ST. BLAISE 211 



suppose, they never owned more than seven or 

 eight brood mares at any one time, yet while I 

 trained for them they bred St. Blaise, Common, 

 Matchbox, Matchmaker, Friar's Balsam, Throstle, 

 Missel Thrush, and Plum Centre. There have 

 been few studs able to boast of a better record. 



St. Blaise, a chestnut colt by Hermit out of 

 Fusee, by Marsyas, was one of the yearlings that 

 reached Kingsclere in the autumn of 1881. He 

 was a fine big colt, though inclined to be rather 

 coarse. There was none of the Newminster deli- 

 cacy about him; one would, indeed, rather de- 

 scribe him as a horse of the Stockwell type. As 

 a two-year-old, he showed himself just " useful." 

 It was at Stockbridge, in the summer, that he 

 made his first appearance in public. He won 

 the Biennial, walked-over for the Troy Stakes, 

 and ran second to Macheath in the Hurstbourne 

 Stakes. At Goodwood he dead-heated with 

 Elzevir for the Molecomb Stakes. In accordance 

 with the somewhat absurd rule then applying 

 when owners agreed to divide after a dead- 

 heat, St. Blaise went through the formality of 

 walking over. In the autumn, at Newmarket, 

 he was unplaced in the Dewhurst Plate, but won 

 the Troy Stakes. This series of performances 

 was not one on which extravagant hopes could 

 be founded. 



During the ensuing winter months St. Blaise 

 literally waxed fat, and when the racing season 



