LA TOUCQUES, VERMOUT, FILLE DE L'AIE, GLADIATEUK 137 



was found to liave lost his two-year-old form alto- 

 gether. He ran (first favourite) for the Two Thousand, 

 but did not obtain a place behind Macaroni, Saccharo- 

 meter, and King of the Vale ; he nevertheless started 

 a better favourite (equal second with The Gillie, in 

 fact) than any one of those three for the Derby, and 

 again (in company with his stable companion Jarni- 

 coton) did not obtain a place. He was fourth (behind 

 Saccharometer, Judex, and Tom Fool) for the Ascot 

 Biennial, not placed (in company with Jarnicoton 

 again) for the Cambridgeshire, and received forfeit of 

 200/. from the great Saccharometer (in a match A.F., 

 8 St. 10 lbs. each). In his own country he had run 

 unplaced for the Grand Prix, for which Saccharometer 

 was third. He afterwards became a stud horse of some 

 repute, sire of Capsule, Eoquefort, Florian, &c. 



La Toucques (daughter of The Baron and Tapestry) 

 is a most interesting study — a real phenomenon, a 

 meteor that comes, shines, and passes away, leaving 

 scarcely a trace of its brilliant existence. She is de- 

 scribed as a ' chestnut ; ' but, if memory may be 

 trusted, she was so curiously marked with ' blazes ' as 

 to be reviled by Englishmen who ' sat in scorner's 

 chair ' as ' the piebald ' and ' the circus horse ; ' she 

 was accused, moreover, of the mysterious olTence of 

 being ' a three-cornered customer.' Her owner. Count 

 A. de Montgomery (who did not have her trained at 

 his own fine ' prairies ' at Fervacques, Normandy, but 

 sent her to be trained in England — at Middleham, by 

 Mr. Fobert, if there be no mistake), is said to have tried 

 to get rid of her for 200/., but in vain (as had happened 

 at first to the owners of Franc Picard and Palestro) : 

 his lucky star was dead against it. La Toucques, if 

 known at all at two years of age beyond the limits of 



