418 RACING CAREER OF SIR W. H. GREGORY. 



on the Great Metropolitan ; but I knocked down 

 some of my winnings on the Somersetshire Stakes, 

 at Bath, where the mud beat me. Moreover, 

 Frank Butler's fine riding on Wolf Dog for the 

 Northamptonshire Stakes was more than my little 

 boy Treen could tackle, although with a little 

 more experience he got the best of the great 

 jockey at Epsom." 



Fortunately for himself, as it has often been to 

 many another ruined gambler, Sir William Greg- 

 ory's active connection with the Turf as an owner 

 of race-horses ceased for ever in the spring of 1855. 

 His first step was to take a long cruise in the Medi- 

 terranean, with Sir Sandford Graham for his com- 

 panion. At that time it appeared little probable 

 that the most useful and blameless part of his 

 life lay still before him. Financial disaster had, 

 however, overtaken him when he was still young 

 and full of energy. Under all circumstances and 

 all conditions he never ceased to be an indus- 

 trious worker ; and his catholic taste for the 

 classics, for literature of all kinds, and for art in 

 particular, was well known to his many friends. 

 None of them anticipated, however, that in the 

 face of recent disasters his rehabilitation was so 

 near at hand. The disruption of the Conserva- 

 tive party, consequent upon Sir Robert Peel's 

 introduction of free trade in 1846, had emanci- 

 pated Sir William Gregory from the ties of party; 



