2 ^8 KINGSCLERE 







getting up in the night to him. I several times 

 requested that he might be destroyed, but Mrs. B. 

 always opposed it, and said she had a presentiment 

 that he would recover and win the Leger. It is a 

 singular circumstance that this is the only horse 

 Mrs. Beardsworth ever noticed. I never knew her 

 enter a stable except to see Birmingham." Well, 

 Birmingham won the Leger, beating Priam and 

 twenty-six others, the biggest field I fancy that ever 

 ran for that race. But to revert to Teddington. His 

 Derby was remarkable for more things than his easy 

 defeat of an enormous field. Last year (1895) we 

 saw a gelding finish three-quarters of a length 

 behind the winner. If Teddington had been out 

 of the way, the Blue Riband of 1851 would have 

 been won by a ' cocktail,' for there was a stain in 

 Marlborough Buck's pedigree. (Having been led 

 to mention the sexless second to Sir Visto, I 

 may as well say here, as elsewhere, since it is on 

 my mind, that I would not allow geldings to be 

 entered for the Two Thousand Guineas, Derby, 

 or St. Leger. I am strongly of opinion that they 

 should be barred for all the classic races.) My im- 

 pression of Teddington is that of a light-fleshed 

 horse who did not fill the eye which looked for gran- 

 deur when he was in repose ; but when he moved — 

 and he could move — his action was beautiful. He 

 gathered up his quarters and set them going like a 

 greyhound. West Australian, one of the idols of 

 the North, was a big, leathering horse, whose fitness 

 on the day of his victory was a credit to the trainer. 



