XVI 



GEORGE FKEDERICK 



There is small doubt that nine out of every ten 

 experienced racing men, if asked to classify the 

 Derby winners of the past thirty years, would 

 place George Frederick low on the list. Taking 

 "the book" alone they would have full justification 

 for so doing, yet I venture to think that they 

 would be altogether wrong, and that the chesnut 

 son of Marsyas and Princess of Wales was a very 

 good horse indeed, infinitely better than his public 

 performances showed him to be. He was bred by 

 the late INIr. W. S. Cartwright, and was the fourth 

 foal produced by the famous daughter of Stockwell 

 and The Bloomer, who proved such a gold mine to 

 her owner. In his first season he was under the 

 care of Tom Oliver, and this was nothing in his 

 favour, for "Black Tom," as he was generally 

 called, was then a bit past work, and inclined to 

 take things much too easily. This was specially 

 fatal in the case of such a fat gross colt as George 

 Frederick, who was never really trained as a two- 

 year-old. In fact he never did any work at all 

 until May, and when he made his first appearance 

 — in a Biennial at York in August — his condition 

 was far more suitable for the sale ring than the 

 race-course, and it is not at all surprising that 



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