190 THE ENGLISH TURF 



carrier, his best performances were all achieved under very- 

 heavy burdens. Critics who looked him over in a paddock 

 for the first time would be lost in amazement, although 

 knowing what he had accomplished ; but the general public, 

 especially that portion of it which attends the London 

 meetings, fairly worshipped him. He was essentially a 

 London horse ; he was owned by a London licensed 

 victualler, who publicly tipped him for all the big races 

 he won, and he seldom ran at any but the London meetings. 

 Ascot, Kempton, and Hurst Park being most frequently 

 chosen for him. What he may do at the stud remains to 

 be proved, but he represents a line which, if not much to 

 the fore in this country, is making its mark in America, and 

 it is quite on the cards that " the people's horse " may revive 

 the family in England. 



It has been stated how popular were the two victories of 

 Victor Wild, so perhaps it was only natural that Clwyd's 

 success in 1897 should have been very coldly received. It 

 was not that the horse himself was disliked — in fact, honest 

 horses can hardly be disliked ; only rogues and welshers, who 

 do not try when they arej backed, but pop up unexpectedly 

 when no stable commission has been executed, come in for 

 real detestation — but there were circumstances about Clwyd's 

 victory which rendered it very bitter in the mouth, and 

 these will not easily be forgotten. In the Lincolnshire 

 Handicap of the same year a horse named Bridegroom 

 had been beaten " two heads " by Winkfield's Pride and 

 Funny Boat, and two or three weeks later this same horse 

 had run away with the Queen's Prize at Kempton, a race 

 run on the Jubilee Course, and in which the mighty Clorane 

 — certainly giving a lot of weight — and that honest horse 

 Jaquemart were amongst the beaten lot. The result of this 

 race pointed strongly to the probable success of Bridegroom 

 in the Jubilee Stakes, and the horse was at once promoted 

 to pronounced favouritism. Now Clwyd was trained in the 

 same stable, and owned by the same owner, and was found 

 to be, or said to be, the better of the pair at the weights. 

 After a while his name crept into the quotations, and he too 

 was backed. Bridegroom, however, was allowed to remain 



