THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH 19 



mile, carrying top weight, 9 st. 7 lb., third for 

 the Ascot Cup to Fandango and Rataplan, and 

 unplaced in the Craven Handicap at Goodwood — 

 her last race. During the three seasons she was 

 in training she won eleven races and ;^ 10,420. 



The disparity between Virago's form as a 

 four-year-old and her brilliancy the previous year 

 is accounted for by the fact that she had become 

 a roarer, and a sad pity it was. After her failure 

 at Goodwood she was turned out of training and 

 sold to Lord Stradbroke, the brother of Admiral 

 Rous. As a brood mare she was not a success. 

 Mated with such sires as Orlando, The Flying 

 Dutchman, Stockwell, Kingston, Fandango, and 

 Thormanby, her only produce of any note was 

 her daughter Thalestris (by Kingston), who, as 

 a four-year-old, and carrying only 6 st. 2 lb., 

 won the Cesarewitch. Stradbroke, by Thor- 

 manby, born in 1864, was her last foal. She 

 was barren the three following years, slipped her 

 foal in 1868, and died in 1869. Thalestris, the 

 one filly out of Virago, was of no account at the 

 stud. There is, however, a prospering collateral 

 branch of the family, for Sacrifice, half-sister 

 (by Voltaire) to Virago, was the grandam of 

 Devotion, the dam of Thebais (winner of the 

 One Thousand and Oaks), and also of St. Mar- 

 guerite, the mother of Seabreeze (winner of the 

 Oaks and St. Leger), Tredennis, Le Var, and 

 of Roquebrune, the dam of Rock Sand. I have 



