THE ' BIG STABLE ' HI 



been so long attempted witliout success by lier late 

 husband. In the summer and autumn tlie French 

 horses showed excellent form, especially M. Benoit's 

 Capucine and M. P. Aumont's Mon Etoile, at home, in 

 Belgium, and at Baden, wliere Ca])ucine won the Grand 

 Prix and the celebrated Cosmopolite, more famous as 

 a steeple-chaser than as a flat racer, a vvortliy com- 

 patriot of Franc Picard, distinguished himself. 



But it was in their annual invasion of England that 

 the French gave the most significant signs of improve- 

 ment, though the campaign in itself was not much to 

 boast of. The year 1860 is the date of a new dejjar- 

 ture, for in that year the French for the first time ran 

 a horse 'bred in France' (though old Phihppe Egalite 

 had run or nominated an English horse, Cantator, in 

 1784) for the English Derby. Count F. de Lao-rano-e, 

 in the spirit of the French ' sapper ' to whom ' nothing 

 is sacred,' boldly ran Dangu (bred in France) for tlie 

 ' blue riband of tlie Turf,' and tliough the horse started 

 at the hopeless odds of 200 to 1 against liini he was 

 placed fourth by the judge, a long way, it is true, 

 behind Thormanby and The Wizard, but in front of 

 such horses as the ' American ' Umpire, Buccaneer (so 

 famous as a sire), Nutbourne, and High Treason. 

 Dangu was a son of that excellent sire FitzGladiator, 

 but did not do much to ' illustrate ' either himself or 

 the race of Gladiator. Still it was evident at last that 

 the Frencli ' meant business.' 



This year Count F. de Lagrange ran Mademoiselle 

 de Chantilly for the Newmarket Handicap, tlie City 

 and Suburban, the Cambridgesliire (for which she ran 

 Weatherbound to a head), and a Handicap Sweepstakes 

 at Newmarket Houghton, but she won notliing ; Baron 

 Niviere ran Goelette to no purpose at Newmarket July, 



