PRIME MINISTERS AND THEIR RACE-HORSES 



He was devoted to racing, giving constant 

 attention, even in official hours, to business con- 

 nected with the health and training of his horses. 

 An entry on the tablet of his office diary for a 

 Monday in May i860 reads thus : " John Day 

 and Professor Spooner about Mainstone. Shaftes- 

 bury about Church appointments. Powell to ask 

 about Mainstone. Bernstorff to read me a dis- 

 patch." ^ He would leave a debate at any moment 

 to meet and talk with his trainer in the 

 lobby. 



In 18 16 Palmerston had horses with old Day 

 at Oughton Downs and owned a mare named 

 Mignonette. The following year he won his 

 maiden race with a Sorcerer filly — Enchantress — 

 and with her and Luxborough he had much success 

 in the West Country. Day moved his training 

 quarters to Danebury, and soon afterwards Palmer- 

 ston picked up for £65, at a sale of a draft from 

 Lord George Bentinck's stable, a daughter of the 

 Derby winner, Priam, who was neatly named 

 Iliona, and with whom as a four-year-old he won the 

 Cesarewitch in 1841 — the third year of the institution 

 of the great handicap. The mare had been relegated 

 to the paddocks at Broadlands, but Day persuaded 

 his patron to train her, and in addition to the 

 Cesarewitch she won the Southampton Stakes and 

 the Chesterfield Cup. An amusing controversy 

 arose over the correct pronunciation of the name, 

 and the quantity of the third syllable was the 

 subject of many bets. For the benefit of the 

 illiterati, the problem was referred to the Master 



' Life of Palmerston, Evelyn Ashley, vol. ii. p. 199. 

 27 



