118 HORSE-RACING IN FRANCE 



Like Franc Picard, furthermore, Palestro, after he had 

 been tried (at Mont de Marsan, in the Soutli), did not 

 please, and woidd have been sold with alacrity for 

 4,000 francs, or IGO/., but no man would have him. He 

 had come into the hands of Count F. de Lagrange (when 

 M. Aumont was under an engagement ' not to run ' for 

 three years from 1856), but he was not included in the 

 partnership between Count F. de Lagrange and Baron 

 Mviere, it is said ; he nevertheless entered the La 

 Morlaye stable, presided over by Mr. Henry Jennings, 

 who determined to give the horse a chance, tried him 

 with Finlande and other ' good ones,' and came to tlie 

 conclusion that there was ' something in him.' 



On May 8, 1861, he was a ' bad third ' for the race for 

 which he was entered ; on tlie ITtli he won ' easil}'- ' the 

 Prix de I'Empereur at Poitiers ; on September 10 he 

 was a ' bad tliird ' for tlie Grand Piix at Baden ; after 

 that he won ' easily ' the Grand Prix de I'Empereur 

 at Chantilly ; and then he ' broke out ' and won the 

 Cambridsjeshire, havini]!: won otlier races in France, such 

 as tlie Prix du Trocadero and the Prix du Prince Im- 

 perial at Paris : in fact, the 16-guinea foal won some 

 4,000/. or 5,000/. at three and four years of age within 

 the space of a few montlis, having won in 1862, in the 

 spring (after his victories in the previous autumn), the 

 Grand Prix de I'lmperatrice (now called the Prix Rain- 

 bow) of 16,200 francs (about 648/.) at Paris and a 

 sweepstakes of 400/. at Newmarket. Palestro ended as 

 curiously as he began. It was his destiny to serve the 

 hated German, the enemy of his country, having been 

 purchased by Count H, Henckel, of Donnersmark. Nor 

 were his vicissitudes then over, for in 1871 he was 

 sold to the Imperial-Poyal Stud Depot, Stuhlweissen- 

 berg, Austria-Hungary. But neither in France nor in 



