JAMES MERRY 



fact that Sunshine was able to go to Ascot and 

 win the Coronation Stakes easily, even admitting 

 that the opposition was not a strong one, shows the 

 absurdity of the " poisoning " theory, but the filly's 

 roaring was gradually becoming worse, and Nor- 

 manby, who had been much inferior to her in the 

 preceding season, was able to upset the odds that 

 were laid on her for a Triennial over the New ^lile, 

 a couple of days after her Coronation Stakes victory. 

 Thenceforward the Turf knew her no more, and 

 she ultimately passed into the possession of INIr. 

 J. H. Houldsworth, and bred some fairly useful 

 animals, though she never threw anything withih 

 many pounds of her own form. 



The extraordinary racing ability of INIacgregor, 

 a bay colt by JNIacaroni out of Necklace, was 

 discovered very early in his career. He was tried 

 as a yearling with Sunshine and Miss Hayes, the 

 last-named, who was then a four-year-old, being 

 set to give 12 lb. to each of the juveniles. The 

 distance was three furlongs, James Waugh was 

 starter, and JVIr. INIerry and Tass Parker acted 

 as judges. When the trainer came up to his 

 employer with the information that " the JNIacaroni 

 colt lost a couple of lengths at the start," it was 

 only to be met by the reassuring response, " Well, 

 he won d — d easy anyhow." IVIacgregor was 

 stabled with others of ^Ir. ^lerry's horses at Gore 

 Lanes, about half a mile from Russley, where the 

 head lad lived, and the two teams used to meet 

 on Williams's Downs each day. One morning 

 Waugh noticed that the suspensory ligament of 

 Macgregor's off fore-leg was enlarged, and immedi- 

 ately asked his factotum " What's the matter ? " 

 "Nothing," was the reply, but "nothing" looked 

 to be decidedly serious, and "Take him away 

 home " was the immediate order. This trouble 



37 



