RAFFLES

Raffles was a son of the Crabbet foundation sire Skowronek, out of a Skowronek daughter, Rifala. Lady Wentworth deliberately chose an inbreeding cross in hopes of producing a suitable Arabian for crossing on Welsh ponies. She partially succeeded, as Raffles only matured to be 13.3 hands. However, Raffles never produced any offspring in England, and it is generally thought that his handlers at Crabbet believed he was sterile. He came to America as a free gift included with a group of Arabians that Roger Selby purchased from Lady Wentworth, Selby had previously purhased Raffles' dam, Rifala in 1928. There is an alternative theory to why Raffles was given to Selby; in January 1932, Selby told Lady Wentworth that Rifala was infertile, thus, rather than being a sterile throwaway, a gift of a perfectly fertile Raffles was a replacement. However, at the time Rifala was in foal to a Saddlebred, and safely delivered the foal later in 1932 Raffles sired 45 producers of National winners. In 1949, when he was 23, Raffles was nearly lost to the breed when he broke a hind leg (he was kicking the concrete wall of his stall to show his displeasure at not being fed first that day, as he usually was). The veterinarians recommended putting him down because of the location of the break and his age. The Deans, who were looking after Raffles protested, so the leg was set, put in a cast, and attached to a crutch. They devised a body sling with an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys to keep the weight off the leg. With the Deans' vigilence, Raffles made a full recovery. The next year Roger Selby decided to cut back his program, and Raffles ended up going to Alice Payne, who had wanted him for a long time. Raffles sired 15 more foals for Alice Payne, and died of natural causes in 1953, at the age of 27. He sired a lifetime total of 123 foals.