JAMES MERRY 



all in his favour, as it made the ground soft and 

 sloppy, and, in the two canters he did on the Thurs- 

 day morning, he moved as well as he had ever done 

 in his life. Fordham rode him for the Cup, and 

 took him to the front the moment the flag fell ; he 

 jumped the tan road, but nothing got near him in 

 any part of the race. It must be admitted that the 

 opposition, which was chiefly French, was not par- 

 ticularly strong, though it included a couple of 

 Cambridgeshire winners in Montargis and Peut- 

 etre ; but it was the style in which Doncaster won 

 which so impressed all who saw the race for the 

 Ascot Cup of 1875, and there is no doubt that he 

 was a very great horse on that day. Immediately 

 after his victory Peck purchased him from Mr. 

 Merry, passing him on to the Duke of West- 

 minster at a profit shortly afterwards. However, 

 he ran in INIr. Merry's name and colours for the 

 Alexandra Plate on the following day, and again 

 won as he liked, though he had 9 st. 11 lb. in the 

 saddle, and was giving 10 lb. to that good filly 

 Lily Agnes, who landed eight of the other twelve 

 events in which she took part that season. This 

 was Doncaster's last appearance on a racecourse, 

 but his success at the stud was assured from the out- 

 set. Bend Or being one of the products of his first 

 season. He was a curious horse to train, and needed 

 a good deal of humouring ; indeed, there was only 

 one boy at Russley, a lad known as " Darkie," who 

 could ride him at exercise. 



Marie Stuart, a chesnut filly by Scottish Chief 

 out of JNIorgan La Faye, was home-bred. From 

 her yearling days she was troubled with curbs, and, 

 being extremely nervous and excitable, was always 

 difficult to train. The spring of 1872 was so wet 

 that Peck found it impossible to do as much work 

 with her as he would have liked to do, and she was 



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