2i6 JOHN PORTER OF KINGSCLERE 



only other " achievements " that season were a 

 couple of walks-over. 



We had, as it turned out, seen the best of 

 St. Blaise. His one race as a four-year-old was 

 in the City and Suburban at Epsom, in which 

 he carried 8 st. 12 lb., started favourite, but ran 

 unplaced. There was about that time some 

 trouble with one of his suspensory ligaments, 

 and I could never train him properly afterwards, 

 though I persevered with him. He ran in the 

 Lincolnshire Handicap and two other races as 

 a five-year-old, but was unplaced each time. 

 His owners then sold him to go to the United 

 States, the buyer being the late Mr. August 

 Belmont. 



After Mr. Belmont's death, St. Blaise came 

 under the hammer in New York. Mr. Charles 

 Reed, owner of a big stud-farm in Tennessee, 

 had just been frustrated in an endeavour to buy 

 Ormonde, and consoled himself by making the 

 one and only bid for St. Blaise. His offer was 

 a hundred thousand dollars — ^^20,000. When 

 talking about this transaction afterwards Mr. 

 Reed used to say, alluding to the other breeders 

 who had intended to bid for St. Blaise, " I earth- 

 quaked *em, that's all — just earthquaked *em.'* 

 If not a conspicuous success as a stallion, St. 

 Blaise was the sire of many useful winners, and 

 is credited with a long string of brood mares in 

 the American Stud Book. 



