16 THE ENGLISH TURF 



have been racing for a quarter of a century oftenest incline 

 to Ormonde or St. Simon as " the horse of the century." 

 Others, including the veteran Mr. Joseph Osborne, swear 

 by Persimmon ; and others again even incline to the later 

 equine wonder, Flying Fox. But, should one happen to 

 talk the matter over with elderly Yorkshire turfites, it will 

 be found they still take their stand by West Australian and 

 the Flying Dutchman, or perhaps by Blair Athol. Every- 

 one inclines to his own particular fancy and has a dozen 

 arguments in favour of his choice. 



I hold very strongly to the opinion that it is impossible 

 to judge between the great horses of one epoch and those 

 of another. St. Simon never was beaten, but, owing 

 to his disqualification for all his earlier engagements he 

 never had much to beat. Ormonde, besides being unbeaten, 

 beat all sorts of great winners, such as Minting, Saraband, 

 The Bard, and Bendigo, to mention the best of them. 

 Twice did he lower the colours of Mr. Vyner's big horse ; 

 yet that same Minting, in winning the Jubilee Stakes at 

 Kempton Park, with 10 stone in the saddle, accomplished 

 what I consider to be by far the greatest mile handicap per- 

 formance of modern times. Regarded from the point of 

 view of what they beat, Ormonde has the best of the 

 argument with St. Simon ; on the other hand, St. Simon 

 won the Ascot Cup and other long-distance races, while 

 Ormonde never went farther than the St. Leger distance 

 of a mile and three-quarters, where of course he only met 

 those of his own age. Whilst considering the rights of 

 unbeaten horses Barcaldine has strong claims to recognition, 

 and like many other great celebrities, he was good over any 

 distance of ground. He not only beat Tristan very easily 

 over a mile course at Kempton Park, but he took a good 

 two-mile handicap with 9 st. lolbs. in the saddle, and that 

 when he had not done a gallop for a week. 



Persimmon and Cyllene won the Ascot Cup from good 

 fields with extraordinary ease, and as a three-year-old Flying 

 Fox exhibited a dash in all his races which fairly electrified 

 onlookers. All these must be classed as really great horses, 

 and it matters little which was really the actual best. 



