120 HOPtSE-EACING IN FRANCE 



Trocaclero. Ilowbeit Antonia, being twenty-six years 

 old, cannot be considered to have died prematurely. 



We may now turn to Compiegne, one of the ' stars ' 

 of the French horses of 1861, though he did not pay 

 us a visit in England. He was another of the 'Fitz- 

 Gladiators.' He won in 1861 the Prix de la Ville de 

 Spa, the Saint-Leger de Moulins, tlie Saint-Leger de 

 Bade, and the Prix de Lichtentlial at Baden ' right off 

 the reel ; ' and he was to win the Prix du Cadran the 

 next year. Moreover lie was to be the sire of the 

 celebrated Mortemer,for whom the Americans would one 

 day pay a ' parlous ' amount of dollars. But ' whom the 

 gods love die young,' and Compiegne (like Attila, son 

 of Colwick in 1846) died at seven years of age — in 1865. 



And now for the legendary Light, five years old in 

 1861. He was in many respects the most wonderful of 

 all tlie group. Light, a bay son of The Prime Warden 

 and Balaclava, was foaled in 1856 at the Marquis de 

 Talhouet's stud, and was purciiased as a yearling by 

 Baron Mviere. He did not run at two years of age, 

 and at three years he met with several defeats before 

 he won his first race — at Amiens ; he then easily defeated 

 Fort-^-bras at Boulogne, at equal weights ; and he 

 terminated his first year's racing with an uninterrupted 

 series of successes at Le Pin, Caen, Abbeville, Le Mans, 

 and Blois. Next year (1860) he won nineteen events in 

 succession, including the Prix Biennal and the Prix de 

 Suresnes at Paris, the Prix de I'Empereur at Angou- 

 leme, three ' prix ' at Poitiers, a ' prix ' of 5,000 

 francs (200/.) at Chantilly ('heats' of 4,000 metres, 

 or about two and a half miles each), the Prix 

 de Satory at Versailles, and the Prix Imperial at 

 Bouk)gne, Pennes, and Tarbes, but at last, having 

 crossed the Channel, lie was beaten (as has been men- 



