PRIME MINISTERS AND THEIR RACE-HORSES 



he bequeathed to his son ^ a stud of unrivalled 

 value, which shone conspicuously in the great 

 classic races of the period. 



Ten years before the Duke was called to office, 

 Mr. Panton of Newmarket had bred a mare named 

 Julia. Her pedigree could be traced not only to 

 the Byerley Turk, but beyond the Lord Protector 

 Cromwell's White Turk to the Taffolat Barb. She 

 was introduced into the Grafton stud and foaled 

 a filly called Promise. A daughter of Promise — 

 Penelope, foaled in 1798 — was the dam of eleven 

 first-rate race-horses, including two Derby winners, 

 and the family brought little short of £100,000 

 to the house of Grafton. Penelope herself won no 

 less than eighteen races for the Duke, and twice 

 beat Eleanor, the first mare to carry off the Blue 

 Riband. 



Needless to say, the Duke's name is of frequent 

 mention in the Match Book. Like other owners, 

 he challenged for large sums with his horses the 

 best animals of the day. Twice he raced his grey 

 horse, Chigger, against Eclipse — once for the King's 

 Purse of 100 guineas — four-mile heats, for six-year- 

 olds — when he received a sound beating ; and again 

 at Newmarket over the Round Course, two heats 

 of 3|- miles, when his horse and the rest of the 

 field were, as usual, " nowhere " to the champion, 

 who was never beaten, never had a whip flourished 

 over him or felt the tickling of a spur, or was ever 

 for a moment distressed ; outfooting, outstriding and 

 outlasting every horse which started against him.* 



I See frontispiece. 



» 'La.wTence's History and Delineation of the Horse, i8og. Lawrence 

 saw Eclipse. See also Eclipse and O' Kelly, by Sir Theodore Cook. 



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