Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 2).djvu/174

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
174
The Strand Magazine.

small Hogarths. The first suite nearest to the Club premises are those used by the Prince of Wales. They are very quietly furnished in light wood, and the decorative portion is principally confined to a few pictures and odd knick-knacks in china. Amongst others who have rooms here are the Duke of Cambridge, Duke of Beaufort, Sir Frederick Johnstone, General Owen Williams, Mr. Chaplin, and other staunch supporters of the Turf.

We give portraits of as many of our leading jockeys as we could possibly find room for, and also those of some of the principal trainers. Mr. John Porter, to whom no previous reference has been made, is head of the Kingsclere stables, and, amongst others, trains for the Prince of Wales, Duke of Westminster, and Baron Hirsch. Mr. J. Ryan has the largest stables in Newmarket, at Green Lodge, and he looks after the interests of Mr. Douglas Baird, Mr. J. H. Houldsworth, and other owners. Mr. Robert Sherwood has horses belonging to Lord R. Churchill, Lord Dunraven, Colonel North, Colonel Montague, and Mr. Brydges Williams. A peep into Mr. Sherwood's hall discloses a fairy-land. Flowers are everywhere, hanging in baskets, creeping round pillars, and gathered round fairy lamps. A pair of weighing scales find a place, and on either side of the hall are paintings of St. Gatien—trained by Mr. Sherwood—and Harvester, who ran level for first place in the Derby of 1884. A portrait of the gentleman familiarly known as Mr. "Judge" Clark will be interesting to many. Mr. Clark resides at Newmarket, and until his retirement from the position was "judge" of the races for something like a period of fifty years. The view, too, at Tattersall’s sale yard on a busy day will give a good idea of this famous resort, in which horses are bought for fabulous prices who afterwards win very little, and horses are bought for very little who afterwards win fortunes. "Yearlings," said the late Mr. Merry when he purchased Doncaster, "are a fearful lottery"; and the event proved the truth of the remark, for he was drawing a prize and did not know it—he was, in fact, for a sum of 950 guineas, purchasing the Derby winner of 1873. Thormanby, the Derby winner of 1860, which belonged to Mr. Merry, cost only £350. Voltigeur and Caractacus fetched less than 300 guineas each. Kettledrum was obtained