GALOPIN AND PETRARCH 



possession of Lord Lonsdale, and made an early- 

 appearance in fresh colours, as he was one of the 

 thirty-two starters for tlie Lincolnshire Handicap 

 of 1877. He was weighted at 8 st. 13 lb., and it is 

 not at all surprising that he should have quite 

 failed to give 23 lb. to Lord Wilton's Footstep, 

 who was also a four -year -old. He scored easily 

 enough, however, in the High Level Handicap at 

 the Epsom Summer Meeting, a race that was run 

 over the Derby course, and followed this up by 

 securing the Gold Cup at Ascot. In an ordinary 

 way a triumph in this last-named event would 

 have set the seal on his fame, but, on this occasion, 

 the victory meant very little, for Skylark, who 

 was second to him, was never quite in the first 

 class, and the other four made up a very queer 

 Cup field. Coomassie was only a sprinter. Con- 

 troversy had lost his form and never won a race 

 that season. Wild Tommy's wind was worse 

 affected than ever, and Sugarloaf was not only a 

 thorough commoner but bolted in the course of 

 the race. A far better performance was that 

 which Petrarch accomplished in the Liverpool 

 Summer Cup, in which he carried 9 st. 3 lb. and 

 was only beaten a head by The Snail, an aged 

 horse belonging to Lord Rosebery, who had only 

 7 st. 12 lb. in the saddle. Nor was his defeat in 

 the Goodwood Cup any disgrace to him, for it is 

 easy to understand his failing to concede 6 lb. to 

 Hampton, then a five-year-old, and 10 lb. to 

 Skylark, the latter of whom was only a length 

 behind him at Ascot, where they were, of course, 

 carrying even weights. In the following season 

 Petrarch was only out three times. The task of 

 giving 52 lb. to Sefton in the City and Suburban 

 was naturally a hopeless one, but he showed that 

 he had lost little or none of his form when he gave 



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