554 A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



a very legitimate curiosity on the part of his more speculative friends. In one of 

 the most interesting events of this kind, in which Silvio (5 yrs.), Jannette (4 yrs.), 

 Wheel of Fortune and Charibert (3 yrs.) took part, neither Lord Falmouth nor 

 Matthew Dawson could ever remember where Charibert came in, though he won 

 the Two Thousand afterwards, and the winner of the trial secured both the One 

 Thousand and Oaks, having proved her merit on this occasion against a former 

 winner of the Derby and Leger, and a former winner of the Oaks and Leger. 

 The quartette probably composed as warm a trial as has ever been seen over the 

 Rowley Mile, though Mr. Sievier's Sceptre was put to an even more searching 

 test during her Derby preparation, as will be related further on. 



A strange lesson was read both to trainers and to stud-grooms by the incident 

 which resulted in the famous inquiry about Bend Or. This all hinged on the 

 question whether he was really the son of Doncaster and Rouge Rose, or whether 

 he was Tadcaster. The evidence against him, as alleged by servants who were 

 discharged by the Duke of Westminster at the end of June, 1880, revealed the 

 extraordinary fact that very few breeders, of valuable thoroughbred stock kept a 

 register containing the dates of the birth, with the marks and colouring of the 

 foals, one of the most important necessities of a racing stable, it might be imagined. 

 In this case there was not the faintest imputation of dishonesty against any one 

 chiefly concerned in Bend Ors Derby. But one racehorse has been substituted 

 far another perhaps more often than is realised, and by this means a " surprise " 

 has been effected, which, however temporary its results, may have entirely upset 

 the careful trials of the most conscientious trainer. But Gladiateur, difficult as he 

 must have been to train, with his queer fetlock joints, was one of those who was 

 as satisfactory in his racing as in his trials, and rarely did even T. Jennings know 

 as much about a real flyer as when he began to sweep the board for Count Legrange. 

 Donovan gave the Duke of Portland some equally useful "knowledge before the 

 event " by beating the four-year-old Ayrshire over " The Flat " in the spring of 1889. 

 On April 12, 1890, the showing of Memoir against Semolina over the Rowley Mile 

 can have hardly prepared the Duke or the public for the sad sight of George Barrett 

 pulling Memoir back opposite the stand in the One Thousand Guineas, on account 

 of the declaration which her owner had made to win with the other mare. When 

 allowed her own way in the Oaks Memoir proved herself conclusively the better. 



Much the same thing occurred when Maroon had to be pulled back several 

 times to allow the Duke of Westminster to win the St. Leger of 1840 with his 



