ii2 KINGSCLERE 



thing the horse had done. It is noteworthy that 

 Tom Cannon rode Ormonde in all his three final 

 engagements. At Ascot John Osborne fought it 

 out in that tremendous finish on Minting. 



That was the year of Jubilee, the fiftieth of 

 the reign of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen 

 Victoria ; and Ormonde, as was becoming on the 

 part of such an equine monarch, figured in the cele- 

 bration. In sober seriousness, when the Duke of 

 Westminster desired Ormonde to be dispatched 

 from Kingsclere to a reception — a Jubilee function 

 in London, at Grosvenor House, Porter ventured 

 to advise his grace to ride him in the Royal Proces- 

 sion ! The notion, daring as it seemed, was not 

 dismissed in a word, the more especially as the 

 trainer assured the Duke that the horse ' would go 

 as quiet as a sheep,' but eventually an 'at home' 

 at a garden party in Mayfair was preferred. The 

 trainer's son, George, was charged with the con- 

 veyance of the illustrious visitor, and the morning 

 of the reception day he and Ormonde left Kings- 

 clere for Waterloo. The horse was quietly un- 

 boxed at the railway station, walked deliberately 

 across Westminster Bridge, and (the requisite 

 permission having been previously obtained from 

 the authorities, street and other traffic being stopped), 

 1 passed ' through the parks to his destination 

 without an adventure. Yes, there was one. A 

 cabman of an inquiring turn of mind and with 

 an eye for a grand horse, discerning something 

 uncommon under the clothing, put the usual 



