H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES 



peculiarities, Marsh would not take her to Epsom 

 with the rest of his string. He felt that it was 

 most important to leave her in her own stable 

 until the latest possible moment, and, after the 

 Derby was over, he travelled back to Newmarket 

 specially to fetch her. No sooner had she started 

 on the journey than she broke out into a profuse 

 sweat, and she never touched an oat, or even 

 drank a drop of water, from that time until after 

 the race. So rapidly did she fall away that, 

 almost incredible as it seems, it is nevertheless 

 the fact that Marsh's head lad came into her 

 box on the day of the race, and, with his eyes 

 on the filly, asked in perfect good faith, "Where 

 does Thais stand ? " Under these circumstances 

 her defeat came as no surprise to those connected 

 with her, indeed the wonder was that she should 

 have managed to finish second. The most annoy- 

 ing part of the affair was that, when she went to 

 Ascot a fortnight later, she showed none of this 

 nervousness, and decisively turned the tables on 

 Canterbury Pilgrim in the Coronation Stakes. It 

 may also be noted, as a very singular coincidence, 

 that the entire episode was exactly repeated two 

 years later, in the case of Nun Nicer and Airs 

 and Graces. Thais did not run again until the 

 Houghton Meeting, when she was unplaced in 

 the Cambridgeshire, and finished second to 

 Gulistan in the Free Handicap. It was then 

 decided to send her to the stud, and, after proving 

 barren to Isinglass, she was mated with him again, 

 but died before the end of 1898. This may 

 possibly have been a blessing in disguise, for, 

 great as the loss appeared to be at the time, it is 

 quite probable that the produce of such a delicate 

 mare, and one coming of a delicate strain, would 

 have been a source of constant disappointment. 



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