xliv 



The Leger of 1894. — As regards the Leger, the facts are simply 

 these. In his gallop on the morning of the race, Ladas ran away with 

 Tommy Loates. Fearing therefore that he might do the same thing 

 in the race, the riding of which was left entirely to his own discretion, 

 the light weight jockey kept Ladas 100 yards in the rear until he had 

 reached the Red House, then having given him his head he got out of 

 his hands and rushed to the front, which his marvellous turn of speed 

 enabled him to gain before the leaders had reached the distance. This 

 extraordinary but badly timed spurt, which his rider, except through 

 lack of strength, was not to blame for — although it settled the chance 

 of Matchbox, which was the only horse the Ladas party feared — enabled 

 the erratic Throstle, whom Morny Cannon had kept pegging away, to 

 get up on the post, and win by a neck and shoulders, the good Ladas 

 being unable to come a second time. To talk of the Leger having 

 been won on the merits of Throstle would be simply ridiculous, for 

 even when she could be got to run straight and to give her running in 

 her trials at Kingsclere she could never beat Matchbox, and over the 

 Leger course, with a strong jockey on Ladas, and Throstle running with 

 the best manners, the colt could, as far as I am a judge, give the filly 

 7 lbs. and a sound beating. Anyway, John Porter got his turn out of 

 Mat Dawson, for with Throstle he did to Ladas what Mat did, in 1882, 

 with Dutch Oven to the Kingsclere cracks, Gelieimniss and Shotover, 

 and in the annals of the "Sellinger" there were never as great 

 *' surprises," even by any of Scott's lot. 



Among all the horses trained by Mat Dawson I don't think there 

 could have been an animal possessed of more beautiful shapes than 

 Ladas, whose head, neck, shoulders, middle piece, and hind legs are 

 simple perfection ; his quarters may not be equally grand, but they 

 are better by far than most horses", while his style of galloping could 

 never have been surpassed on the Heath of Newmarket. He has been 

 likened to The Flying Dutchman, but if the portraits which I have seen 

 of that horse be faithful, give me Ladas. 



I have been informed that Lord Rosebery was offered £20,000 for 

 his colt by a well-known American gentleman, but like a British sports- 

 man possessing patriotic feeling he refused the offer, and I think it is 

 highly likely that his lordship will keep the grand horse in the country^ 

 as the Duke of Portland has done St. Simon. 



Mat's Illness and Affliction. — Mr. Dawson had been suffering 

 for over a year from suppressed gout, and most of the time, being 

 unable to walk or ride, he had to perform his duties while seated in 

 his carriage. To have been able to prepare Ladas, crippled as he was, 

 and achieve such results, was a source of general satisfaction, for it 

 assured the public at large, as it did the grand old fellow himself, that 

 he was as good a man as ever. 



This feeling of contentment was not allowed to him for long, for his 

 wife, who had been his partner for over fifty of the fifty-four years of 



