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LOST BLAIR ATHOL LINE That of the Male Side Has Disappeared in England. The Gain to America Through the Old Heros Sons Is Great. The explanation of the disappearance of the Blair Atliol male line in England is that, without exception, all the best Blair Atliol horses wore bought to go abroad. Prince Charlie went to the. United States. Silvio to France. Craig Millar to Hungary, Audrcd to Italy, St. Gation grandson to Germany, and afterward to the United States, Meddler to the United States. Tanglible to South America. Clnrc-inout to the United States, and worst, perhaps, of all the Rover sire of St. Gation was butchered in Ireland. I cannot call to mind any Blair Atliol horse of merit that did not go abroad, though Craig , Millar left a worthy ton behind him in Breadknife ; sire of Self Sacrifice, which. I think, still lives on. through The Baker. I tried to revive the Blair : Atliol line with Ballol, but the failure of that attempt was not because the horse was not good enough, but because he was too old. and had been given no chance in his best d-iys. Beins, as lie was. j the sire cf such jumpers as Marcli Hare and Sweet l Charlotte, and of the dams of Count Scliomberg and l Velocity, lie had given early proof of his possibili- ties, but his chance when in Ireland was of the i poorest, and when lie was reclaimed he was simply too old. I failed with Prince Rudolph, which ought to have made a successful representative of the Blair Atliol line, and did not. My third attempt was with Great Scot, and that cannot be registered as a failure, for already he had sired that sterling little mare at last when his owner, Mr. Apcar, died, and lie had to be sold. He would have laid a full subscription in this country for the following season, but the Russian government bought him, and lie is now in that country. It is stated that the best two-year-olds is Russia is by Great Scot, but goodness knows how the unfortunate people there can ascertain by any sort of race course test what is the class of their stock. Writing of the Blair Atliol male line, I must not forget that Lochiel son of Prince Charlie was for a good many years one of the most successful stallions in Australia. Another great Blair Atliol sire there was St. Albans, which, got Malua and Sheet Anchor, winners of the Melbourne Cup. Prince Charlie himself did wondsrs in the United States during the three seasons lie lived out there, and his son, Salvator, will never be forgotten. STARS FOUGHT AGAINST THE. LINE. It is not difficult to realize from the above facts that the stars in their courses have, fought against the maintenance of .the male line of Blair Atliol in England, though even now it might come back again through Meddler. Even so there would be the nominally divided paternity of St. Gatien to interfere, though it is absolutely certain that St. Gatien was a son of The Rover. Viewing the whole question dispassionately, one may be temnted to wonder whether Blair Athol, like the other great horses of -his year notably Scottish Chief was not destined to be a maker of brood mares rather than of stallions, but the fact remains that lie differed from them immeasurably in this, that lie headed the list of winning stallions four times, and not a single one if his contemporaries or any other son ot Stock-well ever headed it once. Fate might have been kinder to the male line of Blair Atliol had not his best patrons been stalled off by the raising of the fee after Sylvios Derby. This might well have been so, for lArd Falmouth and Mr. Stirling Crawford used to send him about ten of their best mares till that fatal decision was arrived at.. By way of an afterthought, I must mention Clan Stuart son of Prince .Charlie, which sired Georgie, winner of the 1898 Cambridgeshire, and was also the maternal grandsire of Great Scot. It seems a curious fatality .that, not only the sons of Blair, Atliol but his gnuubjon off.iiote.were In sjj mirny-vases sent abroad. Prince Charlie, sired a really good horse in England, viz., Prostonpans, which, however, followed his sire t the United States. Another English-bred son of Prince Charlie was Pirate of Penzance, and lie, too, was sent to the United States, where he became a successful, sire. In Australia St. Albans, son of Blair Athol. established a good lino when lie got Meliw, winner of the Melbourne Cup in 1884. and Malm in his turn sired Malvplio, which won the Melbourne Cup in 1891. Maliima, which we know well in England, was a sister to Malvolio, and Sir Abe Baileys good horse, Chtsney, was a brother. Malvolio became a good stud horse, and - Chesney lias done excellent service in South Africa, where in his racing days lie was the best horse in training. There was" a bright prospect for one Blair Athol horse in England when lie retired to the stud. That was Rob Roy, .whose subscription filled at once. lie, however, could not. lie persuaded to undertake these new duties, though I always think sufficient patience was not exercised with him. Marcus gave fully as much trouble in his first season, but came to his senses at last and proved himself to lie most trustworthy. However, Rob Roy was ultimately sent to, India as a charger. He was a horse of the highest class and it is a great pity- that his chance at the stud was missed. Special Commissioner in London Sportsman.
