FLYING FOX 



It would be, I think, in 1893 that the Duke of 

 Westminster asked me to buy for him a brood 

 mare. Shortly afterwards I noticed that Vam- 

 pire, a four-year-old by Galopin out of Irony, by 

 Rosebery, was entered in a sale at Newmarket. 

 As a two-year-old she had won the Priory Stakes 

 of ;f500 at Lewes, and a ;^2oo race at Newmarket 

 in eight starts. I went to see her, and she seemed 

 to satisfy the Duke's requirements. Hearing, 

 however, that a high reserve had been placed on 

 her I did not trouble to attend the sale. The 

 same afternoon I came across Lord Hindlip (as 

 he afterwards became) and he said to me: " I 

 thought you were going to buy Vampire this 

 morning." " Yes," I replied, " I did intend to 

 bid until I heard that the reserve of 1000 guineas 

 originally fixed had been raised to 1500 guineas." 

 " Well," said he, " she wasn't sold, and if you 

 still want her you can buy her privately." I 

 agreed to take Vampire if the price was not more 

 than a thousand, and the negotiations were 



quickly concluded. 



386 



