THREE- YEAR-OLDS. 167 



Won by a neck ; head between second and third ; fourth 

 beaten off. 



There was little enough here to guide the adjuster of burdens; 

 weight for age was obviously out of the question. Incendiary 

 had run once only in public that year, and had run very badly 

 an indifferent fourth in the International Handicap at New- 

 market Craven meeting, won by Barbe Bleue. Sirdar had run 

 not at all, and Locksley, though he had been out twice, had 

 merely succeeded in proving himself to be what he always 

 was, an infamously bad horse, though his temper made him 

 somewhat worse out than he was at home, and it must have 

 been on his knowledge of their capacity in private that Porter 

 had to depend in trying with this scurvy crew. He acquitted 

 himself of the task with much skill, which, let us hope, led to 

 much profit ; for Shotover started third favourite at 10 to i for 

 the Two Thousand, which she won, her market position being 

 probably enhanced by Sirdar having run a fair race with Frontier 

 for the Trial Stakes. 



She was not tried again before the Derby, which for first 

 and second places was a replica of the Two Thousand, Quick- 

 lime occupying the Despair position in each instance. 



To come down to still more recent days, as recent indeed 

 as it is well possible to publish the private trials of great horses 

 without incurring the charge of ' breach of privilege,' we will 

 set forth the manner in which St. Blaise answered the question 

 asked him ' in the schools ' prior to the Derby of 1883. 



Was St. Blaise a great horse ? We verily believe that the 

 verdict of the general sporting public would be, ' Certainly not, 

 he was one of the worst horses that ever won the Derby ; ' 

 and in support of this view his general career may well be 

 adduced. He never actually beat a good two-year-old, and he 

 wound up the season by just scrambling home in front of a 

 selling plater like Pebble, to whom he was giving the very 

 modest allowance of 3 Ibs. : after his success in the Derby he 

 never got his head in front of anything. 



Nevertheless those best qualified to judge stoutly aver that 



