SANTO STRATO 



a strong idea that he would prove one of the best four- 

 year-olds in 1909, and had a good win over him when 

 he won the Chester Cup. He was also coupled in a 

 double with Ebor for the Jubilee. It came off at the 

 odds of about a hundred and forty to one, with a 

 firm in Switzerland, and less odds were accepted when 

 travelling in the train with Harry Otter up to Chester. 

 Joe Marks was in the dining car, but, unfortunately, the 

 double I backed with him was Yentoi and Ebor and 

 Santo Strato and Dean Swift, who ran second. The 

 lump of cheese I had through the suggestion of Mr 

 Wood, Mr Rothschild's racing manager, tasted pretty 

 well. Santo Strato had previously run into a place 

 for the Queen's Prize on Bank Holiday. When he came 

 out to run for the Coronation Cup Mr J. B. Joel told me 

 that I had a bee in my bonnet in thinking that the 

 horse had any chance ; he was right that day, but the 

 horse was not himself. 



Sir Ernest Cassel has a most beautiful establishment 

 at Moulton Paddocks, in fact the grounds are a 

 delight, and the mansion one of the most complete of 

 country houses. King Edward used to go and have 

 an afternoon bath there occasionally, something of 

 the Turkish or Russian order, for there is a complete 

 installation there. On the Monday preceding a racing 

 week the band will arrive from town for the entertain- 

 ment of Sir Ernest's guests. For a man whose name 

 is so constantly before the racing world, and whose 

 close association with royalty is so well known. Sir 

 Ernest Cassel is a man little known to the ordinary 

 race-goer, in fact, very few of those we meet racing 

 could point him out, and yet he was the trusted 

 financial adviser of King Edward and the last outside 

 his own family who saw him on the night he died. 



There was an extraordinary bond of friendship 

 237 



