DANEBURY AND LORD GEORGE BENTINCK 



who squandered a fortune in the gambling hells 

 of St. James's. 



The Lord Chesterfield of this period under review 

 had won the Oaks with Industry — a daughter of 

 the Derby winner, Priam — and the St. Leger with 

 Don John, but he had neither the means nor the 

 courage to turn their victories to profitable account. 

 At this date Bentinck was the Napoleon of the Turf 

 market, and he could not conceal his contempt 

 for a man who, owning such a horse as Don John, 

 allowed the bookmakers to escape with impunity. 

 " I am just about to address myself," he wrote 

 to a friend, " to the weary task of making out 

 my book upon which I have not won a single bet. 

 And yet I would rather be in my position than in 

 that of Lord Chesterfield, who, with such a horse 

 as Don John in his possession, has only won £1,500 

 upon the St. Leger. Had Don John been mine, 

 I would not have left a single card-seller in Don- 

 caster with a coat to his back." 



At this sale of Lord Chesterfield's at Tattersall's 

 there was led into the ring an old mare, twenty- 

 one years of age, with an ungainly looking bay 

 foal at foot. The pair excited more contempt 

 than interest, and were knocked down to Bentinck 

 for the paltry sum of fifty-four guineas. The foal 

 was by Priam out of Octaviana, by Octavian 

 who won the St. Leger in 1810. With such a 

 pedigree it is not surprising that Bentinck bought 

 mother and foal on the advice of a sound judge 

 of bloodstock who was present at the sale. The 

 foal proved to be a wonder, and in her brief career 

 witched the world of racing under the name of 

 Crucifix. 



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