SOME DERBY WINNERS 205 



of any of the four, and he was of almost equally high 

 class. A chestnut son of Muncaster and Highland 

 Fling, he was entirely blood-like, and his only fault was 

 that he ran up rather light behind the saddle. They 

 were great horses all, and Ormonde, as judged from his 

 first year at the stud, would have been a phenomenal 

 stallion had he not been incapacitated by septic pneu- 

 monia in his second. It was farcical then to say that he 

 was sold "for his country's good" on account of wind 

 infirmity. 



As a Derby horse Merry Hampton, the 1887 winner, 

 was unworthy of notice, and The Baron, whom he beat, 

 was, though a finer individual, a poor creature with no 

 heart in him. If the American Hanover had been in 

 the Derby that year he would have walked in. 



We saw something better in 1888, when Ayrshire, 

 another son of Hampton, won, but he was anything but 

 a nonesuch among Derby winners. He was, however, 

 a genuinely good one, modelled on true lines, and with 

 the Feronia tap-root ; he has been very valuable as a 

 sire, especially of brood mares. 



In 1889 came Donovan, who, though the second best 

 son of Galopin, was more or less of a freak. Winner 

 of the Brocklesby Stakes, he at that time was typical of 

 a rough-and-ready pony, with a superabundant mane. 

 But he kept on winning and improving. 



He went wrong in his wind before the St Leger, as 

 Mathew Dawson informed me, though his nephew 

 George would say nothing on the subject, he being the 

 trainer. Anyhow Donovan made good, and should have 

 been a " triple-crowner," but he was not really great. 



In 1890 came Sainfoin as a Derby winner, and 

 a poor one at that ; destined, however, to be the 



