To be too evasive would invite suspicion. However, the Gray Eagle get was in more than one Kentucky stable.
"Eclipse...." Drew set back the pedigree several equine generations. Shiloh tossed his head, looked over his shoulder at Drew, who entered the stall and began quieting the stallion with hands drawn gently over the back and up the arch of the neck.
"The mare also?" Don Cazar continued.
"Yes." The Kentuckian's answer sounded curt in his own ears, but he could not help it.[pg 042]
"This Eclipse, amigo," Don Lorenzo turned to Rennie for enlightenment—"he was a notable horse?"
"Sí, of the Messenger line. But a gray of that breeding—" Don Cazar's forefinger ran nail point along his lower lip. "Ariel blood, perhaps?"
Drew busied himself adjusting Shiloh's hackamore. This was getting close. Hunt Rennie had lived in Kentucky over a year once. He had visited Red Springs many times before he had dared to court Alexander Mattock's daughter and been forbidden the place. His visits to the stable must have familiarized him with the Gray Eagle-Ariel strain bred there. On the other hand, horses of the same combination were the pride of several other families living around Lexington.
"A racing line of high blood," Don Lorenzo said thoughtfully. "Sí, this one has the pride, the appearance. You have raced him, señor?" he asked Drew with formal courtesy.
"Not on any real track, señor. During the war there were no races."
"He wasn't a cavalry mount?" Don Cazar looked surprised.