140 H0KSE-17ACING IN FRANCE 



third to Coastguard and Prince Artliur for a sweep- 

 stakes at the same place, and tliird for the Hopeful 

 Stakes at Newmarket First October. Moreover she 

 had beaten Scottish Chief and had turned the tables on 

 Ely, Coastguard, and Prince Arthur once or more than 

 once. Count F. de La(yran2:e and all the Frenchmen 

 who were ' in the know ' might well hug themselves in 

 the belief that they would soon make perfidious Albion 

 ' see sights.' Already this year, 1863, Count F. de 

 Lagrange had run third for the Oaks with Vivid ; but 

 then Vivid was an English filly. Fille de I'Air, or 

 ' Fiddler,' as she was liable to be called (in imitation of 

 ' Parisian ' speech), was French. 



Among the most notable occurrences in the world 

 of French horse racing in 1863 was the new partner- 

 ship formed, on the dissolution of the Lagrange-Niviere 

 Association (called the ' Big Stable '), between Baron 

 Niviere and M. Charles Laffitte (' Major Fridolin '), with 

 Mr. Charles Pratt (instead of Mr. Henry Jennings, who 

 became a ' public ' trainer at La Croix St. Ouen, near 

 Compiegne) for trainer, chief jockej^ and general manager 

 of the stable at La Morlaye, with a ' haras ' at Villebon, 

 near Palaiseau, which was first the property of Baron 

 Niviere, then of the Baron and the 'Major' jointly, 

 lastly of the latter alone, and with the yearling Gontran 

 to oppose (hopelessly) to the yearling Oladiateur of the 

 ' opposition stable ' (Count F. de Lagrange's), but with 

 nothing at all to match against Fille de I'Air. 



The year 1864 was a glorious one for the French, 

 both at home and in England, but, for all the prowess 

 of Fille de I'Air, the honours of the campaign did not 

 remain with Count F. de Lagrange among the French 

 owners, and certainly not with Messrs. Niviere-Fridolin. 



At the Paris Spring Meeting the principal events 



