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FINE MATRONS FOR THE DECEMBER SALE. An Overlooked Factor in the Success of Orby in the Stud. Within a month the December Sales will be on us, bringing with them a heavy catalogue, and so strangely do events follow in these abnormal times, that it would be no matter for surprise should an ample number of buyers turn up, vast though the wastage of war has been for this country and Europe. In the United States there has been a period of unexampled prosperity during the war, and if President Wilson, who has kept them out of it, somehow or other, is not again returned it will be indeed surprising. There will be no lack of good things to buy. That much is certain, for I have seen some of the advance proofs of the catalogue, the first two slips of which consist almost entirely of mares and foals, the property of the late Mr. Lawrence MeCreery. They include mares of the best, such as Naughty Jill 1900, dam of Peg o My Heart, covered by Lomond; Vinaigrette 1907, covered by Polymelus; and with :i filly by Santoi; Fieri 1907, covered by Tracery, ami with a colt by Polymelus; three mares covered by Orby, and other attractive lots, of which I only attempt at present to give a mere impression. Lord Ellesmere will sell quite a number of good mares, several of which trace to None the Wiser, whose Mood is bound to tell. Among these Service 1909 and Scrutiny 1913 are notable, the former by St. Serf out of Intelligence, by Ladis out of None the Wiser, and the latter by Rallot pure English breeding out of Investigation, by St. Amaut. her dam Inquisitive, by Hampton out of None the Wiser. Apropos, why should "IT- S. A." be appended to the name of Ballot or any other horse bred in the United States, so long as he is si clean-bred one? I venture to suggest to Messrs. Tattersall that this practice is unjust, because the majority of buyers are unfamiliar with American breeding, and regard the notification as if it were "H.-B." I have myself profited from the ignorance of others when buying a good animal thus branded. Now there is no more reason to describe Ballot "U. S. A." than Tracery,, which is not so described in the catalogue or, at least, the proofs of it. Both were foaled in the TT. S. A., but brth are clean-bred to the General Stud Book, and, that being so, what docs their birthplace matter. The sole point of substance in all such questions is that the pedigree should be as stated and the identity of the animal undeniable. John Dawson, who trains, as we all know, for Lord Ellesmere, will offer Slave Trade 1905, a really good St. Serf mare dam of four winners, anil of the same family as Desmond, with a fine brown filly by Marco, which I saw only the other day. It is to be feared, of course, that an unusual proportion of the lots sold will go abroad, and that our bloodstock will be seriously depleted. In the circumstances it is really exasperating to read of the crass folly of the Herts Tribunal, whose chairman expressed the view that Admiral Meux should reduce his stud in order to release one man of the only four he has remaining. Why, if it were not for the gallant admiral and others like him, who are patriotically holding on to their bloodstock, the British thoroughbred would soon be reduced to a vanishing point, our sole monopoly in the worlds markets would be gone, and our supply of light horses would be cut off, so to speak, at the main. Small breeders cannot afford to carry on, and are forced to sell; it is only breeders like Admiral Meux who can still hold the fort; and that the chairman of a tribunal should criticize their action in doing so almost passes the limits of human patience. It would be equally sensible to claim that the output of our collieries should be reduced in order that fewer miners should be employed; and that farming operations should be curtailed in order to release laborers. Admiral Meux no longer has Volodyovski at Theobalds Park, otherwise it would be absolutely impossible for him to maintain his stud with only four men. It is clear enough that Orby, though he did not head the list of winning stallions, was certainly the leading light at the finish of this flat-race season, and if Mr. Croker would send him to England the subscription list of the son of Orme and Rhoda B. would fill rapidly indeed. Perhaps it will fill in Ireland, but in these days breeders do not like the sea risk for their mares and foals. There has been considerable discussion as to the reason of the success which lias attended the mating of Orby with Renaissance and Donneta, and "Vigilant" in todays issue attributes it to the "nicking" of Angelica and St. Simon, or, in the latter case, Angelica and Gnlopin, together, with the doubling of Doncaster in Orby to meet Rataplan and Stockwell. This, no doubt, is quite right, so far as it goes; but, to iny mind, there Is a much more potent factor in the success which has been undoubtedly achieved, and that is supplied by the two free lines of Glencoo which come in through Hanover. I can truly say that some such success was adumbrated in my mind when in 1SS7. after seeing Hanover win three of his races, I did my best to arrange a purchase of him for England. Pocahontas hail proved then, and has continued to prove ever since, the enormous value of Glencoe blood, but the continuous inbreeding to Pocahontas must needs have created conditions under which the British thoroughbred is starving for lack of another Glencoe line, and that is just what Hanover supplies twice over, through Glencoes best son, Vandal, Hanover being a direct descendant of that horse and taking in another line of the same blood through his dam. Moreover, Hanovers dam by Bonnie Scotland, a son of Queen Mary, which wasr never at the stud in England, and here, too, there is a free strain in close relationship to much that is inbred in this country. I see my friend, "Mankato," suggests some doubts on other points of Hanovers pedigree on the authority of the late Capt. Merry, "Hidalgo," but Capt. Merry at any rate, in his later years was anything but an accurate old gentleman, and his writings teamed with patent errors, so that, without taking the earlier volumes of the American Stud Book as gospel, we are bound to prefer their authority to his. It is at least certain that Hanover was a horse of supreme excellence, both on the turf and at the stud, and that he represented two free lines of Glencoe, .dose up, and one of Queen Mary. That bung so, mares by him were certain to "nick" with the wealth of inbred Pocahontas and Queen Mary blood in England, and Orby has at last completed the demonstration, which I tried to bring about so many years ago, both when endeavoring to buy Hanover himself, and later on importing two of his best sons, both of which unfortunately died. It is left, perhaps, to Orby, and through him to his son, Diadumenos. more effectually to prove these truths as I believe them but I have little doubt that the most ample proofs wilt be forthcoming. It is for the same reason that at the September sales I bought a Sunstar yearling colt, tracing to Glcncairne sister to Glencoe for Mr. Grant Hugh Browne, for as a stallion he is almost sure exactly to suit the many lines of Glencoe blood that really made the success of American horses. W. Allison in London Sportsman of November 8.
