PAGEANT AND ISONOMY 169 



furlong races with Pageant in the autumn. At 

 the end of that season, 1874, without saying 

 anything to me, Mr. Gretton bought Pageant, 

 paying, I believe, ;^iooo. Mr. Gretton was 

 under the impression he was buying a colt, and 

 was somewhat taken aback when, after the horse 

 had reached Kingsclere, he found he had got a 

 gelding, and one, moreover, blind of an eye. 

 Time proved, however, that he had unwittingly 

 secured a great bargain. We did not race 

 Pageant until the autumn of 1875, ^^^ mean- 

 while discovered that he was endowed with 

 even more stamina than his previous owners 

 had given him credit for. He was, in fact, a 

 splendid stayer. 



It was in the Cesarewitch (2J miles) that he 

 first ran in Mr. Gretton *s name. The favourite 

 was Prince Soltykoff's Duke of Parma, who, 

 handicapped at 5 st. 11 lb., carried 6 st. Pageant 

 and Peeping Tom were equal second favourites. 

 Our horse, carrying 7 st. 11 lb., finished second, 

 beaten three lengths by Duke of Parma. The 

 latter had, in the spring, won a six-furlong 

 handicap at Newmarket. At Yarmouth, at the 

 end of August, he started favourite in a five- 

 furlong handicap, but, in the presence of his 

 owner and Admiral Rous, who both backed him, 

 was beaten into third place. A fortnight before 

 the Cesarewitch he was ** down the course " in 

 the Great Eastern Railway Handicap, run over 



