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FAMOUS ENGLISH MARES BOUGHT FOR A SONG English turf history records any number of instances of the purchase of mares for a mere song that Avere destined to become dams of great winners. The elder W. I. Anson founded the famous Blink Bonny Stud by the purchase for thirty sovereigns of Queen Mary after tra-eling all over Scotland to find her. Had he failed in his quest the English turf Avould never haAre had such celebrities as Haricot, Blink Bonney, Caller Ou, Braedalbane, Broomielaw, Blinkhoolie nor Blair Athol. Another great brood mare. The Bloomer, dam of the DerDy Avinner George Frederick, and among others of Albert Victor which dead-heated with King of the Forest for second place to Iavonius in the Blue Ribbon of 1871, was once sold in her earlier days for the bagatelle of a "pony" 25. Neither of these, of course, was sold by auction, nor for that matter Avas Laura, for which Mr. Gosden gave Sir John Astley a "pony" and which rewarded him by producing such equine gems as Fraulein and Petrarch, not to mention Rotherhill, which is one of the two sires to which the paternity of St. Gatien is described, Mr. Hammonds good colt being by Rotherhill or The RoA-er.
