AN UNFASHIONABLY BRED WINNER. 135 
surely be an assignable cause ; and if it be not wholly attri- 
butable to the want of exercise, as I have before suggested, 
it may be found in the different quality of the food, or in a 
combination of both. 
But to return to the more immediate subject, the purchasing 
of yearlings —it may be concluded as pretty certain that 
large horses fat will sell, when small and poor ones will 
not, except at a reduced and inadequate figure. Now as the 
latter often turn out the best, common sense leads one to 
choose them in preference to the others. People are to be 
found that will give £1,000 or £2,000 for anything, however 
shaped, that is brother or sister to a Derby winner, who would 
not give £100 for one much better shaped, less fashionably 
bred—and more likely, so far as experience teaches, to turn 
out much better than the high priced one. How many 
could I not point to that have been sold, like The Rover and 
Maximilian, for fabulous sums, that have proved utterly 
useless, never having won a race? On the other hand, of 
unfashionably bred ones, Zhe Hero was sold for 4150 and 
turned out the best horse in England. lcho and St. Giles 
were as indifferently bred, and sold for 100 guineas and 
60 guineas respectively, both really good horses over a dis- 
tance of ground. Even as I am writing, we have an extra- 
ordinary instance of the superiority of a badly bred horse 
over those of good pedigree. I allude to the breeding of 
gester, who is, without doubt, the most unfashionably bred 
horse in the world: his sire, Merry Maker, could not go 
fast enough to beat a hack, and his dam was a mare whose 
parentage was not thought worth preserving—in fact he is 
not proved to be thoroughbred. I have before mentioned 
his victories, which need not be repeated here. 
i Since this was written Maximilian has proved a winner. 
