THE DUKE OF PORTLAND 



He is a horse of the most exquisite quality, but 

 a little deficient in bone and substance, and the 

 mares that will nick best with him will probably 

 be those who are big and powerful, and possibly 

 even a trifle coarse. 



Amiable is the last classic winner that the Duke 

 of Portland has owned. She is a bay mare by St. 

 Simon out of Tact, and started in very modest 

 fashion with three consecutive defeats, though 

 she was nearly bringing off a 20 to 1 chance in the 

 rich Royal Two-Year-Old Plate at Kempton Park, 

 a still greater outsider in Schoolbook beating her 

 by three parts of a length. She wound up the 

 season with two victories in nine attempts, her 

 only important success being gained in the Prince 

 of Wales's Plate at York, in which, however, there 

 was nothing of any note amongst the dozen that 

 finished behind her. She evidently wintered 

 remarkably well, yet the fact of her starting at 

 100 to 8 for the One Thousand leads to the idea 

 that she had made far more improvement than was 

 realised by the stable, and she polished off Lady 

 Minting and eleven others in very easy fashion. 

 This victory appeared to leave the Oaks at her 

 mercy, but she soon afterwards injured one of her 

 heels, and blood-poisoning set in. Of course she 

 had to be stopped in her work, and, in spite of 

 every remedy that could be tried, her leg had 

 filled on the Sunday of the Epsom week. On the 

 morning of the Oaks she was able to do a canter — 

 the first for upwards of a week — but being a very 

 light -fleshed filly, and exceptionally fit when the 

 stoppage occurred, it did not affect her so much as 

 might have been imagined, and she managed to 

 gallop too fast for the very moderate lot opposed 

 to her. She ran remarkably well in the Coronation 

 Stakes at Ascot, though it was naturally beyond 



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