212 The Post and the Paddock, 



mer, whose sales and stakes alone produced him 

 about 20,000/. How strangely this luck contrasts 

 with the lamentation we lately heard from an owner's 

 lips, as he looked at a little wretch, for which he had 

 given very little short of 1000 guineas in a straw- 

 yard, and devoutly wished that any one would take it 

 out of his sight. The dams of Crucifix and The Hero, 

 with those great racers at their foot, and a Wildgoose 

 mare in foal with Blacklock, did not average 20 

 guineas apiece ; Blacklock's dam was picked up for 

 3/. at a fair ; the dam of Mr. Val Maher's wonderful 

 grey hunter, Leatherhead, was bought for a guinea ; 

 and it may also be mentioned, that when the late Mr. 

 Stephenson became tired of his brood mares, he 

 offered a friend the choice of Martha Lynn (heavy 

 in foal with Voltigeur), Yarico, or a Cain mare, for 

 25/., and that he chose the latter. Earl Zetland, who 

 scarcely ever seems to breed a bad one, sent the 

 hollow-backed Castanette, out of compliment to his 

 double victor, to Barton, in 185 1, who was merely 

 serving half-breds, and had Fandango as the reward 

 of his loyalty. 



The luck of the best and most fashionable sires is 

 especially fluctuating. Lanercost had the picked mares 

 of England in 1847-48, but without success. Irish 

 Birdcatcher, on the contrary, had a wonderfully fine 

 season in 1848, and his stock carried everything 

 before them when they ran in 1851-52 ; but those of 

 1849 were of quite another stamp : and Mr. Plummer's 

 Alice Hawthorne, although her Lord Falconberg 

 looked big enough to carry his half-brother Young 

 Hawthorne, had again a most unworthy representa- 

 tive of her own prowess. The Flea was equally eccentric 

 when she produced the mite of a Cimicina, and then 

 after a year's rest, the great roundabout Canary. 

 Scarcely any sires run successfully after being once 

 put to the stud. Even " Sammy King and Catton," 

 who were almost invincible in their day, failed when 



