24 KINGSCLERE 



ONE MILE 



Bedminster, 3 yrs. (Wells), 8 st. 13 lb. . . 1 



Merry Wife, 4 yrs. (Morgan), 7 st. . .2 



Argonaut, 6 yrs. (Payter), 10 st. 6 lb. . . 3 



Won by two lengths ; the same between second and third. 



After ' the question,' which was put very early 

 in the morning on Cannon Heath Downs, in the 

 presence of Sir Joseph Hawley, Lord Annesley, 

 and the trainer, with as many sleepless birds of 

 the touting flock as were lucky enough to chance 

 upon the worm, the stable thought they were in 

 possession of a certainty. Alas! for those rosy 

 anticipations. Bedminster never did so well again. 

 He was simply at his very best on that fine, promis- 

 ing morning. It was the greatest moment of his life. 

 His subsequent running was pounds short of the Two 

 Thousand trial. He was put through the mill again 

 in view of the Derby, but the strain of the second 

 test settled him, for he broke down. Bedminster as 

 remembered and appraised by his trainer was a 

 delicate horse of the true Newminster type, and was 

 radically unsound. It may be mentioned in passing, 

 that Sir Joseph Hawley and Lord Annesley were 

 witnesses of the second, as they had been of the 

 first, trial. On the latter occasion his Lordship was in 

 high spirits, and on his way to the ground gave glow- 

 ing expression to his appreciation of the loveliness 

 of the morning, the balminess of the air, the beauty 

 of the scenery, and, above all, the magnificent view 

 which, under the circumstances, that part of the 



