362 JOHN PORTER OF KINGSCLERE 



October 6, in which Matchbox and Throstle 

 were engaged. I saddled both. Matchbox 

 started favourite at 9 to 4 and won, beating Son 

 o' Mine at level weights by a neck. Throstle 

 was unplaced. Three weeks later, at New- 

 market, Matchbox won the Criterion Stakes over 

 six furlongs and the Dewhurst Plate over seven. 



In the circumstances I felt justified, at the 

 end of the season, in hoping that Matchbox 

 would win one or more of the classic races the 

 following year, even though Ladas had to be 

 reckoned with. This colt of Lord Rosebery's 

 was unbeaten as a two-year-old; he won the 

 Woodcote Stakes at Epsom, the Coventry Stakes 

 at Ascot, the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster, 

 and the Middle Park Plate at Newmarket. He 

 was trained by Matt Dawson, so once more he 

 and I were keen rivals. 



This time Matt was to have the laugh of me 

 and obtain a sort of a revenge for the defeats 

 of Minting. Ladas and Matchbox met for the 

 first time in the Two Thousand Guineas. If I 

 tried our horse for that race there is no record 

 of the gallop in my book. Odds of 6 to 5 were 

 laid on Ladas, and he beat Matchbox quite 

 comfortably by a length and a half. They met 

 again in the Derby, and again Matchbox had to 

 be content with second place. In the meantime 

 Ladas had won the Newmarket Stakes, and so 

 confident was the belief that he had nothing to 



