FAMOUS HORSES 67 



disposed without an effort. The few engagements 

 which had been made for him were of course rendered 

 void by the death of his first owner, and his next race 

 was in the Devonshire Nursery at Derby. He had 

 now earned 8 st. 12 lbs., and played with his 

 opponents. In the Prince of Wales' Nursery at Don- 

 caster he was top weight, 9 St., in a field of twenty-one, 

 and "won by eight lengths" was the verdict — the 

 judge was not called upon to say that the eight lengths 

 might have been eighteen if Archer had wished it. 

 As it happened, this was a year when the fillies 

 seemed to have things very much their own way. Wild 

 Thyme, a daughter of Lowlander and Fragrance, won 

 the Woodcote, the New Stakes at Ascot, the Exeter 

 Stakes at the Newmarket July, and the Lavant Stakes 

 at Goodwood ; the Hermit — Adelaide filly, known 

 afterwards as Solitaire and then called Queen Adelaide, 

 won the July ; Superba carried off the Astley Stakes 

 at Lewes and the Champagne at Doncaster ; Busy- 

 body won the Rous Memorial at Newmarket and the 

 Middle Park Plate ; but there was a colt, who strangely 

 enough had run for the first time in public within an 

 hour of St. Simon's ddbut, and was believed by his 

 friends to be quite as good as, if not better than, the 

 son of Galopin. This was the Duke of Westminster's 

 Bushey, as he had been originally named, by Hamp- 

 ton — Preference, who had gone to Goodwood with a 

 great reputation, and, having won the Richmond 

 Stakes, was re-named Duke of Richmond. A match 



Y 2 



