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GIFT MARES BROUGHT LUCK Stories About Breeder of Silver Urn and Silver Image as Told by Waliison I Since the victories of Silver Urn and Silver Image we continue to hear stories about their breeder Mr Barney Parr and it is per fectly true that he was the unwilling rectpi ent of their dam as a gift from Mr Charles Walle who also owned Princess Sterling dam of St Louis but for her he got a mat ¬ ter of COO or 600 guineas Mr Parrs experi ¬ ence of English racing is limited and when he was told that Silver Urn had won the Ono Thousand Guineas I am assured that ho thought it to be a race worth only 55000 to I the winner It must have been a pleasant surprise indeed to find that the vaiue waa i between 10000 and 15000 13100 to be precise Before this time he had been ad j vised by the stable that his horses were do ¬ ing well and that lie had better come over to see them run but he declined to do so and added Youll be doing very well without me This was indeed a correct forecast for he has already netted something liko 75000 in stakes this season For several seasons past I have been calling attention to the merits of Juggernaut as a sire and tried three years ago to persuade Sir William Nel ¬ son to let me have him in England but now the son of St Simon and Amphora has really forced himself to the front and compelled public attention He will be eagerly patron ¬ ized wherever he stands As to Mr Barney Parr however he sent his mare to Jugger ¬ naut just because he was the nearest avail ¬ able stallion The element of luck in his case lias been strong indeed indeedThe The number of gift mares that have done well at the stud is greater than might be imagined I never received but one and that was Mrs Despard which the late Sir John Thursby gave me She was put to Collar and produced Lori de Lie which was never beaten and is now the most successful stallion in Roumania Mr J B Joel gave Rosaline as a twoyearold to the Fresh Air Fund and she in due course became the dam of Rosedrop winner of the Oaks and dam of Gainsborough whose fees this season will total upward of 30000 Many other similar cases might be mentioned It is not often however that breeders use a stallion for no better reason than that he is near to them I can only call to mind the case of Vampire being mated with Orme but then there was the further reason that on account of the mares temper it was considered un ¬ safe to send her away from the Eaton Stud where there was only Orme to put her to Thus Flying Fox was bred Apropos Mr George Lambtoa has revived the old story that Holocaust might have won Flying Foxs Derby had he not fallen and broken his leg but he omits to mention the number of false starts there were in that race in practically all of which Flying Fox ran more than half ¬ way up the hilL Tod Sloan in his book attrib ¬ utes whatever chance Holocaust possessed to these false starts which thoroughly upset Flying Fox Under equal conditions he does not for a moment claim that Holocaust was the equal of Flying Fox which he considered the best horse that he ever saw in Europe Flying Foxs was the last Derby started with the flag w Allison in London Sportsman
