322 HORSE-RACING IN FRANCE 



England included) in 1885, with 307,000 francs 

 (12,280/.) against Flageolet's 272,000 francs (10,880/.), 

 the defunct Trocadero's 265,000 francs (10,600/.), and 

 Dollar's 230,000 francs (9,200/.). We have seen, more- 

 over, that the French horses of the year (three-year- 

 olds) were of ' no account ' compared with the English 

 (the sole exception being Plaisanterie), and that the 

 French ' cracks ' (three-year-olds) of the two preceding 

 seasons, Frontin and Little Duck, were virtually — ■ 

 though not technically — English-bred. So that an 

 English scare and an English howl for ' reciprocity ' 

 appear to have been totally uncalled for and absurd ; 

 indeed it would have been more to the point to draw 

 attention to the fact that the French had small ground 

 for their proud boast (already mentioned) at the time 

 of Lord Falmouth's outcry, and that they could not 

 even yet do without John Bull's sires and dams (and as 

 for John Bull's trainers and jockeys, what the French 

 would do without them only a very imaginative person 

 can conceive). 



Indeed French writers themselves grew melancholy 

 over the ' pertes sensibles,' or ' serious losses,' their 

 breeding had sustained through the ' death or exporta- 

 tion of Trocadero, Faublas, Androcles, Flageolet (sold 

 to the Germans, of all people in the world, in 1885), 

 Mortemer, Verneuil, Chamant, Rayon d'Or, Consul, 

 Boiard, &c.,' and over the old age of Yermout and 

 Dollar (whose services could not be counted upon much 

 longer), but consoled themselves with the hope of filling 

 the voids (already caused or to be soon caused) by 

 means of Silvio and Wellingtonia (English sires) and 

 others of like origin, and paid compliments to French 

 owners who, like Count de Berteux and the Duke de 

 Castries especially, spared no expense in still importing 



