JAMES MERRY 



merits. The betting at the start of this memorable 

 St. Leger was 6 to 4 against Kaiser, 9 to 4 against 

 Marie Stuart, and 100 to 30 against Doncaster, a 

 curious state of the market that can only be 

 accounted for by the unquestionable fact that, with 

 a very large section of the racing public, the last is 

 always the best. Nothing had been seen of Don- 

 caster since his defeat in the Grand Prize of Paris, 

 Marie Stuart had not beaten anything of much 

 account either at Ascot or York, whilst Kaiser had 

 been carrying all before him, and had earned live 

 brackets since he and Gang Forward made a dead- 

 heat of it, a length and a half behind Doncaster in 

 the Derby. The St. Leger showed plainly enough 

 that Mr. Savile's game little colt was not of the 

 same class as the Russley pair, who fought out a 

 wonderfully fine finish, and, ^vhilst the sex allowance 

 more than accounted for the head by which the 

 filly beat the colt, it must not be forgotten that 

 she had the worse of it in the matter of jockeys, 

 for no one who had often seen them ride would 

 rank Tom Osborne with Fred Webb. The severity 

 of the finish did not produce any ill effects as 

 far as Marie Stuart was concerned, for she won a 

 couple more races that season, but it seems to have 

 quite upset Doncaster, for, after hopelessly failing 

 in an attempt to give 7 lb. to Flageolet in the 

 Grand Duke JNIichael Stakes, he was well beaten 

 at evens by Kaiser in the Newmarket Derby. 



The following spring was very wet, so that it 

 was impossible to give Doncaster as much work as 

 he ought to have had, and he lost muscle, and was 

 never really at his best until Goodwood. Never- 

 theless he by no means disgraced himself in the 

 Ascot Cup, which produced that season about the 

 very best field that ever contested it. They were 

 all four-year-olds, and the other five were Boiard, 



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