MODERN ENCLOSED COURSES 181 



Orme had been beaten out of place in the same race. That 

 Orme did not give his true running in the St. Leger was 

 a very general opinion at the time, but there were those who 

 asserted that want of stamina caused his defeat. However, 

 we may again take the book Kingsclere for a guide, and 

 in that volume it is asserted that the late George Barrett 

 rode Orme contrary to orders. He made such strong 

 running with the colt that he was spun out at the final bend. 

 Anyhow, it is apparent that the question of superiority 

 between Orme and La Fleche was not settled when the 

 pair met at Sandown Park as four-year-olds, for the public 

 actually stood the loser. There is no need to describe the 

 race in detail ; suffice it to say that Orme won much more 

 easily than in the previous year, and that La Fleche was 

 beaten for second place by Baron Rothschild's Medicis. 

 As far as the Kingsclere colt and filly are concerned, they 

 met again at Goodwood a fortnight later, when Orme had 

 to give 7 lbs. They ran the Craven Course, much about the 

 same distance as for the Eclipse Stakes, and Orme won, but 

 only by a neck. La Fleche showing much better form than 

 she had done at Sandown Park. This Goodwood race pro- 

 duced a grand struggle between two of the gamest thorough- 

 breds of modern times. Each contested every inch of the 

 ground in most determined fashion, and as Watercress, who 

 had finished third to La Fleche and Sir Hugo in the 

 St. Leger, and well in front of Orme, was now beaten 

 half a dozen lengths for second place, it will be seen how 

 probable it is that the St. Leger running of the previous 

 year was wrong, although, of course, I must allow for the 

 fact that the St. Leger Course is half a mile longer than 

 the Craven Course at Goodwood. 



In 1894 the Eclipse Stakes provided another emphatically 

 great race. Not great because of a remarkably close finish, 

 but great in every other sense of the word, because of the 

 quality of the field. Amongst the seven runners were 

 included two winners of the Derby, two winners of the 

 St. Leger, two winners of the Two Thousand Guineas, a 

 winner of the Ascot Cup, and a winner of the i^io,ooo 

 Lancashire Stakes. It was reckoned at the time by some 



