Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-22
ROMANCE OF TATTERsALL's
London Horse Market Where MANY
Great Racers Have Been Sold.

Great Racers Have Been Sold.
From London TitBits
Tattersa1s. where big sale Is held
every Monday. and which during the sea-
son Is fashionable rendezvous for all
who are Interested in horsefesh, Is the
greatest and most famous horse mart in
| the world. and in some respects is also
regarded as the headquarters of racing.
| Any Kind of horse. from the most cele-
| brated racers like Ormonde and FLYING
| Fox down to the humblest cab horse, NAV
from time to time be bought at latter
SAILS and the auctioneer has a hammer
which Is said to have knocked down over
| fl 100000 worth Of horses
There was much that was romantic
about the beginning of TattersaIrs nearly
century and a half ago. In 1866 a GER
| tain Richard Tattersall, Yorkshire wool
comber, who had lost his fortune during
the Jacibite rebellion. obtained a ninety
nine years lease from Lord GrosyenOr
one OF the ancestors of the present Duke
OF Westminster. of a plot of land near Tn
st. Georges Hospital. where he built an
| hounds. ~
Tattersall had many influential connec-
tons and was on friendly terms with the
prince regent. Lord Bolingbroke and 9TH
| ers. whose patronage and good word
greatly helped to make his business a
huge success from the beginning Such
was the friendship between him and the
prince that the bust Of George " on the
| top of the fountain in the present sale
yard was placed in the original yard at
the princes own request
me prince constantly sat at Tattersalrs
table, and such was the horse Yender's
deference on these occasions that not
w1thstanding the princes protests he al
ways refused to sit down at the table
until the arrival of the port However 1t
| Is said that when driving back to New
| market after one of these functions. when
the post boys had had too much to drink
the prince and friend would ride postil-
Ion with Tattersal and a guest inside
In due course q huge slice of luck came
the way of Tattersall. Lord Bolingbroke
fell heavily into his debt. and by way of
settlement passed on to Tattersall his IA
nous racer Highflyer, which became the
father Of three Derby winners, and whose
progeny In eighteen years won races to
the value of no less than 10000 pounds.
Iattersal built himself a palatial country
residence near Ely and called 1t Highfyer
Hall. after this wonderful horse.
Then 1t came to pass that. at time when
than ever before or since. TattersalTs came
to be recognized as the heaquarters for
wagering on the turf. and leading gam
blers made some enormous commitments
in the old yard The Marquis Of Hastings
lost over 100000 pounds on one race there
and 1t was said that it was quite a COM
| mon thing for that amount to change
hands on one of the settling days at 'Old
variously called.
All classes Of society frequented 1t. and
dukes and stable boys were mixed together
in the excited crowd, all of them prepar-
ed to bet on anything and everything The
state OF affairs became such that eventu-
ally. when the lease expired. the Marquis
of Westminster declined to grant a renewal
Of It. and the firm moved to Its present
handsome premises at Albert Gate. where
no betting Is now carried on.
Nowadays Tattersalrs maintains its rep
utation chiefly by the enormous prices that
are occasionally obtained there for cele-
brated racehorses. 1t was at Tattersall's
that Flying Fox was sold to a French
owner for $1,000 guineas, and Ormonde to
an American for 10000 guineas. Here also
Sceptre as a yearlng was sold for 10000
guineas. La Fleche for 126OO guineas. and
Blair Athol for only 100 guineas less.
A feature OF Tattersalls is the occasional
sales Of yearlings or little baby racehOrses.
those of high-class parentage often fetching
four five thousand guineas. although
their merits are wholly unknown. and
sometimes they prove such distressing fall
ures that they finish up as common hacks
or cab horses,