DANEBURY DAYS 



Court and Middle Park rings almost foamed into madness, 

 and 2500 guineas and 2000 guineas were among the yearling 

 prices of one afternoon, he was never tem})ted beyond 1650 

 guineas for King Charles, and 1500 guineas for Robespierre. 

 The former would have been dear at 50 guineas, and the 

 latter won well in the colours of another. His two best 

 horses, The Duke (500 guineas) and The Earl (450 guineas) 

 were among his cheapest purchases. The late Alfred Day 

 first wore his colours on Garrotter in the Althorp Park Stakes 

 at Northampton, and Sam Rogers won a maiden plate on 

 that colt a few weeks afterwards. The first great victory for 

 the " red and white hoops" was the Cambridgeshire of 1864, 

 with Ackworth, which had been esteemed a dear two thou- 

 sand purchase. Gradually his stable swelled to upwards of 

 thirty, and about ^70,000 were the spoils of six seasons. 

 Catalogue was a great pet of his lordship's, and he did not 

 care how much he backed her for in a selling sweepstakes, 

 and how dearly he redeemed her. A cycle of barrenness 

 followed one of profusion, and Mr. Padwick graciously 

 allowed him, in 1865, to have Kangaroo at, it was said, 

 riPl 2,000, and he never won as many halfpence, while The 

 Duke was useless, from influenza, till half the season was 

 over. In 1866, which produced him a One Thousand Guineas 

 winner in Repulse, and a Goodwood Cup one in The Duke, 

 the stable was once more at a deadlock for a Cesarewitch 

 horse, but little Lecturer, a foal from the Sledmere sale, 

 carried 7 st. 3 lb., and won, it was said, ^40,000 for the 

 Donington party. A winter's reflection convinced his lord- 

 ship that Hermit could never win the Derby, and 

 c£'l 03,000 Avas the price he paid for his thoughts. People 

 were once wont to tell, almost below their breath, that 

 " Davis, the Leviathan,"" had been known to pay away 

 ^60,000 on the Derby. The present age is capable of greater 

 efforts, as before the Monday the bankers and solicitors had 

 consulted, and the whole of the Marquis's losings were found 

 for him. Thus panic was averted from "The Corner," but 

 the fair lands of Loudoun passed from his hand. At Ascot 

 his lucky star rose once more. Lady Elizabeth and Lecturer 

 were both in form, and his lordship kept backing them, and 

 piling on the winnings again by a sort of geometric progres- 

 sion, gambling till he had won nearly half " his ain again." 

 It was now the turn for reverses. His lordship rather fancied 

 The Earl, but the stable overruled him in favour of Lady 



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