A HISTORY OF 



THE ENGLISH TURF. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



SOME EARLY VICTORIAN OWNERS. 



". . . The sport which Grafton loves, 

 Which Spencer, Portland, Albemarle approves; 

 Which kings have fostered, and a country's pride, 

 Protest who may, will never cast aside." 



T T is a curious reflection that of the three men represented in the picture of Miss 

 Elis (p. 462) which illustrated my chapter on Lord George Bentinck, two were 

 alive when I was writing these pages in December, 1902 : John Kent, who holds the 

 mare, and Abdale her jockey. The latter died about the middle of that month, and 

 there cannot be many left who rode in the Goodwood Meeting of 1845, where the 

 three-year-old Miss Elis won both Stakes and Cup. The field for the first 

 numbered twenty-three, of which three besides the winner belonged to Lord George, 

 his Jo/in o Gaunt finishing fourth. Three were aged horses, two were six-year-olds, 

 seven were five-year-olds, and four were four-year-olds. The mare only carried 

 5st. ;lb., and ran away with Kitchener nearly to the top of Trundle Hill after passing 

 the winning-post. The next day she carried 7 St., receiving 4lb. from Mr. Gully's 

 Weatlicrbit. Abdale rode her without spurs, and she won easily from a field of 

 twelve, bringing in a heavy wager for Lord George, who was not sorry to have 

 "got the better of Danebury." 



Abdale had previously won the One Thousand that year on the Duke of 



VOL. III. B 



