JAMES MERRY 



chance looked to be hopeless when he ran out at 

 the hotel turn, and the rest of the field were quite 

 a couple of hundred yards away before Gray got 

 him righted and started in pursuit. Knowing, 

 however, the "tons" he had in hand, Peck never 

 quite despaired of the result, and the little colt 

 made up his ground in extraordinary fashion, and 

 won quite easily at the finish. He was then put 

 by for the Cesarewitch, and, as " the Admiral," for 

 once in a way, seemed to be oblivious of the Ascot 

 incident, he was let in for that race with about 6 st. 

 10 lb. This meant King of the Forest at 7 st., and 

 defeat seemed to be an impossibility. The com- 

 mission was entrusted to Fred Swindells, and it 

 was luckily only partially executed when Peck 

 returned from Doncaster, and found that Sentry 

 had broken down so hopelessly that he was de- 

 stroyed shortly afterwards. Corisande was the 

 heroine of the Cesarewitch that autumn with 7 st. 

 12 lb. in the saddle, and it is absolutely certain that, 

 had all gone well with him. Sentry could have 

 beaten her by a dozen lengths at their respective 

 weights. 



I^Ir. Merry possessed no three-year-old of any 

 note in 1872, indeed. Highland Fling in the One 

 Thousand and Gladiolus in the St. Leger were his 

 only representatives in the classic races of that year. 

 The filly was decidedly useful, indeed she once gave 

 5 lb. and a beating to Louise Victoria, but the colt 

 never carried silk except upon this one occasion. 

 Such an unusual state of affairs was not destined to 

 last long, and in 1873 the names of Doncaster and 

 Marie Stuart were in everybody's mouth, and they 

 made a clean sweep of the " three ribbons." The 

 former, a chesnut colt by Stockwell out of Mari- 

 gold, was bred by Sir Tatton Sykes, and was sent 

 up in due course with the other Sledmere yearlings 



52 



