GRAND PARADE 



fifteen races, nine of them at Newmarket, four at 

 Ascot, one at Epsom and one at Doncaster, earning 

 in stakes £27,266 10s. So much for Grand Parade's 

 great-grandsire. 



If there were any lack of quality in Ormonde, there 

 was, as I recall him, none in his sire Bend Or. The 

 story of the Derby of 1880 has been told so often that 

 it must not be repeated at length. I had an excellent 

 view of the finish, and can still see Archer on the 

 beautiful chestnut coming with a desperate rush, 

 whilst Rossiter on Robert the Devil seemed absolutely 

 to shrink. Bend Or won by a short head. If the 

 jockeys had been reversed the Duke of Westminster's 

 colt would surely have been beaten several heads. It 

 would be waste of time to speculate upon the question 

 what was Bend Or's best distance ? At any rate he 

 did not stay as well as Robert the Devil. He could 

 not, however, have given his running in the St. James's 

 Palace Stakes at Ascot, where over the Old Mile he 

 merely beat Fernandez a head, and that was the only 

 other race he won that season ; for though odds of 

 1 1 to 8 were laid on him in the Leger he was never 

 dangerous, Robert the Devil winning in a canter. 

 Bend Or was beaten again in the Second Great Foal 

 Stakes at the Newmarket First October, Robert the 

 Devil, ridden by Tom Cannon, having a head the 

 better of him, Archer in the Duke's yellow jacket ; 

 and Robert the Devil beat him yet once more in the 



151 



