66 FAMOUS KACING MP:N. 



Leger ; and two years later Grrey Momus placed tlie Two Thousand 

 to his lordship's credit. That year Lord (leorge felt certain that his 

 turf ambition was to receive its crowning glory in the winning of the 

 much-coveted " Blue Eiband." But it was not to be. Grey Momus 

 could get no nearer than third in the great race, though he after- 

 wards retrieved his laurels somewhat by winning the Ascot Cup. But 

 what may be called the " Bentinck era " comprised the seasons of 

 1839-45, when the bolster of "the sky-blue and white cap" banner 

 ruled the destinies of his much loved turf with all the genius and 

 energy of a Napoleon. Even Westminister Hall acknowledged the 

 polished skill with which he welded together all the links of evidence 

 in the Eunning Rein case ; and considering how often (unless rumour 

 be a sad bar) five and six-year-olds were broken twice, that they might 

 bear a hand in two or three-year-old races, it was well that he then 

 arose in his might to give such knavish times a wrench. During one 

 of those years, 1844, he had forty horses in Kent's hand, all running 

 in public, and upwards of a hundred altogether in his racing stud. 

 A notion that the stock of his Bay Middleton must take the turf by 

 storm led him into playing a dee}) game with them, which would have 

 ruined half-a-dozen less clever turfites twice over. Farintosh, for 

 example, had no less than '.^o engagements in the 1842 calendar, for 

 which the forfeits alone amounted to £2,590; and his lordship's loss 

 in stakes and expenses on this colt alone must have exceeded £'3,000. 

 He had his brilliant successes, however, and it is probably with 

 the name of his celebrated mare, Crucifix, that his fame as a winning 

 turfite will be principally associated. Tliis daughter of Old Priam 

 was undoulitedly the best and most profitable animal Lord (ieorge 

 ever possessed. She won for him, in 1840, tlie Two Thousand Guineas, 

 the One Thousand, and the Oaks, besides eleven good races as a two- 

 year-old ; and in stakes alone netted upwards of £'12,000 for her owner. 

 Her great achievement, however, was winning the Oaks, not so much 

 because of the calibre of the mares opposed to her as from the diffi- 

 culties with which she had to contend. It was a memorable p]psom 

 Meeting, for the Queen and the Prince Consort attended, both on the 

 Derby and Oaks days ; and the crowd was, of course, immense. 

 The field for the Oaks was unusually large, as many as fifteen starters 

 appearing at the post. The race, so the knowing ones said, was a 

 foregone conclusion for Lord George's clipper, Crucifix, the odds on her 

 being as much as 3 to 1, Colonel Anson's Black Bess being next in 

 favour. The start was appointed for two o'clock, and shortly after 

 that time the horses were saddled, but an hour elapsed before the 

 race began, for fillies are notoriously fractious, and on this occa- 

 sion they were worse than usual in this respect. There were no less 

 than sixteen false starts ; but, notwithstanding every fresh disappoint- 

 ment in getting off". Lord George quietly remarked, " 8he could not 

 lose ; but, on the contrary, could afford to flirt with the best of them, 

 if for half a day." And well he knew his mare : for fifty yards' start up 

 that hill, round that tuni, and down the straight run in, was of no more 



