension, insomuch that 

 men talked in France of a ' Turf deluge,' in which the 

 smaller establishments should be overwlielmed by the 

 'Big Stable.' It was even whispered that the Emperor 

 himself, who was known to be partial to horse-racing 

 on the English plan, had an interest in the ' Big Stable ' 

 and was its real head ; but for the latter insinuation 

 there appears to have been no sufficient ground. Minds, 

 liowever,. were somewhat tranquillised on reflection, 

 when it was remembered that the smaller stables had 

 done pretty well ; that Madame Latache de Fay (who 

 died in July 1861, and was succeeded by M. Teissier e) 

 had won tlie two biggest French prizes (the Grande 

 Poule des Produits, as it is now called, and the French 

 Derby) ; that Mon Etoile and Capucine had brought 

 considerable grist to their owners' mill ; that Count 

 de Morny had made a good show with Violette (winner 

 of the Poule des Produits) ; tliat M. Henri Delamarre 

 had been to the fore with Papillotte (who was to be the 

 dam of Patricien) ; and that of the small owners Baron 

 Schickler alone could be considered quite out in the 

 cold, though MM. Fould, Lupin, de Vanteaux, Eoth- 

 schild, and Nexon were not much better off. There was 

 still more relief felt when it became manifest that the 

 ' Big Stable ' was about to put forth its chief strength 

 not in France but in England, where the more powerful 

 branch of it would henceforth have a local habitation 

 and a name. 



The ' Big Stable ' lasted about two years only, and 

 its achievements justified partly the fears which had 



I 



