H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES 



Lord Strathnairn's horse ever took part in any 

 other race, and it is certain that he was about as 

 bad as he well could be. 



For some years after this the Prince of Wales's 

 colours were only seen in an occasional race under 

 National Hunt Rules, and they were "first past 

 the post " for the first time in a military steeple- 

 chase at Aldershot. Captain Wentworth Hope 

 Johnstone, then a subaltern in the 7th Hussars, 

 had the honour of wearing them, and Leonidas 

 II., a big brown gelding by Lord Clifden or 

 Adventurer, gave him a very comfortable ride. 

 " Comfortable," however, is scarcely correct, as it 

 was a terribly wet afternoon, the jockey had been 

 soaked to the skin in the preceding race, and had 

 to rub his reins with sand to prevent them from 

 slipping through his fingers. Triumphs obtained 

 "between the flags" scarcely come within the 

 scope of this book, and I may pass on to the time 

 when His Royal Highness got together a few 

 horses for flat racing, and sent them to be trained 

 by John Porter at Kingsclere. It was a long 

 time, however, before any race of importance was 

 secured. In fact, few owners have been pursued 

 with more persistent bad luck at starting, and 

 were not the Prince thoroughly devoted to the 

 sport he would probably have abandoned it in 

 disgust after several seasons of failure, and the 

 history of the Turf during the " nineties " would 

 have been widely different. 



In 1886 Counterpane, a nice little chesnut 

 filly by Hermit out of Patchwork, won her first 

 engagement — a maiden plate at Sandown Park — 

 in capital style, and there seemed good grounds for 

 hoping that she would secure other more important 

 successes. Three weeks later, however, she was 

 pulled out for the Stockbridge Cup, and " Counter- 



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