ORME AND LA FLECHE 339 



by which La Fleche and Orme were tested, he 

 was virtually meeting Massacre on 5 lb. better 

 terms than they did ; nevertheless, taking the 

 trial as it stands, it shows him to have been very 

 nearly their equal. We thought he was sure to 

 win the Rous Memorial at Newmarket on 

 October 2. He started a hot favourite, but 

 was unaccountably beaten out of a ** place." 

 He was a big colt — too big to permit of his 

 doing much as a two-year-old — and after his 

 defeat at Newmarket we did not persevere with 

 him any further that season. 



The plans we had made for the racing 

 campaign of 1892 were sadly upset by an 

 outrage of which Orme was the victim. His 

 first race was to have been the Two Thousand 

 Guineas at the beginning of May. During the 

 winter he had given every satisfaction, and when 

 I began seriously to train him again his progress 

 was all that could be desired. 



A few days before the Guineas, Prince 

 Adolphus of Teck, Lord Marcus Beresford (who 

 managed the horses belonging to the Prince of 

 Wales and Baron Hirsch), and Mr. Portal paid 

 a visit to Kingsclere, and at " stables " in the 

 afternoon I accompanied them round the boxes. 

 Presently we came to Orme, who was, as usual, 

 wearing a muzzle because of his habit of trying 

 to bite the metal strips on the walls of his box. 

 I noticed some saliva dripping from the muzzle. 



