2oo T'/ie American Thoroughbred 



great $10,000 match against Ashland at four-mile heats; and both Col. E. S. Lathrop 

 and myself were desirous of getting a few. good mares to mate with him. I went 

 down and looked the mare all over and was perfectly satisfied with her appearance, she 

 being a rich brown, big and roomy, with no end of quality. The price was $3000. 

 which I was perfectly willing to pay, but Col. Lathrop said I ought to have demanded a 

 breeders' certificate. Her pedigree as he gave it to me, was as follows : 



FAIRY QUEEN, br m., by Launcelot (St. Leger of 1840 and brother to Touchstone), 

 out of Amima (sister to Augustus, winner of the 2000 guineas), by Sultan from Au- 

 gusta by Woful, brother to Whalebone and Whisker. 



Nothing could surpass that for gilt-edged breeding, but when I came to ask for a 

 breeder's certificate, the gentleman was completely non-plussed. He had never had 

 one, so he said, but had bought the mare from his friend, Duncan Fraser, of Montreal. 

 A letter sent to that address with a five days' return mark on it, came back to me with- 

 out answer, showing that the party was mythical entirely. Subsequently, I wrote to 

 the late Charles J. Foster, racing editor of the Spirit of the Times, asking him to con- 

 sult his English Stud Book and send me a correct list of the produce of Amima by Sul- 

 tan. It took twenty-five days then for a letter to reach New York, but the answer 

 came in due time, showing that Amima had not only never produced a foal to Launcelot, 

 but had actually never been stinted to him ! When Col. Bruce started to publish his 

 American Stud Book he engaged me to compile that portion of it relating to California 

 thoroughbreds. It is needless to say that imported Fairy Queen, by Launcelot out of 

 Amima by Sultan, did not find a place in that volume or any other. There was never a 

 more deliberate attempt at wholesale robbery than that, but, as the offender is now 

 dead, I drop the mantle of charity over his remains and decline to give his name. 



The man who takes another man's money for the services of a stallion with a 

 bogus pedigree, is no better than a highway robber. I know of cases wherein a mare 

 was sent to be bred to one horse and was mated with another. The man who gets a 

 spurious pedigreed horse under circumstances like that, certainly cannot be blamed 

 for it. But I have known pedigrees to be cut out of whole cloth in (this state; and I 

 have also known of a man who stood a "ridgeling" for three years before it was dis- 

 covered. In either case it was obtaining money by false nretenses and the offenders 

 should have been sent to the penitentiary. There is no good nor valid reason why the 

 breeding of horses should not be conducted as fairly and honestly as any other busi- 

 ness. And those who desire to be honest should lend every possible effort to punish 

 those who seek to live by devious methods. 



