The Derby 309 



should be added, however, that much fault was found 

 wdth G. Barrett's ridmg of Orme on this occasion. The 

 third horse, Martagon, was only a head behind Orme, 

 who carried off the Middle Park and Dew4iurst Plates, 

 and was supposed to have the Derby at his mercy. 



In the following spring a number of horses in different 

 stables were attacked by a disease of the mouth which 

 caused their tongues to sw^ell and boils or abscesses to 

 form on their lips and gums, and, as was generally 

 believed, among the victims of the outbreak was Orme. 

 A veterinar}^ surgeon w^ho w^as called in gave it as his 

 opinion, however, that the colt had been poisoned ; and 

 a great sensation was, of course, created. John Porter, 

 the trainer, still maintains the poison theory. The Two 

 Thousand became at once exceptionally ' open,' and a 

 new favourite had to be found for the Derby. But 

 about this there was no difficulty, everything pointing 

 emphatically to Orme's stable companion La Fleche, an 

 owai sister to Memoir, for whom 5,500 guineas had been 

 paid as a yearling — and it may be added that La Fleche 

 was a very cheap purchase at the price. That La Fleche 

 should have been beaten in the Derby is one of the most 

 remarkable instances on record of the uncertainty of 

 racing, except, indeed, that fillies are often out of sorts 

 in the summer-time. A tedious delay at the start no 

 doubt contributed much to the result. La Fleche finished 

 three-parts of a length behind Lord Bradford's chesnut 

 colt Sir Hugo, on whom Allsopp rode a well-judged race. 

 But over a mile in the Lancashire Plate, and over a 

 mile and three-quarters in the St. Leger, the superiority 

 of La Fleche and the falseness of the Derby running 

 were most amply and unmistakably proved. In the 

 St. Leger. too, Orme appeared, and another thing abun- 



