ST. BLAISE 225 



Another good two-year-old at Kingsclere in 

 1883 was the filly Reprieve, by Queen's Messen- 

 ger. When the property of Matt Dawson, she 

 won the Stud Produce Stakes at the Newmarket 

 First Spring Meeting in a canter. Lord 

 Grosvenor (the eldest son of the late Duke of 

 Westminster and the father of the present Duke) 

 then bought her for ;^2ooo. This was the first 

 and the last racehorse owned by Lord Grosvenor. 

 I fancy the Duke was not very pleased when he 

 learned that his son had joined the ranks of 

 owners; he seemed to think that one patron of 

 the Turf in the family was sufficient ! Lord 

 Grosvenor, however, did very well with Reprieve, 

 for she won for him five races worth ;^4i88, and 

 was twice placed second. Before the next racing 

 season came round Lord Grosvenor died, and 

 Reprieve was bought by Lord Alington and Sir 

 Frederick Johnstone. Her racing abilities, how- 

 ever, dwindled sadly after her two-year-old days, 

 and she could not win another race. She was 

 eventually sold to Sir Tatton Sykes, who bred 

 from her some fairly useful animals, including 

 Florrie, Queen's Pardon, Mintlaw, and Remise. 



The career of Reprieve was very nearly brought 

 to a tragic close when she was a two-year-old. I 

 took her to Birmingham in June to run for the 

 Four Oaks Plate the first day of the meeting. 

 When driving to the course in a cab, I saw a 

 horse on the ground, and, alighting, found to my 



Q 



