OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY 



The object of every illustrated work of this sort, especially where the horses 

 of various nations are given, is to give out the representative horse of each nation. I 

 therefore give PERSIMMON as the representative stallion of England, not that I deem 

 him so good a sire as St. Simon or Stockwell, but because he is the first stallion in 

 English history to head the list of winning sires at nine years of age, as against 

 eleven for Stockwell and twelve for Hermit. As the sire of the great filly Sceptre 

 and that great cup horse, Zinfandel, Persimmon will always occupy a prominent place 

 in English stud history. 



LEXINGTON is given the place, par excellence, of all native American sires, having 

 gotten more horses of absolute stake form in the same number of foals than any other 

 horse in American history. He headed the list of winning sires for eleven seasons (six 

 years after his death, be it remembered), while no other horse ever was at the top 

 for seven years. His sons did not do well in the stud but his daughters built up repu- 

 tation for at least ten of the best sires between 1870 and the present writing. In this 

 respect the sightless hero of Woodburn is the nearest approach to Sir Peter (foaled 

 1784), of any horse, since the dawn of the nineteenth century. 



FLYING Fox is given as the representative horse of France, although foaled in 

 England and never having raced in his adopted country. This is because he is the 

 only sire credited with a winner of the Grand Prix de Paris in his eighth year. It is 

 worthy of note that, though several highly approved mares were sent across the 

 channel to him, most of his best winners are from what might be properly called 

 French-bred mares. Mons. Edmond Blanc made no mistake when he paid the enor- 

 mous price of $80,000 for Flying Fox. 



MERMAN is given as the representative horse of Australia, for three reasons : 

 First, because no portrait of Yattendon was ever taken ; second, because no picture of 

 the Grand Flaneur was ever painted that could be called a good picture of the horse ; 

 and third, because Merman is, so far as turf performances in England are concerned, 

 a representative horse in the strictest sense of the term. He is the only Colonial-bred 

 horse to win the Ascot Gold Cup ; and the third horse in the long space of eighty years 

 to walk over for a Goodwood Cup, the other two being Stumps in 1826 and The Bard 

 in 1886. Few horses retire to the stud with such a garland of laurels as have en- 

 circled the beautiful neck of the deservedly great Merman. 



