THE PRINCE OF THE T.Y.C. 



was he allowed to walk over, without once tasting 

 defeat. It seems quite needless to recapitulate 

 each of these, and any one who is interested in the 

 subject can easily refer to them in the Calendar for 

 1873. I will, therefore, content myself with re- 

 cording that his two finest performances of that 

 season were perhaps accomplished in the Cheveley 

 Stakes at the Newmarket July, and the Bicker- 

 staffe Cup at the Liverpool Autumn, Meeting. 

 Each of these events was decided over a five- 

 furlong course, and he beat Blenheim in one and 

 Oxonian in the other, giving 14 lb. to each. His 

 very first race as a five-year-old showed his speed 

 to be as terrific as ever, for in the Stand Cup at 

 Windsor, distance five furlongs, he gave 16 lb. to 

 Tangible, a four-year-old son of Blair Athol who 

 won eight races out of thirteen that season and 

 was a brilliant sprinter, and beat him by a head. 

 He was beaten once this year — the only defeat he 

 ever sustained after his second in the Leger. This 

 occurred in the Queen's Stand Plate at Ascot, in 

 which he attempted to give 7 lb. to Blenheim, and 

 was beaten by a couple of lengths. There is not 

 the smallest doubt that the form in this race was 

 wrong, and probably Prince Charlie's near knee 

 was troubling him again, yet it is impossible to 

 grudge Blenheim his triumph, or to maintain 

 that it was not thoroughly well deserved. Few 

 better sportsmen have ever lived than the late 

 M. Lefevre, and he never proved it more con- 

 clusively than by the persistent style in which he 

 tackled Prince Charlie with Blenheim. On no fewer 

 than eight occasions did the Oxford horse turn out 

 to do battle with a rival that was clearly too good 

 for him, once receiving as much as 14 lb., but 

 often meeting him at "evens," and defeat was 

 invariably his portion, except in this one race at 



129 K 



