LA TOUCQUES, VERMOUT, FILLE DE L'AIR, GLADIATEUR 153 



Gladiateur, whose fore legs, it was said, had for 

 some time been shaky, was now sent to the stud. Tlie 

 shakiness is supposed to have been partly the reason 

 for the gingerly fashion in which he seemed to be 

 ridden for the Ascot Cup (one of his most wonderful 

 performances), when he ' waited ' so long upon Eegalia 

 and Breadalbane that spectators thought it was all 

 over ; and even Admiral Eous, it is said, expressed 

 some anxiety to Count F. de Lagrange, who is reported 

 to have replied quite coolly, ' Mais, monsieur I'amiral, 

 c'est absolument certain.' And so it was. As soon as 

 the dangers of descent were over, and Gladiateur was 

 ' let out ' just before the turn into the straight, he 

 literally galloped over his two opponents and won in a 

 canter hy forty lengths. 



Of course Gladiateur was not allowed to escape 

 calumny any more than if he had been a maiden, 

 ' cold as ice and pure as snow.' It was hospitably in- 

 sinuated that he was ' four years old ' in 1865, and the 

 owner of Eegalia (second to him for the St. Leger) is 

 stated to have expressed a wish to have his mouth ex- 

 amined ; but the wish, promptly acceded to by his 

 owner, is understood to have been withdrawn. At any 

 rate nothing came of it. 



For a year Gladiateur was at the ' haras ' of Dangu, 

 having stood for two seasons in England ; then at 

 the time of the Franco-Prussian war, when Count F. de 

 Lagrange sold almost all his horses in a lump to M. 

 Lefevre (of Chamant), Gladiateur was included in tlie 

 sale, but, whether lie became the property of M. Lefevre 

 first or not, he was soon purchased by Mr. Blenkiron 

 (in 1870) for 5,800 guineas ; and he cost Mr. Harcourt 

 7,000 guineas at the sale of tlie Middle Park stud in 

 1872, when Blair Atliol fetched 12,500 guineas and 



