The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-09-17
A RACING
MECCA
London TattersalI's a
Remarkable In
stitution.

| TattersalPs, London, where a big sale
is held every Monday, and which dur
| ing the season is a fashionable rendez-
vous for all who are interested in horse
flesh, is the greatest and most famous
horse mart in the world, and in some
respects is also regarded as the head
quarters of racing. Any kind of horse.
from the most celebrated racers like
Ormonde and Flying Fox down to the
humblest cab horse, may from time to
time be bought a Tattersall's. and the
auctioneer has a hammer which is said
to have knocked down over S., 900
worth of horses.
There was much that was romantic
about the beginning of TattersalPs,
nearly a century and a half ago. In
1866 a certain Richard Tattersan,
Yorkshire wool comber, who had LOST
his fortune during the Jacobite rebel
lion, obtained ninety-nine years
lease from Lord Grosvenor, one of the
ancestors of the present Duke of West
minister, of a plot of land near to ST.
Tattersall's London, where a big sale
Georges Hospital, where he built an
establishment for the sale of horses
and hounds.
Tattersall had many influential con-
nections and was on friendly terms
with the prince regent. Lord Boiling
broke and others, whose patronage and
good word greatly helped to make his
business a huge success from the be-
ginning. Such was the friendship be-
tween him and the prince that the bust
of George ". on the top of the foun-
tain in the present sale yard was placed
in a toin or6 he mir -
own request.
The prince constantly sat at latter |
sails table, and such was the horse |
vendors Difference on these occasions |
that, Notwithstanding the princes pro- |
tests, he always refused to sit down |
at the table until the arrival of the |
port However, it is said that when |
driving back to Newmarket after one |
of these functions, when the post boys /
had had too much to drink, the prince |
and friend would ride position, with
TattersalI and guest inside.
In due course a huge slice of luck
came the way of TatterSall. Lord Bo-
lingbroke fell heavily into his debt, and
by way of settlement passed on to Tat
tersall his famous racer Highfyer,
which became the sire of three Derby
winners, and whose progeny In eigh-
teen years won races to the value OF
no less than S850,00 Tattersall built
himself palatial country residence
near Ely and called 1t Highfyer Hall,
after this wonderful horse.
Then it came to pass that, at a
time when there was more betting done
in England than ever before or since,
TatterSalFS came to be recognized as
the headquarters for wagering on the
turf, and leading gamblers made some
enormous commitments in the old yard.
The Marquis of Tasting lost over $780,
300 On one race there, and it was said
that it was quite common thing for
that amount to change hands on one
Of the settling days at "O1d Tatt's,''
Or 1.-THE Corner" as the place was
called.
All classes of society frequented it,
ind dukes and stable boys were mixed
:ogether in the excited crowd, all of
hem preparing to bet on anything and
- erything. The state of affairs be-
anne such that eventually, when the
case expired, the Marquis of West ,
Minister declined to grant a renewal OF
t. and the firm moved to its present
handsome premises at Albert Gate,
where no betting is now carried on.
Nowadays Tattersans maintains its
equation chiefly by the enormous
'rices that are occasionally obtained
here for celebrated racehorses. 1t was ]
t TattersalPs that Flying Fox was 7
old to French owner for 1885,, 900 and !
,rmonde to an American for s150,000.
Iere also Sceptre, as a yearling, was
old for 1000, La Fleche for $63, 900 i
nd Blair Athol for only $500 less. .
A feature of TattersalFs is the &C.
asionaI sales of yearlings or little
ably racehorses, those of high-class a
arentage often fetching $4,000 or $780,. h
DO, although their merits are wholly =
Unknown, and sometimes they prove I
UGH distressing failures that they
nish up as common hacks or cab T
orses. {