504 



A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



winner of the St. Leger " in a loose box at Doncaster. It was a mare in perfect 

 condition; her coat shone "like burnished rosewood," and she looked fit to run 

 for a kingdom. To his astonishment, Lord Eglinton, who had come down from 

 his moors to Doncaster the Saturday before the great race, learnt that she was his 

 own Blue Bonnet, a mare who had gone amiss for all her engagements hitherto, 

 travelled hundreds of miles without ever facing the starter, and had been practically 

 banished from his lordship's mind as a racing possibility. But when Dawson told 

 him that she had twice been successfully tried against Charles XII., he went out to 

 the betting-rooms and took .10,000 to .150 about her with William Crockford, 

 ,10,000 to 200 with another, and ,10,000 to ,300 the next day. She won 



by a length, and Tommy 

 Lye, who had a good 

 deal on himself, spurred 

 her cruelly in his excite- 

 ment. In 1844 Lord 

 Eglinton sent his stud 

 to Fobert, and the next 

 year bought a brown 

 yearling by Lancrcost 

 out of Barbellc without 

 knowing much about 

 him. Charles Greville 

 and Colonel Anson ap- 

 praised him at 300, with 

 an additional 500 for 



contingencies. As Van Tromp the colt attracted wider attention by his two-year-old 

 victories, and Lord George Bentinck stood to win 20,000 on him for the Derby. 

 Job Marson was highly indignant at being dismissed for not winning at Epsom ; 

 but it is undoubtedly true that Van Tromp beat his former conqueror, Cossack, for 

 the St. Leger in a canter, and Job had to wait for his revenge on Voltigcur. 

 Meanwhile, Lord Eglinton's luck went on increasing. He had promised Mr. 

 Vansittart 1,000 guineas for every perfectly formed foal from Barbette, and 

 in 1846 she promptly rewarded him with The Flying Dutchman, who was 

 unbeaten as a two-year-old, and did not run next year until he won the Derby, after 

 an inexplicably close race with an outsider called Hotspur. He won the St. Leger 



" Andover" by "Bay A fiddle ton " (1851). 



