The 1909 Show was remarkable for the successes of Lord Rothschild, who after winning one of the championships for the previous six years, now took both of the Challenge Cups, the reserve championship, and the Cup for the best old stallion.
The next and last three-year-old to win was, or is, the renowned Champion’s Goalkeeper, who took the Challenge Cup in 1914 for the second time.
When comparing the ages of the male and female champions of the London Show, it is seen that while the former often reach the pinnacle of fame in their youth, the latter rarely do till they have had time to develop.
CHAPTER XI
High Prices
It is not possible to give particulars of sums paid for many animals sold privately, as the amount is often kept secret, but a few may be mentioned. The first purchase to attract great attention was that of Prince William, by the late Lord Wantage from Mr. John Rowell in 1885 for £1500, or guineas, although Sir Walter Gilbey had before that given a real good price to Mr. W. R. Rowland for the Bucks-bred Spark. The next sensational private sale was that of Bury Victor Chief, the Royal Champion of 1891, to Mr. Joseph Wainwright, the seller again being Mr. John Rowell and the price 2500 guineas. In that same year, 1891, Chancellor, one of Premier’s noted sons, made 1100 guineas at Mr. A. C. Duncombe’s sale at Calwich, when eighteen of Premier’s sons and daughters were paraded with their sire, and made an average, including foals, of £273 each.
In 1892 a record in letting was set up by the Welshpool Shire Horse Society, who gave Lord Ellesmere £1000 for the use of Vulcan (the champion of the 1891 London Show) to serve 100 mares. This society was said to be composed of “shrewd tenant farmers who expected a good return for their money.” Since then a thousand pounds for a first-class sire has been paid many times, and it is in districts where they have been used that those in search of the best go for their foals. Two notable instances can be mentioned, viz. Champion’s Goalkeeper and Lorna Doone, the male and female champions of the London Show of 1914, which were both bred in the Welshpool district. Other high-priced stallions to be sold by auction in the nineties were Marmion to Mr. Fred Crisp from Mr. Arkwright in 1892 for 1400 guineas, Waresley Premier Duke to Mr. Victor Cavendish (now the Duke of Devonshire) for 1100 guineas at Mr. W. H. O. Duncombe’s sale in 1897, and a similar sum by the same buyer for Lord Llangattock’s Hendre Crown Prince in the same year.
For the next really high-priced stallion we must come to the dispersion of the late Lord Egerton’s stud in April, 1909, when Messrs. W. and H. Whitley purchased the five-year-old Tatton Dray King (London Champion in 1908) for 3700 guineas, to join their celebrated Devonshire stud. At this sale Tatton Herald, a two-year-old colt, made 1200 guineas to Messrs. Ainscough, who won the championship with him at the Liverpool Royal in 1910, but at the Royal Show of 1914 he figured, and won, as a gelding.