DANEBURY DAYS 



to do when they were so close home, but his know- 

 ledge of the wonderful little bit of stuff* that he had 

 between his knees fully justified it. The winnings 

 of the Marquis of Hastings over the race were gene- 

 rally put down at £50,000, yet Hippia had a frac- 

 tional call of Lecturer in the market at the start. 

 Truly they did not play at betting in those days. 

 The stable companions were out again for the Alex- 

 andra Plate on the following day, but at that time 

 owners were not so easily frightened out of the field 

 as they are nowadays, and, in spite of the presence 

 of the Gold Cup winner, ten numbers were hoisted. 

 Moulsey, Klarinska, and Strathconan represented 

 the pick of the new-comers, but, on this occasion, 

 it was a case of laying odds on Lecturer, who again 

 scored with plenty in hand. The Hurstbourne 

 Cup at Stockbridge and the Stamford Cup — the 

 latter of which was a three-mile race in which he 

 had to concede 7 lb. to Dalesman — also fell to the 

 little marvel, but then it is probable that he began 

 to feel the effects of his double dose at Ascot, as he 

 sustained three defeats when it was evident that he 

 was not running within 14 lb. of his proper form, 

 and nothing was seen of him after one of Lord 

 Glasgow's nameless brigade had beaten him easily 

 for the Queen's Plate at Doncaster. At the stud 

 he was an unmitigated failure, as was only to be 

 expected in the case of such a thoroughly chance- 

 bred one. 



Reverting to 1866, it will not do to omit all 

 notice of the Duke of Beaufort's Ceylon. He was 

 a very plain bay colt by Idle Boy out of Pearl, and 

 had such indifferent joints that it was found im- 

 possible to bring him to the post as a two-year-old, 

 so his debut was delayed until the Newmarket 

 Biennial at the Craven JNIeeting — that curious 

 race which has been won by so many bad horses 



78 



