CHAPTERS FROM TURF HISTORY 



of Trinity College, Cambridge, who pointed to the 

 lines 



Praeterea sceptrum, Ilione quod gesserat olim. 

 Maxima natarum Priami. 



It was quite characteristic of the owner to say 

 " they might call the mare what they — pleased 

 as long as she had won the Cesarewitch." Palmer- 

 ston also owned a nice Venison colt in Buckthorn^ 

 with whom he won the Ascot Stakes in 1853. 

 It was a surprising victory : the horse started 

 at 100 to I, but Alfred Day rode a clever waiting 

 race and prevailed by half a length. 



Palmerston had set his heart on winning the 

 Derby while he was First Minister, and in i860 

 it looked as if his ambition would be gratified. 

 His horse Mainstone at one time was third favourite 

 and was genuinely fancied. He failed, however,, 

 in the final stages of his preparation, and starting 

 at the long odds of 40 to i, he ran inconspicuously 

 in the race. In those halcyon days the House 

 of Commons adjourned over the Derby, and on 

 this occasion Palmerston took the unusual course 

 of proposing the resolution himself from the 

 Treasury Bench, saying that " to adjourn over 

 that day is part of the unwritten law of Parliament, 

 and that Her Majesty's Government do not wish 

 to depart from so wholesome a custom." ^ 



Although he knew that the Olympian prize 

 was not for him, the next morning the gay old 

 Minister mounted his familiar grey hack and 

 trotted briskly down to Epsom, his whiskers dyed,^^ 



I Hansard, May 15, i860. 



* For a description of Palraerston's appearance five years earlier,, 

 see a letter from Disraeli to Lady Londonderry [Life of Disraeli, 

 vol. iii. p. 567). 



28 



