THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD 



for, when at his best, he was always 14 lb. in front 

 of his stable companion, Galeazzo, who was an 

 infinitely better colt than Teufel. Exactly a week 

 later St. Frusquin showed his Kempton form to 

 be all wrong by winning the JNIiddle Park Plate 

 in the hands of F. Pratt — Omladina, Persimmon, 

 Knight of the Thistle, Earwig, Bay Ronald, and 

 Balsamo being the pick of the eleven that he 

 defeated. For reasons which are fully explained in 

 the chapter dealing with Persimmon, no importance 

 must be attached to the comparatively moderate 

 show made by the Prince of Wales's champion, 

 but Omladina was an exceptionally good two-year- 

 old, indeed this was her only defeat during her 

 first season. Pratt again rode St. Frusquin in 

 the Dewhurst Plate, in which he gave 10 lb. and 

 a three lengths beating to Knight of the Thistle, 

 and then retired into winter quarters. 



He reappeared at the Craven Meeting in the 

 Column Produce Stakes, in which he had nothing 

 to beat, nevertheless the style in which he carried 

 his 9 St. 10 lb. created a very deep impression 

 upon those who saw the race. To my mind it 

 was a more satisfactory performance than his Two 

 Thousand victory. Of course he won the latter 

 race by three lengths with plenty to spare at the 

 finish, but it certainly struck me that he had to 

 make an effort to shake off Love Wisely. Still, 

 it must be remembered that few of us had any 

 idea how good ]Mr. Hamar Bass's colt was until he 

 won the Ascot Cup in such style, and the ground 

 was so hard during the spring of 1896 that Hayhoe 

 must have had a very anxious task in keeping 

 St. Frusquin on his legs. This will account for 

 the unquestionable fact that his Derby preparation 

 was an easy one, indeed he very rarely went a full 

 mile and a half at any pace. At the same time his 



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