OTHER GREAT HORSES 37 



Chapter XIII. 

 Other Great Horses. 



There have been numerous other great horses in our country, some of 

 them standing on a high pedestal, but none of them on quite such a lofty one 

 as that supporting Carbine or The Barb. Some may worship the memory of 

 one, some that of another. It is a case of "laudabunt alii" (each man to his 

 own choice). But we should like to recall a few of those celebrities, some 

 of them dead and gone, a few still in the land of the living. Chester and 

 First King were good, possibly even great horses. As two-year-olds they 

 never met, but both were champions. First King winning all his three engage- 

 ments, and Chester four out of five. The latter was beaten a head in his 

 initiatory effort by Sir Hercules Robinson's Viscount — an evident fluke. As 

 three-year-olds there was a battle royal between the two. The Derby, Chester 

 won easily by half a length. In the Mares' Produce, a mile and a quarter 

 Mr. White's colt repeated the dose. But in the Championship, over three 

 miles, First King won by four lengths, and he beat the New South Welshman, 

 but only by a short head, in the Leger. Chester had no engagement in the 

 Australian Cup, which First King won, and in the Town Plate, two miles, 

 Chester had no difficulty in putting the King down by two lengths. It is 

 possible that Mr. Wilson's colt was a little stale after the Australian Cup. 

 They never crossed swords again, and although Chester won seven out of 

 his eleven engagements as a four-year-old, I question if he was ever so good 

 again as he was at three. Horses like Warlock, Melita and Cap-a-pie beat him 

 at weight-for-age, which, had he been at his best, could never have occurred. 

 First King did not appear as a four-year-old, but at five years he was only 

 beaten once, and that was by the Derby winner, the beautiful, shapely, grey, 

 Snowden colt, Suwarrow, in the Canterbury Plate, two miles and a quarter. 

 But in his winning efforts he had no really great horses to conquer, although 

 one or two of his opponents were good, Richmond — past his zenith — 

 Wellington and Swiveller being the best of them. On paper, the honours are 

 pretty evenly divided between Chester and First King, and I daresay old-time 

 racing men could argue with some gusto after dinner in favour of their 

 particular fancy, and might finally have to rise from the table unconvinced, or, 

 if convinced against their will — well, holding the same opinion still. 



Grand Flaneur was the next public idol. He was never beaten, and how 

 good he was it is difficult to say. This great colt only ran once in his first 

 season, when he won the Normanby Stakes at the Flemington New Year 

 Day Meeting. Palmyra and Cinnamon were in the field, the former being 

 favourite at even money. At three years Grand Flaneur commenced with the 

 A.J.C. Derby, and then went through an unbroken sequence of victories in 

 the Mares' Produce, the Victoria Derby, the Melbourne Cup, the V.R.C. Mares' 

 Produce, the Champion, the Leger and the Town Plate. 



Grand Flaneur may have been lucky in racing during a rather lean year, 

 but over and over again he cantered home from the Angler colt Progress, 

 who, when the big fellow was not present, invariably smothered the opposition 

 in the most convincing manner possible, and there is no doubt whatsoever that 

 Mr. W. A. Long's colt was really and truly "great." He ran no more after 

 his three-year-old career terminated. 



Malua was better than simply a "good horse." One that could win, in 

 his four-year-old season, a Newmarket Handicap, six furlongs, the Oakleigh 

 Plate, five and a half furlongs, and the Adelaide Cup, a mile and five, was 

 something of a genius. And as a five-year-old he graduated in the weight-for- 



