AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 171 



seeing that Tom Dawson had not as yet got him up to 

 concert pitch. At Middleham in the autumn, Pretender 

 could give his stable companion, the useful Thorwaldsen, 

 a stone. Belladrum, with his doubtful legs, retired after 

 the Newmarket Houghton, after having, in a period of 

 five months, won or walked over for ten races, being 

 defeated twice, and becoming the winter favourite for 

 the Derby. He was defeated by Morna in the Cham- 

 pagne Stakes, and the best he conquered was Scottish 

 Queen. Mr. Merry never was a man to show the white 

 feather when he had a good 'un, and such horses as 

 Thormanby or Dundee would never have been in their 

 stables when the Blenkiron Plate or the Criterion Stakes 

 were to be run. It was a flaw in Belladrum's two-year- 

 old career that he was not brought out for either of these 

 events. 



Pretender went into his winter quarters fourth 

 favourite for the Derby to Belladrum, Pero Gomez, 

 and Wild Oats. Although Belladrum was a 5 to 1 

 winter favourite, a sentimental objection was felt 

 against him that of so hot a favourite in the winter 

 ever winning the Derby. That feeling was fostered by 

 the failures of such hot favourites as Lady Elizabeth and 

 The Rake, which latter had much higher credentials 

 than Belladrum. The latter's extraordinary fighting 

 action, too, was not considered compatible with staying 

 powers, while his defeat by Morna in the Doncaster 

 Champagne was, in certain quarters, not considered the 

 fluke it was the fashion to esteem it by the colt's 

 admirers. 



The hostility which set in against Belladrum in the 

 early spring of '69 reached its culminating point at 

 Warwick Spring Meeting, when he was driven " back 

 to any price you like." Mr. Merry had hedged his 



