76 THE TURF 



point, doubtless, was that he was not a genuine stayer, 

 but at a mile or a little more he was a really good 

 horse, and it happened, fortunately for his owner, that 

 this was a time when great stakes were to be won. 



After the age of three years no horse had ever won 

 as much money as was won by Ayrshire, for at this 

 time there was a ^10,000 race at Kempton Park 

 called the Royal Stakes, as well as the Eclipse at 

 Sandown ; and this latter, though nominally worth that 

 sum, in reality credited the Duke of Portland with 

 ^11,160. Friar's Balsam, now a four-year-old, was 

 supposed to have recovered his form sufficiently to give 

 him a very good chance for the Kempton Park Royal 

 Stakes (for he had beaten Minting in the Champion 

 Stakes at Newmarket the previous autumn). In 

 the race, however, he did badly, finishing last of the 

 seven competitors with the exception of the Baron. 

 The Duke of Portland had another horse in this race 

 besides Ayrshire, a colt called Melanion, who was 

 believed to be better than his stable-companion. One 

 friend of the Duke had rather a disagreeable 

 experience on this occasion, which is perhaps worth 

 recording. He had invested ^1,000 on Ayrshire at 

 odds of 6 to I ; but hearing that Melanion was 

 superior to the four-year-old, he gave the bookmaker 

 with whom he had made the bet ^100 to let him 

 transfer it to Melanion ; so that he lost ^1,100 instead 

 of winning ^7,000. Ayrshire won by a length from 

 his old opponent Seabreeze, thus reversing their 



