THE GREAT YEAR 



he threaten danger. The course was in very bad 

 condition, with little herbage and patches of adaman- 

 tine hardness. An excuse is made for Paper Money 

 that he put his foot in a hole, but he ran remarkably 

 well nevertheless, so much so that at the old landmark 

 which used to be spoken of as The Bell his backers 

 were beginning to proclaim his triumph. At the 

 critical moment, however, it became evident that the 

 bearer of Sir Walter Gilbey's chocolate and yellow 

 stripe, scarlet cap, could not compete with Lord 

 Astor's light blue, pink sash and cap, or with Lord 

 Glanely's more sombre jacket. Sir Hedworth Meux's 

 sea-green, turquoise cap, on Sir Douglas, had momen- 

 tarily raised some hope, but in the last hundred and 

 fifty yards the issue had come to be between Grand 

 Parade and Buchan. It was natural to feel appre- 

 hensive that the lack of his winding-up gallops and of 

 incidental work might tell upon Grand Parade in the 

 last few strides ; but he stuck gallantly to his task and 

 holding his own passed the post half-a-length in front 

 of Buchan. Brennan on Lord Astor's colt was 

 criticised for his riding of the finish, the critics how- 

 ever omitting to state in what respect he was wanting, 

 and as regards the race being won by the best horse, 

 when it is considered that Grand Parade was dis- 

 tinctly short of work, Buchan in the height of con- 

 dition, the state of the case is obvious. Thus within 

 a period of little over ten years Lord Glanely succeeded 



85 



