CHAPTERS FROM TURF HISTORY 



the morning before the event. In 1874 he won 

 the City and Suburban with Aldrich, after a very 

 exciting finish. In that year he went very near 

 the object of his racing ambition. Two months 

 before the Derby he bought out of Matthew 

 Dawson's stable a horse called Couronne de Fer, 

 and with him he ran second to George Frederick. 

 Crossing the road, Lord Rosebery's horse seemed 

 well placed for success : but George Frederick, 

 drawing out wide on the right and at the Stands, 

 coming rapidly away, won in a canter by two 

 lengths. From this date until the year 1885 

 Lord Rosebery's successes in important races 

 were frequent. He gained his first classic honours 

 in the Oaks in 1883 with a beautifully bred filly, 

 named Bonny Jean, by Macaroni from an Agnes 

 mare by Blair Athol. About this time Lord 

 Rosebery's association with the Turf was tempor- 

 arily suspended, and he transferred his activities 

 to official service. He sold his horses, retired 

 from racing, and became the subject of an amusing 

 cartoon. 



But the determination to win the Derby was 

 still strong within his breast. In 1891 he bred 

 from a Rosicrucian mare, Illuminata, a brown 

 colt, and, greatly daring, he repeated the name 

 Ladas. The horse was of exceptional size and 

 quality, and his action perhaps the most fluent 

 ever seen. As a two-year-old he swept the board 

 and never knew defeat. In 1894 he won the Two 

 Thousand. In that race Ladas dashed to the 

 front in the Abingdon Mile bottom, and won 

 easily by a length and a half in a style that recalled 

 the incomparable performance of Macgregor in 



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