The Earl of Minto 



Lord Minto also won that coveted trophy " The Whip " 

 when up at Cambridge on a mare of his own named Rival, and 

 in connection with this there is an amusing story. 



" The Whip " is a long-established University steeplechase, 

 and " The Whip " itself, if won three years in succession by 

 the same undergraduate, would remain his property. Cecil 

 Legard (now the Rev. Cecil Legard) had won it twice, and 

 there was naturally considerable excitement as to whether he 

 became its possessor. Owing to a postponement, the race was 

 set to be run on the very day on which the B.A. degrees were 

 conferred, and Lord Melgund (as he then was) was required to 

 be in the Senate House to receive his degree at the same hour 

 at which the race was to be run at Cottenham, some seven 

 miles away. However, nothing daunted, with his racing 

 colours and breeches and boots concealed from view by his 

 gown, and his spurs in his pocket, he was at the Senate House 

 to the minute, and having received his degree, jumped on the 

 hack in attendance outside, and galloped as hard as he could 

 on to the course, where he arrived, not a minute too soon, the 

 other riders having all weighed out and on their way to the 

 post when he got there just in time to win a well-deserved 

 victory by a neck from Cecil Legard on Harkaway. He 

 subsequently sold Rival to his friend Maunsell Richardson, 

 who won The Whip on him the following year. Later on, 

 "Mr. Roily " frequently rode at Cottenham with success — a 

 handicap on a horse called Leap Year, when he beat Arthur 

 Yates on his well-known grey, Oddfellow, by a neck ; and 

 a race on the flat when, riding Merry Monk, he just got the 

 better of Custance, being two of his best performances. 



From Cambridge Lord Minto went straight into the Scots 

 Guards, amongst his brother officers when he joined being 

 Colonels G. W. Knox and Harford, and Lord Charles Innes 



357 



