DANEBURY DAYS 



during the two years that he was in training. He 

 was out fifteen times in his first season, earning 

 seven brackets. At the beginning of his career he 

 could not fairly be described as more than useful, 

 and it was only at his fifth attempt that he won his 

 first race, a Post Sweepstakes at Stamford in July. 

 The ice once broken, he scored four times more in 

 succession, and steadily improved until the end of 

 the season, perhaps his best performance being in 

 the Troy Stakes at the Houghton Meeting, in 

 which he gave 3 lb. and a neck beating to Julius, 

 Lady Hester, with whom the Duke of Beaufort 

 declared to win, Bismarck, and Marksman being 

 amongst the five that finished behind the pair. No 

 horse could possibly have wintered better, and he 

 was exceedingly well tried before making his first 

 appearance for the season, as he beat the five-year- 

 old Lord Ronald over a mile at even weights. 

 According to this, he ought not to have had so 

 much difficulty in winning the Newmarket Biennial, 

 in which he only gained a head verdict from Mr. 

 Cartwright's Wroughton, who can only be described 

 as a moderate colt at best. The result of the Two 

 Thousand showed that this form w^as all wrong 

 so far as Vauban was concerned, for he won very 

 comfortably by a couple of lengths from a field of 

 seventeen, which included Knight of the Garter, 

 Marksman, Julius, and Plaudit, of whom the last 

 named, though he started a good second favourite 

 at 100 to 30, was radically unsound, and could not 

 be trained. After this, Vauban seemed to have 

 nothing to beat in the Derby but The Rake and 

 Hermit, and, when both of these broke blood- 

 vessels, and the latter drifted out to hopeless odds, 

 the way seemed thoroughly clear for the Two 

 Thousand winner. The Duke of Beaufort was 

 naturally keenly anxious to win his first Derby, 



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