A GREAT YEAR 



character of the horses they met and defeated." For 

 a horse to run through three seasons without knowing 

 defeat is not indeed unique, though the precedents are 

 extremely few, and there is no undefeated horse so far 

 as I am aware who won races of such a description as 

 those which fell to Ormonde, including the three 

 classics. The career of Isinglass was marred by one 

 lapse, when Raeburn, of course with an advantage in 

 the weights, beat him at Manchester. There may 

 have been a legitimate excuse, but the fact of the failure 

 remains. Blair Athol went down before Miner in the 

 Great Yorkshire Stakes, and so missed his chance of 

 inclusion in the list of the unbeaten. Barcaldine was 

 never beaten, it is true, and he ran for three seasons. 

 His races, however, were not of the highest character, 

 though he carried great weights in handicaps. He 

 won the Northumberland Plate with 9 st. 10 lb., and 

 I would certainly say nothing detrimental to his 

 prowess. 



Barcaldine should not be denied a place in the 

 category of great horses, and it may be incidentally 

 remarked that he represented a triumph of skilful 

 training. When Lord Suffolk was writing the Racing 

 volume of the " Badminton Library " he took pains 

 to gain information from various trainers. I came into 

 possession of his letters and papers, and one letter was 

 from Robert Peck describing how Fred Archer, 

 knowing the writer's intention of buying Barcaldine, 



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