FAMOUS HORSES 8i 



As a two-year-old she ran eight times and won eight 

 races, beating, moreover— and a test of high success 

 is not how much or how often an animal wins, but 

 what horses of reputation he defeats— notable op- 

 ponents. Martagon, who has since won fame as 

 the sire of Champ de Mars and Cap Martin, had 

 been tried a good horse before the Whitsuntide 

 Plate at Manchester, and with 6 lbs. the best of 

 the weights, carefully handled, moreover, by Tom 

 Cannon, he ran Signorina to a head; but that 

 was the only time she really came near to defeat. 

 One has to beware of the critics, and it might, for 

 instance, be pointed out that Signorina only beat 

 Orwell a head at Sandown, to which, however, it may 

 be remarked that she was giving Orwell 15 lbs., includ- 

 ing sex allowance, and that the head might have been 

 extended. The stable over which Ryan presided 

 hoped to wipe out the defeat of Martagon by 

 the victory of Alloway at Kempton, but Signorina 

 gave him 7 lbs. and no chance ; and later on she did 

 something much more noteworthy. Her relative, the 

 Duke of Portland's Memoir (St. Simon-Ouiver), 

 subsequent winner of Oaks and St. Leger aTnongst 

 other races, had been tried a really good filly, and'^at 

 Derby Signorina was set to give her no less than 

 16 lbs. ; but the result was never in doubt, and the 

 seal was set on her fame in the Middle Park Plate. 

 There she met Le Nord, a horse of brilliant speed. 

 Semolina (better than Memoir as a two-year-old) was 



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