CHAPTER XIV. 



The Best Horse : ' Ormonde ' — ' Boiard ' and ' King Lud ' — Visits 

 to Stockbridge — The Breeder of ' Petrarch ' — Pohce dine 

 while Pugihsts meet — A Certainty to get Home upon. 



H E point is always a delicate one 

 to touch upon with racing men, 

 as to which is the best horse 

 they have known. A trainer or 

 his friends are sure to think 

 some animal that was trained 

 by them the best, or an old trainer will tell 

 you about what the horses did fifty years ago, and 

 argue that they were much better than they have 

 been for the last twenty years. As a rule, I 

 believe this to be true, but my opinion is that we 

 have not seen a better animal than ' Ormonde ' — cer- 

 tainly not during my time. He was a good horse in 

 an extraordinarily good year. Look at the Two 

 Thousand Guineas, how ' Ormonde ' distanced 

 ' Minting ' and the others ! To analyze that 



