THE YORKSHIRE MEETINGS 141 



for he won races when eleven years old, and must have 

 been a really hardy sort. " The Druid," in Post and Paddock, 

 speaks of him as " never having been beaten but once, and 

 then by Bay Malton," but for once in a way the prince 

 of Turf historians was wrong. As a matter of fact. Bay 

 Malton was the first horse to beat him, but he afterwards 

 suffered defeat from Tyrant at Newmarket on April 20th, 

 1767, from Otterley at Wantage in the same year, and from 

 Snap at Odsey a few weeks later. He was also beaten 

 at York by Lord Rockingham's Pilgrim in 1768,* and 

 again at York in the Great Subscription Stakes, when he 

 ran third to Chatsworth and Tortoise. In 1770, in the 

 Jockey Club Plate at the Second Spring Meeting, he 

 finished fifth to Bellario, and the same horse beat him 

 again in the autumn of that year. 



Still, Gimcrack was doubtless a wonderful performer, and 

 I take it that the fact of his never running until he was 

 four years old chiefly accounted for his long career. His 

 bone and muscle were allowed to mature before any severe 

 strain was placed upon them, and, judging from the number 

 of times that he ran, there can be no doubt that he was 

 always perfectly sound. For a short period of his career 

 he was in France (owned at the time by Count Lauraguais), 

 and it is stated that in 1766 — when he was six years old — 

 he ran 22| miles within the hour to win a very considerable 

 bet. It is curious that though Gimcrack was beaten on 

 each occasion of his running at York, a club should have 

 been there founded in his honour and a race named after 

 him ; but such is the case, and the Gimcrack Club of the 

 present day plays a not unimportant part in Turf matters. 

 The members subscribe added money to the tune of £^00 

 to the Gimcrack Stakes every August, and dine together 

 at an appointed date in December, when, for some years 

 past, it has been the custom to invite the Stewards of the 

 Jockey Club, and other influential Turf notabilities, so that 

 the gathering is generally of a representative character. 

 The dinner is followed by speeches, and more than once 



* Two years later, in a 200-guinea match between the pair, the tables were 

 turned. 



