JAMES MERRY 



not nearly fit when she went to Epsom, and the 

 very speedy AcropoUs beat her a neck in the 

 Stanley Stakes, and exactly repeated the dose in 

 the Acorn Stakes two days later. Probably these 

 two races did her good and sharpened her up, for 

 she came on very much between Epsom and Ascot, 

 and won the New Stakes at the latter fixture by 

 four lengths. On the following day she only just 

 scraped home by a head from the very moderate 

 Dean of Westminster in a single-handed encounter 

 in a Biennial, and she came back from the meeting 

 with a bad attack of shin soreness. This caused 

 her to be put by for the Mottisfont Stakes at 

 Stockbridge, which was a far more important race 

 at that time than it became in later days. She was 

 not fairly right even then, which accounted for the 

 difficulty she experienced in beating the indifferent 

 trio opposed to her, and she was very sore indeed 

 when Morris rode her back to weigh in. It was 

 evident that there was nothing for it but to give 

 her a good rest, so it was determined to reserve her 

 for the Middle Park Plate, in which she escaped 

 with a 4 lb. penalty. She won her trial for that 

 event, as I have stated when dealing with Don- 

 caster, but she began to cough about a week before 

 the race, and could not finish her preparation, so 

 that her starting at 20 to 1 and finishing in the 

 ruck is fully explained. 



Up to this time Marie Stuart, like her famous 

 namesake, may be said to have been " celebrated 

 for her beauty and her misfortunes," and these 

 latter did not end with her two -year -old career. 

 Only a week prior to the One Thousand Guineas 

 she had a severe sexual attack, and ran fourth to 

 three animals to whom, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, she could have given any amount of weight 

 in reason. This she showed conclusively enough in 



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