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PASSING OF NOTED STAYER How 200000 Offer for The TheWhite White Knight Shrunk to 20 500 in One Year BY E B COUSSELL LONDON England May 27 When Des ¬ mond went to the stud Lord Dunraven was prepared to grant a free service to mares of Solon blood Not only was Desmonds serv ¬ ice free but the railway fares of tho mares to and from Adare County Limerick were also paid by Desmonds owner The dam of Earla Mor went to Desmond on these terms early in his stud career and shortly after ¬ ward Colonel Kirkwood sent Pella a daugh ¬ ter of Buckshot a son of Solon The result ¬ ing produce was that great stayer The White Knight which died in England May 20 20The The White Knight was undoubtedly one of the best longdistance horses we have seen for the last quarter of a century He won close upon 5SOOOO in stakes His vic ¬ tories include two Ascot Gold Cups two Coronation Cups the Goodwood Cup and the Ascot Gold Vase His performance in tho Cesarewitch at two and a quarter miles was a record one He carried 133 pounds and ran second to the fouryearold filly Demure to which he was giving fortyfive pounds No cno who saw that race could ever forget the magnificent effort which the White Knight made to defeat Demure DemureIn In 1909 The White Knight went to the stud at Mondellihy close to Adare which is one of the prettiest villages in Ireland Jt is here that Lord Dunraven has his resi ¬ dence Three years later the late Edmond Blanc made an offer of 150000 for The White Knight Before this time Colonel Kirkwocd had died and his half share in the horse had passed to a brother I might mention that in 1907 when The White Knight was a fouryearold Captain the Honorable W R Wyndham gave Colonel Tom Kirk wood 50000 for a half share in The White Knightx When M Blanc made his offer of 150000 Captain Wyndham did not want to sell but Colonel Kirkwood was prepared to do so The difference was adjusted by Captain Wyndham paying 80000 for the other half share of the horse horseFKOM FKOM 200000 TO 20500 IX TEAR TEARTwo Two years later the agency with which I am connected made Captain Wyndham an offer of 2CO000 for The White Knight This was on behalf of a syndicate of breeders in Hungary The business was discussed and Captain Wyridham agreed to accept the price He had left the office but returned to say that in accepting 200000 it was understood that the horse remained in England or Ire ¬ land at the stud because he was convinced that The White Knight would produce good stayers and he was a horse wanted by British breeders breedersEvery Every effort to persuade Captain Wynd ¬ ham to forego this condition was hopeless and the negotiations fell through Within four months Captain Wyndham was killed in action in France and a year later The White Knight was sold for 20500 at the July sales salesThe The White Knight from 1D12 to 1921 sired the winners of 102 races worth 100180 Apart from twoyearold events his off ¬ spring had won sixty races of which the average distance was ten and onehalf fur ¬ longs He therefore sired stayers right enough but none of them was of any char ¬ acter and his death has not occasioned any great lamentation because for some years he has not been greatly esteemed by breed ¬ ers Not one of his foals approached his own excellence on the race course He was a curiously bred horse on the dams side and perhaps this was where his failure lay layHis His dam Pella was by Buckshot from Pamela by King John from Eblana by A I This class of pedigree makes no appeal at all to students of breeding and would even fail to satisfy those with an elementary knowledge of blood lines No doubt there is every possibility that some daughter of The White Knight will keep his name to the fore by breeding a Cup horse
