GRAND PARADE 



confesses that for the first time he had no great con- 

 fidence in Ormonde, not knowing how his wind 

 trouble would affect him over a mile and a half — the 

 Rous Memorial is only a mile — with a pull up hill in 

 the last mile. John Porter takes us behind the scenes 

 to explain why Ormonde's performance was really a 

 much greater one than it looks on paper. " George 

 Barrett was jealous," he writes, " because Cannon was 

 engaged to ride Ormonde. He rode Phil, and coming 

 round the bend into the straight bored his horse on to 

 Cannon's mount, indeed for a considerable distance 

 Ormonde was practically carrying Phil. After the 

 race we found that Ormonde's skin was grazed for 

 three or four inches down the side of his near hind leg. 

 That was when Phil had struck into him. Cannon 

 was, it will be understood, unable to make as much use 

 of Ormonde as he could and would have done but for 

 the disgraceful tactics pursued by Barrett. When he 

 returned to the paddock Cannon was very indignant. 

 It had taken Ormonde all his time to win by a neck. 

 " The excitement was tremendous. When Or- 

 monde passed the post the thousands congregated 

 on the Stands and in the Enclosures were cheering 

 their loudest, the ladies waving handkerchiefs. The 

 Duke was the proudest man in the world at that 

 moment, and I was a good second to him. For a long 

 time I could not get to Ormonde, so great was the 



crush around him. After the ' All right ' had been 



149 



