04 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



result ! Of the horses entered as yearlings for 

 the classic events, how many will be found at the 

 starting-post on the day of the race ? Probably 

 nine or ten on the average, or, at the most, 

 fourteen. 



Yearlings ? These baby horses often turn 

 out dire failures ! An animal costing ^2,000 

 may never win a race ! One or two horses, which 

 cost large sums of money, are at this moment 

 probably travelling the country as " sires " at 

 merely nominal fees. On the other hand, a horse 

 which proves successful on the turf attains greater 

 value with each new success it achieves, and at 

 length, like Doncaster and Springfield, it may 

 come to be "worth its weight in gold." "Yearlings' 

 said the late Mr. Merry when he purchased All 

 Heart and No Peel, afterwards known as Don- 

 caster, " are a fearful lottery." He was right in 

 saying so, although at the time he was drawing a 

 prize and didn't know it — he was, in fact, for a sum 

 of 950 gs., purchasing the Derby winner of 1873. 



The following anecdote related in Parliament 

 by Mr. Gerard Sturt is apropos : In 1825, there was 

 a little mare which belonged to a countryapothecary 

 at Newcastle, and her vocation was to go up one 

 street and down, whilst pills and what not were 

 being delivered ; well, this little mare of nominal 

 value produced, in as many consecutive years, three 

 of the best animals of their periods, namely, 

 Rubens, Sellm, and Castrel. The Deformed was 

 purchased as a filly for ^15 with her engagements 

 in four large stakes, all of which she won ! She 

 was afterwards sold to a Captain Salt for i,500gs,, 

 was repurchased for a brood mare at 300 gs. and 

 sold again for 600 gs. to the Marquis of Waterford, 



