Lord Darlington and Mr. Thornhill. 123 



convinced that his "waiting" orders to Sam were 

 wrong, that he immediately challenged Lord Glasgow 

 to run him, at the same weights, for a thousand 

 guineas a side over Doncaster. His offer was, however, 

 declined, although the subsequent running of both 

 the horses with Florismart, there, showed that there 

 was very little between them. Early in 1827, Mem- 

 non left the Raby training stables for Newmarket, 

 and arrived at the Chifneys' along with Abron, who 

 had been purchased for 450 guineas at Mr. Russell's 

 sale, on purpose to lead gallops for him. In the 

 Ascot Cup of that year, he triumphed over some 

 very mean opponents ; but at Doncaster he fell before 

 the prowess of Fleur-de-lis (a fine lengthy mare, with 

 well-let-down quarters and big hips), and then ran a 

 dead heat with her for second place in the Cup to 

 Mulatto, when Actaeon, Starch, Longwaist, and Tar- 

 rare figured among the glorious slain. The Craven 

 Meeting of 1828 saw him give in, dead beat, at the 

 Turn of the Lands, in the Oatlands, and the turf 

 knew him no more. He returned to Raby as a stud- 

 horse, for a few seasons, before he crossed the 

 Atlantic ; but King Cole was the only winner of 

 note that he left behind him. 



Memnon was far from being a solitary instance of 

 Lord Darlington's fancy for high-priced horses ; arid, 

 as is invariably the case, the bloom was off the peach 

 before it came into his hands, and nothing but disap- 

 pointment was the result. In short, he carried his 

 whim to such a height, that he is said to have in- 

 vested the half of a 2O,ooo/. lottery prize, which he 

 had shared with Mr. Heeley, in four or five horses, 

 which hardly produced him as many shillings in 

 stakes. No one, too, could ever tell why he set his 

 mind on Mr. Batson's Serab ; and Will Chifney in 

 vain endeavoured to impress on him that the horse 

 was a clumsy, unsatisfactory animal, who was only 

 overrated because his owner knew his form to a 



