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VICISSITUDES OF NOTED STALLIONS Singular Case of Florizel II., Which Sired Great Hsrses in His First Stud Year. Most stallions have good and bad years, and though stable management may have much to do with this, it passes the wit of man to explain fluctuations such as befell Florizel II. in his stud career. At the outset he seemed like carrying all before him. as lie had five two-year-old winners among his first stock, and they included Volodyovski. Dori-cles, Mackintosh. Theatre Royal and Floriform. winner of the Middle Park Plate. To such effect did the« and others train on that there were seven Florizel winning three-year-olds the following season, Volodyovski winning the Derby. Doricles the St. Leger and Mackintosh the Gold Vase at Ascot, as well as three other good races that season, being, in fact, unbeaten. Never was there a horse, not even St. Simon himself, which led off better than did his son. Florizel II.. and yet for some unaccountable reason he utterly failed to maintain anything like the same form. There was a flash in the pan with Vedas. a savage beast, which wen the Brocklesby and Two Thousand Guineas, but after that the classic races were a closed book to the stock of Florizel. Florist, one of his latest, showed some signs of reversion to the first years type, but be got sick of racing and spoiled any reputation he possessed. More remarkable still is it that the undoubtedly first-class horses sired by Florizel in his first season proved to be. stud "failures. Volodyovski had splendid chances, but he did no good at all, and yet he must have been a really great horse, for his was a good year, and he started favorite for the Derby, which he won. It is questionable whether Mackintosh was not eten better than Volodyovski. which was actually beaten by Doricles for the St. Leger. Floriform, as already stati-d, won the Middle Park Plate the year before. Let any owner of a stallion imagine the possibility of his horse siring four such colts in his first season. Would he not think that his fortune was made? And yet Florizel sorely dis-apiKiinted after that first year, and not only Volodyovski. but his other sons also, cut up badly at the stud, so that the St. Simon male line is not likely to lie transmitted through them. That is, however, perhaps only as far as his country is concerned, for Doricles has sired many winners in France, his stock having won in all 184 races on the flat, worth something like 43,500 sovereigns, from 19JO to the close of last season. FOUR BROTHERS COMPARES. No one can account for such happenings. The four brother.?— Florizel, Persimmon, Diamond Jubi-l: e and Sandringham— -differed, except, perhaps, in temper. Sandringham was a roarer; Florizel made a noise, thotigh it did not stop him over a long distance. Persimmon was thick-winded when not at his host, as he loudly proved when he was finishing tiiird for the Middle Park Plate. Diamond Jubilee was the cleanest and soundest horse of the four, and in my opinion, the best looking. If we cau reasonably take account of South American form, it seems clear that Diamond Jubilee is the best stallion of JJie four brothers, though Persimmon did great things Tom time to time as the sire of Sceptre, Zinfandel. Your Majesty and Prince Palatine. Florizel promised to be the best and then petered out to insignificance. Sandringham was certainly the worst stallion of the four, and it should always be " remembered in connection with MendeliaiTdeductioiis that he was the only pure dominant of the four. It may l e fairly assumed from this that other St. Simon attributes and characters did not necessarily follow the color, and it still remains a mystery whether color, though a Mendelian character itself, carries with it any other attribute or character whatsoever. In this sense the adage that beauty is only skin deep may be perfectly true if color and beauty are regarded as the same. But I am clearly of opinion that color docs mean more than itself, for I have ■ever yet seen a chestnut grandson or granddaughter of St. Simon which suggested the St. Simon type in conformation or temperament. A case in point is Uospdrop. by St. Frusquin son of St. Simon. Rosaline, by Trenton, both St. Simon and Trenton being pure dominants. Now Kosedrop is not iu the remotest degree like either St. Simon or Trenton, being a big. bulky. ! ale chestnut mare, with flaxen ■MUM and tail and gummy forejoints. There can be little doubt that she takes after St. Frusquins dam and her maternal grandam. which was b.v ISend Or. Yet Bosedrop possessed stamina more than any other daughter of St. Frusquin, and this surely was due to Trenton. It is a big question, and I dont think the scientists will ever answer it. We cau only keep on judging by results. — W. Allison, in London Sportsman. — ♦
