THE CAREER OF ORMONDE 253 



successful an hour or so before she met Ormonde. 

 The latter was called upon to give Modwena 

 I lb. only; nevertheless the filly started favourite, 

 odds of 6 to 5 being laid on her. Against 

 Ormonde 5 to 4 was betted. Warbler, who was 

 also making his first appearance in public, was 

 ignored by speculators. With Archer in the 

 saddle, Ormonde beat Modwena a length. It 

 was a soaking wet day and the going was very 

 heavy. We were quite satisfied with this result, 

 but, so far as I remember, it did not specially 

 interest the public, whose attention was for the 

 moment focussed on Minting (as yet unbeaten). 

 Saraband, St. Mirin, and the other competitors 

 for the Middle Park Plate. Little did the critics 

 realise that the colt from Kingsclere who had 

 just made so unpretentious a debut was destined 

 twelve months later to be looked upon as ** the 

 horse of the century." Nor did I, though I was 

 convinced, after the rough gallop with Kendal, 

 that Ormonde was a good horse. Time had still 

 to show how good. 



In an earlier chapter I have described how, 

 in the days of Sir Joseph Hawley, I used to take 

 nearly all my horses to Newmarket before the 

 First October Meeting and keep them there 

 until the conclusion of the Houghton Meeting a 

 month later. The adoption by the Jockey Club 

 of a new rule, imposing the Heath tax on visiting 

 horses remaining at Newmarket more than a 



