698 



A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



quality of the cracks of 1902. As was said at the time, if Gladiateur and Blair 

 Athol had been able to meet, one must have won ; but the other would not have 

 lost his title to being an exceptional animal. Ard Patrick proved himself a 

 wonder. The fame of Sceptre grew no less because a stallion of her own age 

 beat her on the post. Inch by inch the Irishman wore down her lead, and a 

 hundred yards from home he was level. Sceptre was beaten by a neck. Those 

 who still upheld her superiority were as vehemently answered by those who still 

 refused to believe that Rock Sand, with his favourite jockey, was inferior to either 

 her or the Irishman. The result of the St. Leger confirmed these latter in their 

 opinion ; and in the Jockey Club Stakes the mare had to meet him on worse 



terms than at Sandown. 

 Maher, too, was to 

 be on his back again, 

 and Ard Patrick, who 

 had felt the "leg" he 

 got at Ascot a year 

 before, was not to meet 

 them again, and went 

 to Germany. Darling 

 knew how good he 

 was ; and he was there- 

 fore among those who 

 refused to support Rock 

 Sand when he came out 

 at Newmarket against 



the famous mare, Cappa White, William Rufus, and Cheers. The last three, 

 it was recognised, could only be racing for the ,1,000 allotted to the third 

 place. But there was tension in the air. Mr. Sievier never stopped backing the 

 mare, and a prominent bookmaker, who favoured Sir James Miller's colt, was 

 never tired of giving him the odds. The rain came down as they started, and 

 Sceptre won by four lengths. Every one cheered till they could cheer no more. 

 Mr. Sievier was completely overcome. Lady Noreen Bass and Mr. Arthur 

 Chetwynd were within the barriers while the mare, with her head up and the eyes 

 of a queen, waited outside the weighing-room door. It was a magnificent and 

 never-to-be-forgotten moment. Alec Taylor and his training establishment at 



" Handicapper" (1898) by "Matchmaker? 



