31 6 JOHN PORTER OF KINGSCLERE 



for three-year-olds and upwards, and not, as now, 

 a race for three-year-olds only. The style in 

 which Sainfoin defeated his opponents made a 

 good impression on many people, notably Sir 

 James Miller, then a subaltern in the I4thj 

 Hussars. After Surefoot had won the Tw( 

 Thousand, Sir James, accompanied by Mr, 

 Joseph Davis, the present manager of Hurstj 

 Park, came to Kingsclere and opened negotia- 

 tions for the purchase of Sainfoin. I informed] 

 Sir Robert Jardine of these overtures. He re- 

 plied that I could deal with the horse in the way] 

 I thought best. 



This placed me in rather an awkward pre- 

 dicament. The public had come to regardl 

 Sainfoin as a fairly strong candidate for Derb] 

 honours ; his chance would, indeed, have looke( 

 a very good one but for the fact that Surefoot 

 had to be reckoned with. Surefoot, however, 

 appeared to be sadly in the way ; so much so thai 

 after carefully weighing up the arguments pre 

 and con, I came to the conclusion Sainfoin was 

 not likely to beat Mr. Merry's colt at Epsom. 

 I therefore took the responsibility of selling th< 

 son of Springfield to Sir James Miller. It wai 

 arranged that the ** consideration ** should b( 

 ;^6ooo, plus half the Derby Stakes if the colt 

 won that race. When the deal was completed 

 Sir Robert Jardine expressed himself perfectly 

 satisfied, and at the time I certainly thought we 



