“The Racing Earl.”

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IV, Issue 200, 24 May 1894, Page 3

“The Racing Earl.”

Amongst the many aneedotes related of “the Racing Earl,” Lord Glasgow, is the following told by Sir George Chetwynd. The eccentric nobleman just mentioned was notorious for never naming his animals, and the number of horses he ran by Brother to Rapid Rhone or some other of his stallions must have caused great confusion both to the man who entered his horse for him, his trainer, and the Publisher of the Stud Book. Mr Payne used to relate that when he went down to pay the last tribute of respect to his old friend —the two famous owners trained in the same stable—when the funeral was over, they all went into the drawing-room to hear the will read. Not unnaturally he expected his name would be mentioned as one to whom a legacy had been left, and this suspicion was raised to conviction by the way in which the family lawyer handed him a chair in a prominent position in the group already collected. He was not disappointed, as besides a sum of money the whole of Lord Glasgow’s stud was left to him and General Peel, who both sold the produce for many years afterwards as yearlings at Doncaster, the stud farm being at Enfield. Lord Glasgow’s language was often strong, but perhaps its strength was justified on one particular occasion. His lordship was taking his ticket for some town where a race meeting was about to be held, and tendered a five-pound note. The booking clerk asked him to write his name on the note, which Lord Glasgow did. After scrutinising the signature the clerk rudely handed back the note to him and said, “ It’s your name I want; I don’t want to know where you come from.”