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LUCKY JUVENILE PURCHASE! Duke of Portland Lets Classic Winner Slip From His Possession for a Song. In a draft of horses in training sent up by the Duke of Portland at the Newmarket December Sales in 1897 was a two-year-old named Airs and Graces. The competition for her was by no means keen, but F. W. Day, an excellent judge, took a fancy to the filly and purchased her for the modest sum of ,100. As a daughter of Ayrshire and Lady Alwyne, she was worth the money as a brood mare. Day passed her on to his friend, the late W. T. Jones, an Australian sportsman, for whom he trained, and a rare bargain she turned out. After running unplaced for a live-eighths race at the Newmarket Craven week, she began to come on, and proved herself a bargain by running second to Nun Nicer in the One Thousand Guineas, beaten only a length. The pair met again in the Oaks, when Nun Nicer was backed at evens and 100 to 8 was laid against Airs and Graces. Apart from the fact that there were doubts about the staying power of the Newmarket heroine the odds would have compelled one to support Airs and Graces to turn the tables over the extra half mile. The suspicions regarding Nun Nicer were justified, for she was helpless in the last furlong, and Airs and Graces won by three lengths. Thus the Duke of Portland let a classic winner slip from his possession for a small sum.
