THROSTLE AND MATCHBOX 363 



fear from his rival at Epsom that odds of 9 to 

 2 were laid on his winning the Derby. Match- 

 box, however, gave him a good race. The son 

 of St. Simon was in front a mile from home, 

 and was still leading when the field swept round 

 Tattenham Corner into the straight. Ladas then 

 tackled him, but it was not until they were 

 nearing the goal that he gained the mastery to 

 win by a length and a half. His victory was an 

 extremely popular one, because Lord Rosebery 

 was at the time Prime Minister. Other Premiers 

 — notably Lord Palmerston and Lord Derby — 

 had been patrons of the Turf, but this was the 

 only time the first Minister of the Crown had 

 led in the winner of the Derby, and the populace 

 acclaimed the unique event in an uproarious 

 manner. 



Little did Matt Dawson, or anybody else, 

 imagine that Ladas was not to win another race; 

 yet so it turned out. He was third to Isinglass 

 and Bullingdon (to whom I will refer presently) 

 in the Princess of Wales's Stakes, second to 

 Isinglass in the Eclipse Stakes, second to Throstle 

 in the St. Leger, and fourth in his only race as a 

 four-year-old. We are concerned only with his 

 failure in the St. Leger, in which Matchbox 

 opposed him for the third and last time. 



A day or two after his defeat in the Derby 

 Baron Hirsch bought Matchbox for ;^ 15,000 in 

 the hope of winning the Grand Prix de Paris 



