LORD GEORGE CAVENDISH. 81 



Shackel's Meal (both of them daughters of Bran), 

 who was second. Firebrand was a light-built 

 filly of very delicate constitution, and her noble 

 owner grudged no expense in order to give her 

 every chance. I have known him do the same, 

 however, with animals not worth more than the 

 hire of each pair of post-horses attached to their 

 vans on the Derby Day. 



Had Lord George's convenient system of vanning 

 race-horses been available in Lord George Caven- 

 dish's time, it is probable that " Royal George," 

 as he was invariably called, would have landed a 

 great stake on the Derby of 1815, which was won 

 by the Duke of Grafton's Whisker. In Boyce's 

 stable at Newmarket, where Lord George Caven- 

 dish's horses were trained, there was in 1815 a 

 first-class three-year-old, Sir Joshua, the property 

 of the Hon. Richard Neville, who was afterwards 

 Lord Braybrooke. Sir Joshua had won the 

 Riddlesworth at Newmarket, and some other 

 races, and Lord George Cavendish, one of the 

 heaviest speculators that I can remember, backed 

 him for the Derby for an enormous sum. Unfor- 

 tunately, the horse caught cold while journeying 

 to Epsom on foot, and was unable to start. At 

 the Houghton Meeting of that same year, Sir 

 Joshua was matched to give Whisker, the Derby 

 winner, 5 Ib. across the Flat. The betting was 

 very heavy, and when Sir Joshua won cleverly, 

 Lord George Cavendish got back most of his 



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