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ROMANCE Of HORSES BONES I How English Turfmen Preserve I Memories of Great Performers London Natural History Museum MuseumSkeletons Skeletons Newmarket Tablet Tabletto to Waxy Other Relics Describing the skeletons and parts of great Eng ¬ lish race horses preserved in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington London a corre ¬ spondent of the Sportsman writes writesThere There are two complete skeletons of thorough ¬ bred race horses standing almost side by side One of these is St Simon and the inscription after giving the horses pedigree adds Presented by the Duke of Portland K 1914 What strikes one chiefly about this skeleton of one of the most famous horses which have ever lived a horse which won nineteen races as a twoyearold and through ¬ out his career was never lieaten is the small size It is mounted on a dais some four inches high yet even so as you stand on the ground you can easily look over the withers The bones more ovtlr appear to be smalt and weak especially the rili bones The forelegs are remarkable for the great length of the forearms and the shortness of the canon bones and the hind legs for tlie great reach from the point of the hip to the hock hockTlie Tlie second complete skeleton is of Persimmon with the inscription Presented by His Majesty King Edward VII 1910 Persimmon was a son of St Simon and his skeleton completely dwarfs that of hi sire Making allowances for any disparity in tlie setting tip at different ages and at different times of two horses Persimmons bones show him to have been infinitely the more powerful animal and also infinitely the better framed Tlie bones of the ribs are almost double as broad and thick as those of St Simon The framework is of tlio truebarred formation with the last of tlie eighteen ribs almost joining the pelvis whereas in the case of St Simon there must have been no little weak ¬ ness in this respect respectThere There are also in the museum the skulls of some of the most famous race horses of recent years and emphasis may be laid on the fact that these are not models but the actual skulls themselves and lie would be a callous man who looked at these one after the other without feeling some emotion as he realized he was gazing at what was once part of the actual animals he had witnessed doing such heroic deeds on a race course courseORKONDE ORKONDE DONOVAN STOCKWELL STOCKWELLFor For instance here is tlie skull of Ormonde with i the following description An unbeaten horse generally regarded as the best racer of the Nine ¬ teenth Century presented by W O B Mac donough 1905 Next to this is tlie skull of Donovan with the equally modest description Ran in twentyone races of which he won eighteen presented by the t Duke of Portland 1901 1901Near Near by is the skull of Stockwell Presented by Mr J C Naylor 1870 and in another case there is the skeleton of the left forelimb of Stock well and also the left hind limb and these show Stockwell to have been a big powerful horse They are exhibited for the purposes of comparison with L the equivalent limbs of a shire horse and though i the quality of the bone is different there is scarcely any difference in size sizeAnother Another skull is that of Royal Hampton the Citv and Suburban winner Presented by Mrs Italian Lady Maple 1903 1903Then Then there is the skull of Bend Or with no de scription save his pedigree and the statement that the presentation was made by tlie Duke of West ¬ minster 1903 It does not even say lie was tlie sire of Ormonde The remainder of Bend Ors i body lies buried in one of the paddocks at Eaton where are also interred tlie majority of the late dukes most famous race horses and brood mares maresThere There is also the skull and what is still more interesting tlie fore and hind foot of Corrie Roy and this wonderful mare is so engraved on the mind of the majority of racegoers as tlie property of Caroline Duchess of Montrdse Mr Maiiton that it will come as a surprise to learn that these were presented by Sir J B Maple but late in life Cor ¬ rie Roy was purchased by Sir Blundell and was his i property when she died in 1901 The limbs are officially described as feet but they are as a i matter of fact the entire limbs from the knee and I hock respectively downward These are not skele ¬ tons but the legs preserved in a natural state with the skin and hair Well wortli preserving they were for more perfectly formed feet no race horse surely ever possessed possessedTHREE THREE GRAND NATIONAL WINNERS WINNERSIn In the museum of the veterinary section of the Liverpool University there are skeletons of two i of the most famous of the Grand National winners Manifesto and Ambush II presented respectively by Mr J G Hulteel and King Edward VII This i museum is not open to the nublic but the authori ¬ ties are extremely courteous and the writer has been permitted to spend many invaluable hours there On one occasion I obtained leave from the secretary to take the two jockeys who rode these horses to victory in the Grand National to see the skeletons George Williamson the rider of Mani ¬ festo and Algernon Anthony the rider of Ambush i II and they were both intensely interested in looking at all that remained of their old favorites Also apart from the sentimental interest there was the practical desire to compare notes on the conformation of the two horses and it is this practical utility which makes the preservation of the valuableAnother skeletons of historic horses so valuable Another Grand National winner whose skeleton is in existence is Drumcree but this is in Durban South Africa for though the horse died in tills 5 country his owner Mr J S Morrison whose in ¬ terests are largely in Natal sent the bones out t there to be set im and the skeleton now adorns the B hall of the Turf Club Durban DurbanI I do not know whether the late Sir Charles s Asshcton Smith had the skeleton of his Grand Na ¬ tional winner Jerry M preserved but probably not as the hoofs were made into inkstands and of these the horses trainer Robert Gore possesses one and j Edmund Driscoll who won tlie big steeplechase in Paris on hiin another These are silvermounted and handsome handsomeTlie Tlie skeleton of Hermit is in the museum of the Royal Veterinary College t Camdeu Town in London LondonIt It will be interesting to know what has become of i the head of Isoiiomy which in its entirety was pre served with the skin and hair on it and was said 1 1 to have been given to a brother either in the family of Mr Stirling Crawfurd or in the family of the Grahams of Yardley as it was deemed a rather 1 gruesome thing to have about the house NEWMARKET TABLET TO WAXY WAXYThe The grave of the English horse Waxy whose e name is so sharplv seen in the early and soundest t English pedigrees is marked by a tablet His body V was buried under a wall at Newmarket England Gossiping aiwiut a recent visit to Newmarket and u the tablet Mr Allison writes in the London Sports man Sir WHIoughby Maycock has not told us s liow it came about tiiat Waxy after a stud career r at Thetford was buried under that wall at New ¬ market Tie vard at the back of that wall de spite its ruinous condition suggests distinctly that t there was a stallion bos in it facing you as you enter All the rest of the buildings are in as s ruinous condition as those in France It must surely be that Waxy stood here during his latter stages for it is almost absurd to suppose that lie can have been brought after his death from Thet ford to Newmarket to be buried That hu was s biricd there cannot well be disputed after the letter quoted by Sir WHIoughby Maycock but I venture again to suggest that the bones should be exhumed and if they are still in sufficiently good condition et up and placed in the Natural His tory Museum or side by side with the skeleton of any good modern horsu such as Persimmon The skeletons of Trenton and Carbine are now in the themuseum museum in Melbourne though the horses died in this country and it seems to me that such skele ¬ tons provide good object lessons in tlie development of our horses Few people have any clear knowledge about tlie bones of a horse Mr James Buchanan had beautiful candlesticks made of the canon bones of Epsom Lad and I when old Balioi died decided to commemorate him in the same way The earidle sticks made with Ballots canon bones however are altogether too massive for use anywhere unless on an altar the bones having fully twice the cir liuifercuoe of Epsoui Lads
