JAMES MERRY 



arose in his yearling days, and gave an immense 

 amount of anxiety to Waugh, it being impossible 

 to treat him as though he had been a perfectly 

 sound horse. This was partly the cause of his 

 never running as a two-year-old, but it was more 

 due, perhaps, to the fact that Sunshine was 

 sweeping all before her, and that Mr. Merry had 

 a very natural leaning towards a daughter of his 

 beloved Thormanby, and was unwilling to deprive 

 her of the chance of adding a single leaf to her 

 laurel crown. However, he would have been 

 brouglit out at Ascot as a two-year-old had he 

 not started coughing just before that meeting, and 

 he was actually sent to Newmarket for the Middle 

 Park Plate, but, at the last moment, the old 

 fondness for Sunshine prevailed, her owner thought 

 that her penalty would not stop her, and she was 

 allowed to take her chance. This proved to be an 

 unfortunate decision, as the filly would have been 

 saved a desperate finish resulting in a head defeat, 

 whilst INIacgregor, who was entitled to a maiden 

 allowance, must have simply "lost" Frivolity 

 and Kingcraft. After the ^liddle Park Plate 

 Macgregor was tried with Sunlight, and, having 

 won in a canter, was kept at Newmarket for the 

 Criterion Stakes, but his owner, knowing what a 

 gem he possessed, was very reluctant to let other 

 people share the knowledge, and Waugh received 

 a telegram just before the race that he was not 

 to run, a fortunate decision for the late Joseph 

 Dawson, for, as Sunlight finished only a length 

 behind Hester, the stake would have been simply 

 an exercise canter for Macgregor. 



The real fact was that Mr. Merry, whose betting 

 transactions were conducted on a colossal scale 

 totally unknown in these days, had a great idea of 

 winning the Derby with a " dark " horse, and was 



38 



