166 CANADIAN TURF EECOLLECTIONS 



The disappearance of the thoroughbred stallion from 

 the concession lines would also have been severely felt 

 in a province, which, as it is, lacks altogether too much a 

 proper appreciation of his value. 



It was Mr. Pringle's opinion that only through actual 

 performance on the turf, the game, stout thoroughbred 

 could be maintained, and that none but those who had 

 carefully studied the question could realize the important 

 part played by this strain of blood in improving the 

 quality, as regards constitution and conformation, of the 

 light-legged horses of any country. 



Even as matters stand, there are in Canada too large 

 a number of coarse, low-bred weeds, and had it not been 

 for the enthusiasm and enterprise of a few individuals 

 who, during the last three or four decades saw to it that 

 the thoroughbred kept his place on the course and in the 

 show-yard, the state of affairs would be infinitely worse. 



Among the loyal friends of the thoroughbred in those 

 dark days, ''Roddy" Pringle ranked high. An all-round 

 lover of decent, clean sport, he was an exceptionally good 

 horseman, and although, as a rule, self-contained and 

 undemonstrative, no man better enjoyed a close finish, 

 or was more keenly enthusiastic when his choice finished 

 first past the post. 



Mr. Pringle was the owner of many well-known horses, 

 among them that good race mare Mignonette, who won 

 the Queen's Plate in 1873, being the first three-year-old 

 to win the Canadian Classic. 



Later an intimate and mutually cordial friendship be- 

 tween him and Dr. Andrew Smith, led to their being asso- 

 ciated in the ownership and development of some of the 

 best thoroughbreds ever raised in the Dominion. 



Out of the famous imported mare Castaway, by Zet- 

 land out of Castellan, they brought to the starting post a 

 whole family of horses, almost all of which proved noted 

 winners, some being of exceptional merit. Among these 

 the noted grey mare Lady D'Arcy, by Thunder, a son of 

 Lexington, held for two years the three-quarter mile 

 record of the American turf, no small honor for a Cana- 



