ST. BLAISE 



Lord Alington and Sir Frederick Johnstone 

 were ** seasoned campaigners '* when they came 

 to Kingsclere in 1 8 8 1 . The former was born in 

 1825, and had been a member of the Jockey 

 Club since 1850. Up to 1876 he was a com- 

 moner — Mr. Gerard Sturt. He had had two 

 or three racing partners before he combined his 

 interests on the Turf with those of Sir Frederick 

 in 1868, when both were patrons of William 

 Day at Woodyeates. Sir Frederick was the 

 junior member of ** the firm,'* for he was sixteen 

 years younger than Lord Alington ; nevertheless, 

 the confederacy horses almost invariably carried 

 his colours, " chocolate, yellow sleeves." Lord 

 Alington seemed, however, to be the more active 

 partner. I always got on well with them, and, 

 generally speaking, the management of the 

 horses was left entirely to me. Both Lord Aling- 

 ton and Sir Frederick were inclined to bet some- 

 what heavily at times. I have always thought 

 they were extraordinarily fortunate as breeders 



and owners of racehorses. Between them, I 



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