FROM HOWL FOR 'RECIPROCITY' TO PRESENT DAY 325 



with M. E. Blanc the reputation of being ' the greatest 

 punter in the Ring,' he had a ' private secretary always 

 at his heels to put down his bets,' he was the sort of man 

 to whom ' the bookmakers flocked like flies to honey,' 

 he had been known to 'bet 100,000fr. (4,000/.) on a 

 pigeon-shooting match at DeauvilJe,' he bore his losses 

 without moving a muscle (unless he bit his moustache 

 a good deal), and he would back his own horses when 

 they had not a chance. Such a gentleman was pretty 

 sure to find the turf too much for him before long ; and 

 so in 1881, having been ' hard hit,' it was said, by the 

 result of the Grand Steeple-chase de Paris (for which 

 his horse Fin-Picard was first favourite, and for the loss 

 of which the rider was supposed by some folks to have 

 been responsible), he determined to sell his horses and 

 confine hhnself to breeding at his magnificent place at 

 Cires-les-Mello, where his castle looks down from the 

 heights over the branch railway between Creil and 

 Beauvais, and where he had already founded a haras 

 (such as the fine ' prairies ' were, of course, intended for 

 by Nature), with Eoi de la Montague (who had won a 

 great race for the Prix du Lac and a great reputation 

 in 1878) for stud-horse-in-chief. 



The sale of the horses-in-training (steeple-chasers, 

 three-year-olds, and tw^o-y ear-olds) fetched 299,550fr. 

 (11,982/.), of which 46,100fr. (1,844/.) were given by 

 M. E. Blanc for the fateful Fin-Picard (whose name, of 

 course, recalls the legendary Franc-Picard). The breed- 

 ing does not seem to have been much more profitable 

 hitherto to Baron Raymond than his horse-racing and 

 steeple-chasing were ; but, no- doubt, the horse of the 

 future may yet come from Mello. The Baron is a good 

 illustration of the truth that there is in the saying about 

 ' birds of a feather ' ; for his sister (it is stated) married 



