JAMES MERRY 



Fervacques, who won it that year after a dead heat 

 with Patricien, was no flyer ; but Mr. Merry was 

 set upon again defeating Vauban in the Prince of 

 Wales's Stakes, a task in which JNIarksman signally 

 failed, and was never able to run again. At his best 

 he was a really good colt ; indeed, prior to the Derby 

 he was tried to give 28 lb. to Mayflower, and beat 

 her easily, though this three-year-old Thormanby 

 filly afterwards proved equal to winning the 

 Gratwicke Stakes at Goodwood. After taking 

 part in the Prince of Wales's Stakes Marksman 

 was bled in the toe, a quantity of blood being 

 taken away. Hermit was located in the same 

 yard, and the bucket containing this blood was 

 put down at the door of his box. It was some 

 years before Waugh confessed to Bloss that he 

 was the perpetrator of this little joke, which 

 derived its point from the fact that Hermit had 

 broken a blood-vessel shortly before his Derby 

 victory. 



Another really good two-year-old that Mr. 

 Merry owned about this time was Lady Morgan, 

 but her near fore-leg was a source of trouble even 

 from her yearling days, and she could never be 

 trained. This brings me to Belladrum, a bay colt 

 by Stockwell out of Catherine Hayes, and one of 

 the most brilliant two-year-olds that INIr. Merry 

 ever possessed. He was beaten the first time that 

 he was tried, and the details of this, and of other 

 Russley trials, would be extremely interesting, but 

 unhappily they are not available. When James 

 Wauffh returned from abroad and settled down at 

 Newmarket, the box containing his trial book was 

 placed in an outhouse, the roof of which was not 

 rain-proof, and, before any one happened to notice 

 the mischief that was being done, this valuable and 

 irreplaceable volume was reduced to a mass of un- 



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