SPORT 



Sir Joseph Hawley, however, on one occa- 

 sion at least (in 1848) sent one of his horses 

 to Canterbury for the Queen's Plate ; but 

 Miami, his representative, did not achieve 

 success, although a year earlier she had won 

 the Oaks. The race was run in heats as will 

 be seen from the following table, the result 

 being : — 



i\lr. Harrison's ch h Pyrrhus the First by 



Epirus, 5 yrs., 10 st. . A. Day * I I 



Mr. E. R. Clarke's b f Alpheia, 3 yrs., 8 st. 



4 lbs. . . . W. Planner * 2 3 



Sir Joseph Hawley's b or ro f Miami, 4 



yrs Sly 3 3 2 



From the foregoing table it will be seen 

 that the first heat resulted in a dead-heat 

 between Pyrrhus the First and Alpheia, the 

 remaining two going to the former, who 

 was none other than the Derby winner of 

 two years before. 



There is no trace of Lord Falmouth having 

 gone to Canterbury even with one of Mat 

 Dawson's lesser lights bred at Mereworth, 

 a place still known to fame as the nursery 

 of Hurricane, Kingcraft, Wheel of Fortune, 

 Jannette, Childeric, GaUiard, Busybody, and 

 others, while Leybourne is no less conspicuous 

 as having to its credit such good horses as 

 Fitz Roland, Aphrodite, Teddington, Musjid, 

 Beadsman, Blue Gown and Pero Gomez, 

 besides the already mentioned Miami — all 

 classic celebrities. 



Lord Falmouth's great stud was disposed 

 of by auction at Newmarket in 1884, and 

 realized the large sum of 111,860 guineas. 

 Sir Joseph Hawley's stud had been broken 

 up in 1873, when it was sold at Middle Park. 



The Blenkirons — father and two sons — 

 made the Middle Park stud famous. The 

 stallions which they have had there include 

 Blair Athol, Kingston, King John, and 

 Gladiateur, and among the mares have been 

 Seclusion and Shot. It is on record that 

 Mr. Chaplin gave no less a sum than 1,000 

 guineas as a yearling for Hermit out of the 

 former mare, and the very next lot, out of 

 Shot, was knocked down to Mr. Merry for 

 the same figure. Mr. Merry's purchase 

 eventually came to be known as Marksman 

 and the pair subsequently fought out a very 

 memorable Derby, the verdict going to 

 Hermit, which beat Marksman in a desperate 

 finish to a hard fought race by a neck. 



Little indeed now remains to tell the tale 

 of the high-mettled racers once reared within 

 those famous paddocks at Middle Park, and 

 the only sign of quadruped existence that 

 could be seen recently as one passed along the 

 Eltham road was a board fixed at the end of 



the old elm avenue, announcing the simple 

 fact that horses were taken in to graze where 

 so many heroes and heroines of the Turf 

 once had their being. 



Not very far removed from Middle Park 

 is Avery Hill, where the late Colonel North ' 

 established a breeding stud, and succeeded 

 in producing a very fair lot of horses. But 

 this once busy centre of activity exists no 

 more as an establishment for the raising of 

 blood stock. 



Leybourne was used as a breeding stud 

 some time ago by Mr. Phillips, who, after 

 Sir Joseph Hawley's death, had there among 

 others Galliard and Peter ; and Mereworth, 

 where the sixth Lord Falmouth achieved 

 so many successes, is now in the hands of 

 his son, the present Viscount, who still keeps 

 several brood mares there. So far he has 

 not had the good fortune that favoured 

 his famous father, but he can at least claim 

 to have turned out one classic winner in 

 Quintessence. 



There are, or were, a few other studs, most 

 of them of minor importance, upon Kentish 

 soil, and a diligent search of the Stud Book 

 would reveal the names of many famous 

 horses who have been produced in this quiet 

 little corner of England. Mr. Musker 

 recently tried his fortunes within the county 

 with Melton, at Westerham, where many 

 brilliant horses have been produced from 

 time to time, and Mr. John Corlett of The 

 Sporting limes still struggles hard with his 

 little lot out Sutton Valence way in the 

 Staplehurst district. His luck with Torpedo 

 Catcher has not been very great, but one of 

 her progeny at least. Let Go the Painter, 

 achieved the distinction of winning a race 

 on native soil, when at Folkestone he carried 

 off the chief handicap on the card. 



It may be of interest to note, in conclusion, 

 that one or two of Kent's long disused courses 

 still remain, notably that at Bromley, which 

 is now (1907) used as a golf links, thereby 

 following the fate of many another once 

 famous course in this and other parts of the 

 kingdom. At Strood too, although the 

 actual course has long since disappeared. 



^ It is a coincidence that the late Mr. Thomas 

 Blenkiron and Colonel North, who were connected 

 with these two neighbouring breeding studs, are 

 buried almost side by side in the little churchyard 

 at Eltham. The former was the elder son of the 

 founder of the Middle Park stud and the father of 

 the owner of Ambition, who used to race in the 

 name of Mr. EUerton. It was this Mr. Thomas 

 Blenkiron who advised Colonel North to invest 

 the money he had got from his nitrates on the 

 Turf, with what successful results every one knows. 



499 



