"Sister to Egis" to Bay Middleton in 1850; and his idea of its being the proper cross was so much confirmed when he saw Andover as a yearling, that on the Derby day he had a foal and yearling brother to him in his paddocks, both of which fetched enormous prices in consequence. The late Duke of Grafton was nearly as fond of the smart Reubens' blood as he was of Waxy's; and in short, as a writer in The Life has well expressed it, "every page of the Calendar tends to fix this on the breeder's memory-that the Waxy blood, crossed with that of Selim, Reubens, and Castrel, invariably runs.'

Penelope, Banter, a Canopus_mare, aad Gooseander have all thrown a brace of Epsom or St. Leger winners to the same horse; while Emma, Arcot Lass, and Barbelle have had equal success to different ones. Mandane has also quite a claim to rank with Prunella; and never was luck more strange than when Mr. Watt purchased her and her yearling, the St. Leger-winning Altisidora, along with Petuaria, Tramp, Manuella, &c., in one lot from Mr. Hewett. This prime daughter of Pot-8-os is not only credited with Altisidora by Dick Andrews, but she had also Lottery by Tramp, and Brutandorf by Blacklock, when she was in Mr. Watt's hands. The great lines of Tramp, Blacklock, Lottery, and Brutandorf-which are now represented in the present generation by Crozier or Loupgarou, Voltigeur, Weatherbit, Cossack, &c.-may thus all virtually be traced back to the stud farm at Bishop Burton. The Blacklock blood was kept up to its highest point in Voltaire, by a cross with Phantom; and the dam of Voltigeur, who is coarser in his points than his sire, was a Mulatto. The Saddler blood is synonymous with stoutness; and "The Squire" was at one time as fond of it as he has latterly been of Touchstone's, but that of Comus does not stand now where it promised to do in Reveller's day, when he and two of his half-brothersall from the Belle-Isle stables-were alone placed for the St. Leger; and even the great Lucetta did not sustain its prestige, when she ceased to bear the white banner of Sir Mark. One of the greatest racing bargains we remember was when Sir Charles Turner purchased Hambletonian, 3 yrs., Beningborough, 4 yrs., and Oberon, 5 yrs., from Mr. J. Hutchinson, with their engagements, for 3,000 guineas, at York August, and won every race but one with the two first at the next Doncaster meeting; while 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! The lovers of the "Herd Book" relate that Hubback, the great progenitor of the Durham shorthorns, was picked up for even less than the £3 which was given for the dam of Blacklock, by a farmer who was struck by its points as it grazed in its calf-hood on the roadside. It may also be mentioned as an odd Durham coincidence, 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. Such is luck! which was seldom more exemplified than when Earl Zetland, out of compliment to his double victor, sent Castanette to Barnton, in 1851, who was merely serving half-breds, and had an Ascot Cup winner as the reward of his loyalty, The luck of the best and most fashionable sires is especially fluctuating. Lanercost had

the best mares in 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 185152. Those of 1849 were, however, of quite another stamp; and Alice Hawthorne, although her Lord Fauconberg looked big enough to carry his half-brother Young Hawthorne, had again a most unworthy representative of her own prowess. Scarcely any sires have run suc cessfully after being once put to the stud. Even "Sammy King and Catton," who were almost invincible in their day, failed when they essayed it; and Jericho's "revival" in The Flying Dutchman's Ascot Cup is the best modern performance of the kind.

Nature has no set laws, or at least no turf Newton can discover them, as to the best age for breeding from a mare; and, in fact, all our great runners have been born at hap-hazard, between three and twenty-three. A sire may go on for five or six years more; but a mare generally becomes very feeble after that age, and either misses or throws diseased foals. It is no doubt very desirable, as with greyhounds, to have youth on one side; and it invariably happens that if a mare is very old, or has been very much knocked about before she is put to the stud, she reproduces unsoundness, which may be slumbering in herself, and seems to lose all power of counterbalancing that or any other bad points in the horse. We remember a remarkable instance of a mare, who had hunted with fifteen stone, and driven and ridden on the road with little cessation till she was nearly twenty; and although neither she nor the young horse she was then sent to had ever been doctored for a curb, or shown any symptoms of one, her two foals had their hind legs as curved as scythes, and age only partially removed their deformity. Apropos of the subject of hard work, which may have had its effect on the Crucifix stock, it is worthy of note that Rebecca, the dam of Alice Hawthorne, Rowena, Annandale, and Fair Helen (the dam of Lord of the Hills and Lord of the Isles), never did a day's work in her life. In fact, we have it from her late owner, who leased her for several years before death to Mr. Andrew Johnson, that to the best of his belief neither she nor her dam, nor her grandam, had ever been broken in.

The calculations about blood-stock produce are sadly imperfect, owing to the carelessness of non-racing breeders as to Stud-Book returns. The nearest approximation we can make to them is that about 1,550 mares annually bring about 1,150 foals to the birth in Great Britain, and of these about a sixteenth die either in foaling or before the ensu ing 1st of December. Accidents and disease effect such a highly successful elimination in the next seven months, that only from three to four hundred are found in the Epsom and St. Leger entries; while perhaps two to three hundred more must be set down as the property of breeders who do not care to engage, or do not think them worth engaging, in these great stakes. As far as we can ascertain, there were 1,160 blood foals brought to the birth in England and Ireland in 1851, and certainly not 1,100 of them were alive on New Year's Day, 1852. Watching their further progress through the pages of the "Racing Calendar," we find that 574 of them ran in 1853. This number decreased, in 1854, to 516; but two seasons of training tell a fearful tale, and in 1855 the remnant of that high-bred band only numbered 280.

Two-year-old racing lays the seeds of infirmity, which even the "British Remedy" cannot baffle. Old-fashioned breeders, like Mr. Kirby, who kept a dozen mares and a first-class horse, whom they changed every four or five years, the moment his subscription began to lag, were wont to consider 150 guineas a good average price for their yearlings. Priam passed into the hands of Messrs. Chifney and Dilly for 800 gs., by private contract; and Sir Mark's executors had to thank the untried Camarine and Lucetta for the wonderful success of their sale, where five yearlings brought 2,235 gs., and four foals 1,181 gs. Glenlivat, by Rowton or Cetus, out of Camarine, was the 1,010 gs. premier of the former lot; and a colt by Jerry, out of Lucetta, the 640 gs. one of the latter. Such high prices for yearlings were, however, far from being as general as they are now, and bidders not unfrequently adopted the plan of not opposing each other; but of "tossing up" or "knocking out" afterwards. If our memory serves us, The Kedger and Weatherbit were bought on this principle, Lord George Bentinck losing the toss for both of them. Shortly before this, when Muley reigned supreme at Underley, sixteen of his yearlings plodded their weary way over the Yorkshire Moors by Skipton to Doncaster; but Mr. Nowell and the grooms came back rejoicing to the quakerhaunted Westmoreland with the astounding news that the lot had averaged 331 gs. a-piece! Snowstorm, a son of Rebecca's, gave Mr. A. Johnstone a foretaste of his stud success by realizing 710 gs., and he also made 500 gs. at the same lucky spot, in front of "The Salutation,' with a Morsel colt, and Johnny Armstrong, who died before he could publicly prove the truth of a very high trial. General Anson had also good prices for many years, and the average of his eight, including Hernandez, in 1849, was 344 gs. Prices were very quiet in 1853, when Cavalier (520 gs.) was the premier; but the honour of being the Anni Mirabiles of the stud was reserved for 1854-55. The whole fourteen Royal yearlings, in the first of these years, averaged 441 gs., six of the colts averaging 611 gs., and a like number of the fillies 406 gs. This one-thousand-guinea "Yellow Jack" epidemic soon spread: "The Salutation." true to itself, heard Mr. Tattersall's hammer fall that autumn to 1,020 gs., and before another year had flown, we heard of two more 1,000 gs. private sales, and one of 1,200 gs. Last autumn, Mr. A. Johnstone averaged 311 gs. a-piece for his fifteen yearlings; but the average was unduly swelled by the sale of Lord of the Hills, who ran the gamut from 200 gs. to 1,800 gs., by a succession of rapid fifty-guinea bids. Four commissioners were at work, one of whom left off at 800 gs.; while a Newmarket trainer, who had come with a commission to that amount in his pocket, never got a bid at all. It was the general impression that Mr. Craufurd had as little intention of being beaten for this colt, as he had when he was wont to send on The Shaver to a favourite meet with the Quorn. The Royal Stud has averaged about 220 gs. for its 53 yearlings in 1851-55. Still if breeders could calculate on 100 gs. a-piece for every blood yearling they bring to the hammer, they would not do far amiss; whereas the average of yearling prices, at public sales, in 1854, was 1361 gs., and 117 gs. last year. The largest and most furnished yearling within modern trainers' memory, is said to be Brother to St. Hubert, who, but

for his mouth, might have been any age to look at; he was sold for 570 gs. last autumn, and his owner, who is the head plasterer at Doncaster, and only keeps two mares, has averaged 428 gs. for three of his yearlings, since the autumn of 1849: Fortune has, however, squared matters with him, as both his 1856 foals have died. Cyprian has also proved a golden mine to John Scott, with whom she may well be such a favourite, as his average is far beyond Mr. Sadler's, and for twice the number to boot. The Streatlam Paddocks are, after all, the El Dorado of blood stock. Besides "The West," they have sent Mundig, Cotherstone, Daniel O'Rourke, Hetman Platoff, Epirus, Springy Jack, and Fly-by-Night to Whitewall, in little more than twenty years. Durham has, however, been always as renowned for thoroughbreds as for short-horns. For nearly forty years Lord Darlington bred his best winners at Raby; Voltigeur and Virago also rank among its county worthies; and the Messrs. Cookson are getting very large prices.

The Marquis of Exeter has often had forty brood mares in his paddocks at Burleigh, and has perhaps bred more foals annually, with the exception of Sir Tatton Sykes, than any other man. His love for the blood of Sultan has been quite as great as that of the veteran Yorkshire baronet's for Comus. The stud at Sledmere has numbered about two hundred, taking one kind of blood-stock with another, and not unfrequently returns more than forty foals to the Messrs. Weatherby. Messrs. Stebbing and Morris have about thirty-six mares, and Lord Londesboro's number is rapidly increasing. At present the Royal Hampton Court Stud consists of twenty-two brood mares, which have cost rather more than 200 gs. each, and stand along with nearly a score of Mr. Greville's, in a long range of paddocks, which extend nearly a mile down the London-road. Cawston Paddocks is a pleasant spot; but for downright business, and not mere breeding for the love or honour of the thing, Rawcliffe Paddocks quite bear the palm. The company was formed in 1850, and The Flying Dutchman went direct there the day after he won his York match. The capital is £25,000, and the value of the shares, a few of which are for sale, is £100 each. Thirteen hundred and fifty acres on Rawcliffe Ings have been rented, and box accommodation has been built for 157 horses. The number of men employed at the stud alone is 11, and the cart mares are all used for breeding, although the last 10 gs. average for half-bred yearlings by Burgundy and Connaught Ranger was hardly encouraging. There were 53 lots sold in all, at the last sale, which realized 4,762 gs. ; and the 29, in 1854, brought 2,716 gs. The Flying Dutchman has been latterly a great hit for them, and so was Chanticleer; but Hetman Platoff died directly after they got him. They reckon their casualties at two in five ; and, on the whole, if they can only keep up a constant succession of fashionable sires, there seems every prospect, as the management is first-rate, of it proving a very fine speculation for the shareholders. We subjoin a list of their stock on the morning of their last sale :Thorough-bred sires, 4; mares, 60; yearlings, 42; and foals, 38; half-bred yearlings, 7; and half-bred foals, 5. Hetman Platoff and a mare cost them £500; and while the rent of The Dutchman was this year raised from £800 to £1000, the public sent him at his increased fee just twice as many mares as he had in each of the two preceding seasons.

OUR

167

LEICESTERSHIRE

THE HUNT AND THE RACES.

BUDGET.

When matters are at the worst, they are said to begin to mend. The state of affairs and the future prospects of hunting in Leicestershire were, at the time I last wrote, gloomy as they well could be. Lord Forester could not undertake the Seg's Hill country, Mr. Richard Sutton could only promise two days a week south of the Wreke; and the Donington district, swarming with foxes, was an utter blank. In this "awful pause," the Hunting Committee resolved on sending an ambassador plenipotentiary to Lord Stamford. A better man for this important embassy could hardly be selected than Mr. Story, who railed and posted to Enville Hall without delay. Lord Stamford was out with a shooting party; but Mr. Story's business was almost as important as that of an envoy, with a despatch from Vienna to St. Petersburgh. He hastened to the shooting grounds; fortunately, Lord Strathmore was among the shooters, and his lordship introduced the plenipotentiary to Lord Stamford (hitherto personally unknown to each other) as his capital friend, Jack Story. Shooting was laid aside, and the trio proceeded to the Hall; a good feed preceded the opening of the despatches.. Sportsmen are proverbial for going straight to the mark; so Mr. Story said at once, and without circumlocution, " Well, my Lord! I come with full powers to offer you the first hunting country in the world. Leicestershire wants a master; and it is determined, with your lordship's pormission, to have Lord Stamford."

"I am highly flattered," said the Earl; "it would be the height of my ambition to hunt what I might almost call my native county; but I cannot cast off the Albrighton like an old shoe.'

What boots it to tell how Mr. Story urged the wants, wishes, and claims of Leicestershire? He prevailed, and after a most hospitable reception, and a regular inspection of the magnificent hunting establishment at Enville, he returned to Leicestershire with the gratifying intelligence that Lord Stamford will at once make arrangements for hunting next season the whole country north of the Wreke, leaving Mr. Richard Sutton all that lies south of it. It was at first hoped that Lord Stamford would be able to begin his reign instanter, but considerations for the country which he now hunts with such spirit precluded the fulfilment of this hope.

Bradgate House will, it is believed, be the head-quarters; but Mr. Edward Warner, with a liberality deserving the highest praise, has offered the Earl the use of the Quorn kennels and stables. Like his lamented predecessor, Lord Stamford declines any subscription, save for the covers; and coming to us, as he does, with the determination to show sport, it is the earnest wish of all true sportsmen, and of all who wish well to the hunt, that he may find none of those drawbacks of which his predecessor is said to have complained. And how have

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