EPSOM 93 



In 1890 Sainfoin won the Derby for Sir James Miller, 

 and that this horse was not the best of his year has been 

 an accepted fact ever since. The field he beat for the 

 Derby were unfortunately not only moderate for the most 

 part, but some of them were rogues in addition, notably 

 Surefoot and Le Nord. Surefoot ought to have won the 

 race, and would have done so had he put any heart into 

 his work, but he was trying to savage other horses instead 

 of attending to the business in hand ; yet he finished close 

 up with the winner. Probably Surefoot was the best of 

 his year, at all events up to a mile and a quarter, and a 

 year later he created a big surprise by winning the Eclipse 

 Stakes at Sandown, when Common was beaten into third 

 place. However, such a bad-mannered horse as Surefoot 

 will go down to posterity as a savage rather than as the 

 best of his year, and, all things considered, the award of 

 merit must go to Memoir, who won the Oaks and St. Leger, 

 and who could have won the One Thousand also had not 

 the Duke of Portland made a declaration to win with 

 Semolina. Memoir's St. Leger was a curious race, and 

 there was so much squeezing at the Intake turn that the 

 chances of some half-dozen horses were destroyed. Mean- 

 while Memoir secured a clear course and scored the win 

 quite easily. Those who were said to have suffered most 

 were St. Serf, Queen's Birthday, and Heaume, and probably 

 all these three were better than Sainfoin, whose career after 

 his Derby victory was a most inglorious one, and who so 

 far has been a very qualified success at the stud. 



The two previous winners to Sainfoin were Ayrshire and 

 Donovan, and the latter was certainly considerably the 

 best of his year, though he suffered defeat from Enthusiast 

 in the Two Thousand Guineas. In stake money Donovan 

 won more than has ever been won by any horse before 

 or since, with the exception of Isinglass, and at the stud 

 he has sired Velasquez. About Ayrshire the case is not 

 so clear. He won the Two Thousand and Derby, but 

 was fairly and squarely beaten in the St. Leger by Sea- 

 breeze, and this beautiful filly also beat the Duke of Port- 

 land's colt in the valuable Lancashire Stakes. Indeed, most 



