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SUPERIOR ENGLISH TWOYEAROLDS Ascot Stake Winners of That Age Held to Be of Extraordinary Promise English critics are disposed to think their best twoyearolds of this year are something quite out of the ordinary and that the best winners of that age at Ascot are of extremely highclass One of the stars the Prince Palatine Decagone colt is in part Americanbred on his dams side as is Orpheus through his sire Orby Discussing the merits of these youngsters the Special Commis ¬ sioner said in London Sportsman after tlie Ascot meeting was over overThe The Ascot twoyearolds were so good as judged from the performances of some of them that we may be in for a vintage year though it is unwise to jump prematurely to any such conclusion How ¬ ever these twoyearolds have given rise to un ¬ limited discussion and I am surprised that the merit of Orpheus should not be more generally recognized as at least equal to that of Sarchedon and the Decagone colt There was really no such impressive win in the twoyearold races at Ascot as that of Orpheus which finished slowing down witli Cinna doing Jhe same behind him anil all the rest of the field hopelessly strung out That rep ¬ resented the really best form as hitherto discloscd and the victory of Orpheus was really a procession of an almost stately character towards the finish something in the same style as Prince Charlie used to win Now Cinna on any reasonable handicap estimate is two pounds and weight for sex in front of Poltava and though Snrchcdon may be al so lutely brilliant we must sec him finisii a race in a beeliiie before giving him a genuine creden ¬ tial The Decagone colt electrified the onlookers by his Ascot victory and lie looks good enough for anything but here we have one tracing to an American native family and so far from being one of the heist even so that in a table of results com ¬ piled for me some years ago by W H Rowe the source to which Decagone traces is one of the least successful of the native families indeed there are ten much better and such a consideration cannot be overlooked when the future of tlie Decngone colt is being considered There is this to be said for him however that his sire is a horse of the Paraffin family and this branch of No 1 has proved itself peculiarly suitable for mating with outside American blood Thus the best filly ever sired by Ladas 1 was Costly Lady dam a Foxhall mare It may happen therefore that Prince Pala ¬ tine which Is also of the Parraffin 1 branch may have succeeded effectually with the American line in Decagone DecagoneDECAGONE DECAGONE COLTS BREEDING I can cite another instance for I was some years ago asked by H J Hall to recommend him a mate for his mare Reata which traced td a sister to Foxhall I at once advised Ladas and as that horse had happened on an accident tlie mare was sent on by advice of Mr Wootton to Cornstalk which was also of the Paraffin family he being a son of Glare Cornstalk sired a really good filly from Reata named Reynella and but for her untimely death in the spring of her threeyearold season her owner was confident that she would have won the Oaks Tills combination of Prince Pala ¬ tine and Decagone is similar but all this same 1 should always stand a good maternal taproot against a bad one High Feather the third dam of the Decagone colt has no figure and is by Henry I of Navarre 20 out of High T by Rayon dOr 3 her UamElla by War Dance 23 Bonnle Kate by Knight of St George Eagle by Zonltli Eagletta by Grey Eagle Mary Howe by Tiger Lady Robin by Robin Grey Old Quicksilver Menders Celer This as already stated is one of the least successful of the American native families and if the Paraffin blood imposed on that by Prince Palatine in tlia case of tlie Decagone colt proves absolutely suc ¬ cessful it will be another remarkable triumph for this branch of tlie No 1 family Orilietis though by Orby has the advantage of belonging to a great staying line through his dam and there shoiihl u plenty of stamina through the dam of Sirchf l m Tlie most puzzling colt of them all is Mount Royal which I have goon reason to believe is ifttli if at all behind Orpheus and yet lie has never yet run a satisfactory nice though lie has won twice Ills shins have troubled him somewhat and this may account for his indifferent display at Ascitt Bright Folly is a charming filly and good inoiigli to give her sire Black Jester a tremendouj sindof f in this first year of his runners
