58 THE TURF 



the holders of pronounced opinions on the subject of 

 the invincibiHty of the EngHsh horse ; but the Two 

 Thousand was not the Derby, and a strong conviction 

 was felt that something" or other would come to the 

 rescue of the British reputation at Epsom. But no- 

 thing did. The son of Monarque followed in the foot- 

 steps of West Australian, who won all three " classic" 

 races in 1853, and there was nothing to be said 

 beyond the expression of an unworthy doubt, started 

 by bad losers who could not take defeat gracefully, 

 as to whether he was really a three-year-old. The 

 feat was to be repeated next year by Lord Lyon, and 

 both were horses of the very first rank. Lord Lyon's 

 early trials were exceptionally good, indeed, his first 

 gallop was wonderful, for on September loth, 1864, 

 the Saturday before Doncaster, when he was a 

 yearling — an age at which very few horses are ever 

 asked to gallop, and if they are at all it is usually 

 three months later — he was only beaten a head over a 

 severe three furlongs by a really smart two-year-old 

 named Jezebel, who was giving him no more than 

 7 lbs, the weight being — Jezebel, 2 years, 8 st. 10 lbs., 

 and Lyon, i year, 8 st. 3 lbs. " A tremendous per- 

 formance for a yearling," was Lord Suffolk's commen- 

 tary in his admirable book on Racing. Afterwards he 

 did great things in private and in public ; but the 

 "glorious uncertainty of the Turf" was exhibited in 

 those days at the stud. Gladiateur never got a good 

 horse, though his name is found in the pedigrees of 



