LINES OF BLOOD 309 



THE LINE OF BLACKLOCK 



Having dealt with the Sir Hercules and Camel lines, from 

 which the Birdcatcher and Touchstone families are de- 

 scended, I now have to trace the line from Eclipse 

 to St. Simon and his sons, so important to the present 

 generation. This particular branch of the family is gener- 

 ally known as the line of Blacklock, and from father to 

 son it runs as follows : 



Eclipse 



King Fergus 



Hambletonian 



Whitelock 



Blacklock 



Voltaire 



Voltigeur 



Vedette 



Galopin 



St Simon 



Persimmon. 



At the present time this is probably the best staying 

 family of the day, its greatest rival in point of stamina 

 being the Isonomy line of Birdcatcher, though, curiously 

 enough, Sterling, the sire of Isonomy, was only a miler. 

 On the other hand, the eleven horses in direct sire line from 

 Eclipse to Persimmon inclusive were all stayers ; and it must 

 be remembered that at present w,e are dealing with sires 

 only, the mare influence not being taken into consideration. 

 With a proportionate number of exceptions the broad fact 

 remains that certain lines of blood, and certain sires in 

 those lines, are responsible for a greater proportion of 

 stayers than other lines ; and, taking matters as they are 

 to-day, the line of Blacklock and the Isonomy branch of 

 the Birdcatcher family produce more stayers than are to 

 be found in the Stockwell branch of Birdcatcher, or in any 

 of the Touchstone families. Taking one of the exceptions, 

 no better stayer has been seen in the last decade than Sheen, 

 of the Newminster line of Touchstone, but stamina is more 



