348 JOHN PORTER OF KINGSCLERE 



left La Fl^che and Sir Hugo at the head of the 

 field. The filly quickly gained the mastery and 

 won by two lengths from the Derby winner. 

 And so the grief occasioned by the wilful tactics 

 pursued by Barrett with Orme was to some extent 

 assuaged by the satisfaction we obtained by the 

 avenging of La Fl^che's unlucky and disastrous 

 defeat at Epsom. Sir Hugo was no duffer, but 

 he was not a match for the daughter of St. Simon 

 in a truly-run race. 



The defeat of Orme stunned the public. 

 Many people failed to understand how it had 

 been brought about. The colt was in a ram- 

 pageous mood in the paddock before the race, 

 and that conduct brought upon him the accusa- 

 tion of being bad-tempered. Worse still, his 

 collapse inside the distance caused him to be 

 branded a coward, notwithstanding the wonderful 

 gameness he had shown at Sandown and Good- 

 wood. It was also suggested that Orme ought 

 not to have been called upon to run at Goodwood 

 after his severe race for the Eclipse Stakes at 

 Sandown. There was some point in this criti- 

 cism, because, as I stated in an earlier chapter, 

 I always endeavoured, when given a free handy to 

 avoid running a horse likely to win the St. Leger 

 between the Ascot and Doncaster meetings. But 

 in the case of Orme, this and the other speculations 

 referred to were wide of the mark. The real 

 truth is that Orme was not naturally a stayer. 



