H4 MEMORIES OF MEN AND HORSES 



Mathew Dawson, who in all his long career has never 

 shown to better purpose the patience, tact and utter 

 disregard of public criticism which have enabled him so 

 often to bring classic winners to the post in face of no 

 small difficulties. . . . The enlargement on the inside 

 of Ladas's off hock is the result of a twist or sprain from 

 which he suffered eleven weeks before the race. Many 

 people talked of a spavin or other form of exostosis, but 

 that is quite a mistake. There is no ossification about 

 it at all, and it is soft to the touch. 



There is no need to go much further into the career 

 of Ladas, one of the most brilliant horses of my time, 

 save to say that he won the Newmarket Stakes and 

 Derby, both with apparent ease as such a horse would 

 always win unless he was beaten. Now his trainer 

 never had the advantage of seeing him run or I 

 question if Ladas would have been started against 

 Isinglass then perfectly fresh for the Princess of 

 Wales' Stakes at Newmarket July Meeting. It was 

 clear before that race was half over that Ladas was not 

 himself, and no doubt he was stale from being kept in 

 continuous training for his three big races. For the same 

 reason he could not do himself justice a fortnight later, 

 in the Eclipse Stakes, Isinglass then running only his 

 second race of the season. 



The St Leger performance of Ladas may be wiped out 

 utterly, for the colt ran away with Tommy Loates from 

 the Red House, and there is no sort of doubt about 

 this, for the jockey had tried to beg off the mount, 

 finding that he could not hold him the morning before. 

 Ladas would have won that race without an effort had 

 he been ridden by a jockey who could control him, but 



