The story is told that when he was shown Ormonde at Eaton Hall, in 1889, and was informed that L14,000 had been offered for him, he tapped the ground briskly with his cane, and said in a vivacious manner: 'What! L14,000 offered for him?
Sell him, sell him now to-day.

Why, he may be dead to-morrow.' He would have been astonished to hear that Ormonde afterwards changed owners at the advanced price of about L30,000.
In speaking to two friends, competent judges of such matters, about the breeding and training for long-distance races in Persia, and the time in which it was said the nine miles had been run, I found that, while one thought the time might be reasonably correct, the other was more than doubtful.

I have since then seen in the _Journal of the United Service Institution of India_, 1886, a paper on 'Horse-breeding in Central Asia, translated from the Russian of Kostenko by W.E.G.,' in which the following details regarding the Kirghiz race-meetings and the pace and staying powers of their horses are given.

M.Kostenko mentions that the details are taken from an article by M.Garder in the _Voyenni Sbornik_ for 1875.

He says that among the Inner Kirghiz Horde, races for prizes were instituted by the Minister of State Domains, beginning with the year 1851.