1 88 JOHN PORTER OF KINGSCLERE 



declared him too "big/* and odds of 15 to i 

 were laid against him. He was however in 

 much better condition than his appearance 

 showed, and beat the favourite, Lord Falmouth's 

 Merry-go-Round, a length and a half. A fort- 

 night later we started both Fernandez and 

 Mariner (another son of Sterling) for the Two 

 Thousand Guineas. Mr. Gretton ** declared ** 

 in favour of Mariner, but both ran unplaced. 

 Fernandez's next outing was in the St. James's 

 Palace Stakes at Ascot. I had no idea Mr. 

 Gretton intended to run his horse that week, 

 and he was not in racing trim. However, despite 

 my expostulations, Mr. Gretton insisted that 

 Fernandez should take his chance, and I was 

 astounded when I saw him run the Derby winner, 

 Bend Or, to a head at level weights. Those 

 who had laid odds of 100 to 30 on Bend Or 

 got a rare fright. 



Fernandez was then put by for the Cambridge- 

 shire. For that race he was handicapped at 

 8 St. I lb.; nevertheless, he started favourite 

 at 9 to 2. Fordham rode him. 



This autumn (writes Sir John Astley) I went for a big 

 Stake on the Cambridgeshire, having got it into my head 

 Fernandez was real good goods. ... I never shall forget 

 Gretton taking me into Fernandez's box the evening 

 before the race. He had done himself a little extra well 

 (as was not his unfrequent habit); and when I said I had 

 never seen a horse look better, and that I considered the 



