7oo 



A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



taken by Pretty Polly, who ran and won, like Crucifix, nine times as a two-year-old, 

 winning .13,496 in stakes for Major Eustace Loder, as compared with the ,4,587 

 allotted to Lord George Bentinck's over-worked heroine. The way Pretty Polly 

 has squandered all opposition indicates a great career for her in the future if she 

 shapes into a strong three-year-old, which all the Gallinules have not the habit 

 of doing. At present she stands ahead of St. Amant, Santry, and Henry the First, 

 the best colts of her year, if handicapping may be taken as a guide ; but she is not 

 entered for the Two Thousand or Derby. 



Many good judges consider Sceptre to be the best-shaped animal of her year 

 or any other year. Her perfect head, with its bloodlike, " mealy " muzzle ; her 



shapely, muscular neck, 

 beautifully fitted into 

 deep shoulders ; the 

 humerus both perpen- 

 dicular and long ; her 

 forearm and gaskins 

 phenomenally strong ; 

 her short back, wonder- 

 ful stifle, good loins and 

 quarters, straight hind 

 legs, and deep brisket 

 these all go to make 

 up a whole that it would 

 be difficult to equal and 

 almost impossible to excel. If we take the number of their victories as a criterion, 

 no mare has beaten Beeswings 52 wins out of 63 starts, and no mare but her 

 has lasted eight seasons on the Turf. Alice Hawthorn won 50 and a dead heat 

 out of 68 starts in seven seasons. Caller Ou had to work even harder, for she 

 started 86 times in six seasons for her 44 victories. Lilian, who won the Queen's 

 Plate by twelve lengths at the Craven Meeting of 1873, ran 106 races, nearly all 

 from two to three miles, and won 46 of them in six seasons. Good judges place 

 Achievement, Stcckwell's daughter, at the top of the tree, ahead of Beeswing and 

 of Sceptre, with La Flcche and Hannah following her. But it is difficult to forget 

 Marie Stuart, Wheel of Fortune, Cwcifix, Formosa, Virago, Lily Agnes, Fleur 

 de Lys, Apology, and Lady Elizabeth, probably the best two-year-old ever bred. 



" Maximum II." (Ascot Cold Cup, 1903). 



