124 QUEEN'S PREMIUM SIRES. 



contests for the Queen's Plates as an 

 encouragement to the breed of horses in 

 this country (the purpose for which they 

 were instituted) had been reduced, are, I 

 suspect, somewhat regretful that the official 

 patronage of the Crown should be thus 

 entirely withdrawn from it ; for the simul- 

 taneous abolition of Her Majesty's breeding 

 establishment at Hampton Court must, we 

 suppose, be accepted as further proof that 

 such severance is to be final and complete 

 The circumstances leading up to this change 

 seem to demand a brief retrospection, which, 

 with apologies to the cognoscenti, I will 

 proceed to give for the benefit of those who 

 may be less conversant with such matters, 

 and yet not without interest in them. 



The earliest prize for winning a horse race 

 in this country was a bell ; but this was 

 soon superseded by cups, bowls, and similar 

 pieces of plate, of which those given by the 

 Crown for " the encouragement of the breed 



