JAMES MERRY 



was rather hard on the colt to pull him out again 

 on the following day for a Biennial over the Old 

 Mile, in which Sterling was his only opponent. 1 

 do not think that he would have possessed much 

 chance at a mile against the mighty son of Oxford 

 under any circumstances, and, being stiff and sore 

 from his exertions of the preceding day, he was 

 beaten all ends up. Instead of putting King of the 

 Forest by for the St. Leger, Mr. Merry insisted 

 upon running him at Goodwood. Certainly a 

 couple of races were at his mercy, but their com- 

 bined value was little in excess of £500, and he 

 furnished one more example of the truth of John 

 Scott's dictum, that running a three -year -old at 

 Goodwood is fatal to its St. Leger prospects. In 

 this case no immediate ill results were noticeable, 

 but, on Peck's return from Wolverhampton about 

 the middle of August, he found that one of King 

 of the Forest's legs had filled, and it became neces- 

 sary to strike him out of his Doncaster engagements. 

 Indeed after this he was always a cripple, and no 

 attempt would have been made to train him as a 

 four-year-old, but for the fact of his having won the 

 Twentieth Bentinck Memorial Stakes in the two 

 preceding seasons. Thiswas a Triennial stakes, which 

 shortly afterwards disappeared from the Goodwood 

 programme, to which a curious condition attached. 

 The sum of 10 per cent was deducted from the 

 value of the race each year, and this formed a sort 

 of pool, which was secured by the owner of the first 

 horse who succeeded in winning for three years in 

 succession. These accumulations now amounted to 

 the useful sum of £777, and the stake was therefore 

 worth nearly £1000 if King of the Forest won it, 

 whilst the victory of any other horse would bring in 

 less than £200. His old friend Ripponden was " the 

 King's " most dangerous opponent, but a httle diplo- 



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