LA TOUCQUES, VERMOUT, FILLE DE L'AIR, GLADIATEUR 1^9 



young Marquis of Hastings had been deluded into pay- 

 ing 6,000 guineas, it is said, not long before the day of 

 the race) were favourites at 6 to 1 eacli. It was a rare 

 finish ; Bedminster, as a spectator remarked, ' galloped 

 hisself to a common cob ' and was soon ' done with,' to 

 the evident dismay of his jockey (Wells), but Gladiateur 

 (H. Grimshaw), Archimedes (T. Aldcroft), Liddington 

 (J. Daley), Zambesi (H. Covey), and Breadalbane were 

 all together in that order at the end, two ' necks ' and two 

 ' heads ' being all that divided Gladiateur, the winner, 

 from Breadalbane, the fifth. As to whether the race was 

 won easily or not there was a divergence of opinion. 



Then came the Derby. 



There was still a disinclination to believe that a 

 French horse, of French-bred sire and French-bred 

 dam, could win the Epsom Derby on Banstead Downs, 

 with the ghosts of so many previous winners, from 

 Diomed to Bay Middleton, from Cotherstone to West 

 Australian, ""ibberimr at him and mocking; at his 

 pretences. 



Nevertheless there was no getting over the fact tha.t 

 he had won the Two Tliousand in good style, and that 

 his stable companion Le Mandarin (who notoriously 

 could not hold the stable lantern to him this year) had 

 just been second to Gontran for the French Derby ; 

 and so he started, as by right, first favourite at 5 to 2. 



How he won was never forgotten by eye witnesses : 

 how he was ' siiut in,' and how his jockey (H. Grim- 

 shaw) deliberately ' went round ' and won ' by two 

 lengths easy' was a sight to be remembered. He was 

 followed home by Christmas Carol and Eltham, the 

 latter a ' rank outsider,' which made some people think 

 it was ' all wrong,' whilst othei's declared that it was a 

 ' bad year,' and that the winner was ' very lucky ' to 



