SURPLICE WINS THE ST LEGER. 451 



£10,000 to £100 against Surplice winning the 

 Derby and St Leger. It is impossible to conceive 

 what extreme odds Lord George Bentinck would 

 have obtained against Surplice winning what is 

 now called " the triple crown," had the colt been 

 his property in 1848. Lord George was often 

 reported to be extremely anxious to accomplish a 

 feat in which no one has ever been successful — the 

 feat of " breaking the ring." Never would he 

 have had a better chance than if Surplice had 

 been in his hands and trained at Goodwood, over 

 the finest and most private downs in the world, at 

 the time when that great horse was put through 

 the mill in 1848. 



It will readily be understood, therefore, that 

 Lord George's interest in the St Leger of 1848 

 was extremely great. He had backed Surplice 

 for it before the Derby, and although the stake 

 which he landed at Doncaster — £11,000 — was 

 small in comparison with what he would doubtless 

 have netted before he sold his stud, it was enough 

 to make him watch the race with keen attention. 

 The political relations between the fourteenth Earl 

 of Derby (then Lord Stanley) and Lord George 

 were at that time somewhat strained, and although 

 Lord George made no remark on the subject, I 

 think it was a gratification to him to see Sur- 

 plice beat Lord Stanley's fine mare Canezou, upon 

 whom, although beaten, Frank Butler rode a 

 magnificent race. 



