PRIME MINISTERS AND THEIR RACE-HORSES 



Liberal Party, stating that Mr. Gladstone had 

 given the coup de grace to his successor.^ Thus 

 ended Lord Rosebery's political career. Occasion- 

 ally, he tried to stir his friends to the realization 

 of the British Empire, and he hoped at one time 

 that something would come of Liberal Imperialism. 

 But, though Liberal Imperialists dined hand- 

 somely in Berkeley Square and sat long over 

 the wine, the arrival of Campbell- Bannerman, 

 with all the powers of patronage in his hands, 

 settled the pretensions of the coterie, and Lord 

 Rosebery was left an interested spectator of 

 their desertion and promotion. 



The Turf attracted Lord Rosebery from his 

 youth. While at Oxford he had a racing stud, 

 and in consequence incurred the censure of the 

 reverend authorities of Christ Church. At this 

 period of youthful effervescence he avowed his 

 intention of winning the Derby. He bought for 

 a considerable sum from a north-country breeder 

 a colt, whom he named Ladas, and sent him to 

 Dover at Ilsley to be trained. The horse, however, 

 ran ignominiously * in the stirring encounter of 

 1869, in which Pretender defeated Pero Gomez 

 by a very doubtful head. The year following, 

 Lord Rosebery was elected a member of the 

 Jockey Club ; and in 1873 he won five races, 

 including the Gimcrack Stakes. This historic 

 race he gained with Padoroskna, whom he bought 



» speech at Edinburgh, October 9, 1896. 



* According to the Sporting Magazine (1869, p. 398), Ladas ran 

 last in the field of twenty-two. The horse apparently grew but 

 little between two and three years of age, and the sporting writer 

 observes that 8 st. 10 lb. (the weight then carried) looked too much 

 for him. 



39 



