GRAND PARADE 



fact that Desmond had been found dead in his box. 

 His owner had contemplated raising the fee to 300 

 guineas. So much for the sire of Grand Geraldine. 



Desmond, to pursue the sire line, was a son of 

 Friar's Balsam and an unnamed mare by Galopin — 

 Mother Superior, and for the record of Friar's Balsam, 

 son of Hermit and Flower of Dorset I must turn again 

 to John Porter's book. The old Kingsclere trainer 

 writes : " I may state right away that I regarded 

 Friar's Balsam as a smasher." About that there can 

 be no difference of opinion. John Porter himself at 

 this time owned a smart filly named Mon Droit by 

 Isonomy — In Bounds. At the Newmarket Second 

 Spring Meeting she had won a two-year-old stake in 

 a canter by four lengths, and in a gallop with Tom 

 Cannon up Friar's Balsam gave Mon Droit a stone 

 and a very easy beating, a couple more two-year-olds 

 with light weights finishing in the rear. 



I may perhaps diverge to note that Mon Droit not 

 long afterwards beat a good colt named Anarch at 

 Windsor, though there was some suspicion that she 

 may not have done so on her merits. At this period 

 there was a " plunger " who acted on a " system." For 

 systems in general I have the greatest contempt, for 

 one reason because without exception they all lose 

 money for their followers, and for another because they 

 seem so thoroughly opposed to the spirit of sport. 

 This system, however, was really based on an excellent 

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