86 THE TURF 



Amphion was very well and greatly fancied by his 

 friends. Common, who never ran as a two-year-old, 

 carried off the three classic races next season, but 

 failed as just described in the Eclipse Stakes. 



Whilst he was runnino- another horse from Kingfs- 

 clere, and a filly from the same stable, were dis- 

 tinguishing themselves. These were Orme and La 

 Fleche. Probably Orme was somewhat overrated, 

 there being a natural tendency to make much of a son 

 of Ormonde, but he was a very good colt, as his two- 

 year-old success sufficiently proved. That he would 

 win the Derby was generally assumed, if without much 

 warrant, for there can be no doubt that he was not a 

 stayer. In the spring of 1892, however, a sensation 

 was created by the report that Orme had been poisoned. 

 Possibly this may have been so, for John Porter, who 

 must know more about it than any one else, maintains 

 the fact in his " Kingsclere " ; but it is a strange 

 circumstance that Orme's symptoms, which led to the 

 supposition of poisoning, were that season found in 

 several other stables where horses were attacked with 

 a similar complaint, though no suspicion of a malicious 

 origin ever gained the slightest ground. Orme, how- 

 ever, could not run for the Two Thousand Guineas 

 or for the Derby, for which race it seemed that a 

 fourth filly was to be added to the list of winners, in 

 La Fleche. Fillies are, however, notoriously uncertain 

 in the summer, and she was beaten by Sir Hugo, a 

 most unexpected result, for that she was a vast deal 



