The Life of a Great Sportsman 



from Pell Mell, on whom dear old G.P. stood to win the biggest 

 stake he had ever had a try for, which is saying a good deal. 

 After Cremorne had won the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom the 

 previous year — a race, by the way, which, though supposed to 

 be a good criterion, has only twice since been won by a future 

 Derby winner, and each time by Lord Rosebery, with Ladas and 

 Cicero, in 1893 and 1904 respectively — it was quite recognized 

 by his owner and trainer that with ordinary luck the colt had a 

 chance second to none for the Blue Riband the following year, 

 and that the trainer was especially confident the following 

 anecdote will show. The previous year, when the late Baron 

 Meyer de Rothschild had a prominent favourite for the Derby 

 in Favenius, that fine old sportsman invited a party of friends 

 to come and see the favourite in his box on the opening day 

 of the meeting. Amongst those present was Gilbert, Mr. 

 Saville's trainer, and, the inspection over, he addressed the 

 company thus: "Now, gentlemen," said he, "you've seen the 

 winner of this year's Derby, and if you'll do me the honour to 

 step across the yard to where my horses are, I'll show you the 

 winner of next." With that he led them to an adjacent box, 

 where stood Cremorne, who that same afternoon was to make 

 a successful debut in the Woodcote Stakes. Not a bad tip, on 

 the whole, as I think my readers will agree. 



Except that there are not so many coaches and carriages 

 as of old, the Hill presents much the same animated spectacle 

 it always did. One misses the eccentric figure of Sir John 

 Bennett, the clockmaker, with his white, curly hair and black 

 velvet suit, who for many years made a practice of riding down 

 to Epsom, and was always to be seen riding about amongst 

 the carriages on the Hill during the day. That arch-jester, 

 the late Hughie Drummond, considerably astonished the 

 worthy knight on one of these occasions by suddenly dropping 



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