CHASING AND RACING 219 



to my mind's eye as a match in which no other runners 

 had any part whatever, a strange delusion which repeats 

 itself when I recall the brief but exciting rally between 

 Ormonde and The Bard in 1886. 



Both these faced the starter as holders of an un- 

 beaten certificate. The latter had commenced his 

 career by taking the Brocklesby Stakes. Very few of 

 those that figure as winners of this early juvenile event 

 have greatly distinguished themselves in after days — 

 Donovan, Semolina, Simonian, and Jest being some of 

 the exceptions — but The Bard went on from one success 

 to another — nine wins in all, I believe — before he met 

 his Waterloo in the Derby. On the other hand, 

 Ormonde had only been out three times. As a two- 

 year-old he had won the Criterion Stakes and the Dew- 

 hurst Plate at Newmarket, and had signalized his re- 

 appearance the following spring by ** slamming " 

 Minting, Mephisto, Saraband and Co. in *' The 

 Guineas," as if they had been a lot of hacks. 



I shall never forget Matt Dawson's face when he 

 saw ** The Boy in Yellow " draw away from the violet 

 and white of Mr. Vyner, as carried by Minting. 

 " Well, I'm blessed 1 " he exclaimed. " I thought I 

 had the best I ever trained, and quite unbeatable ; but 

 mercy on me 1 what sort of a colt is this fellow of 

 John's ? " (Porter's). 



But to return to The Bard. My kind friend and 

 patron. Lord Chaplin, once publicly stated that, in his 

 opinion, this was the handsomest racehorse he had ever 



