44 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



all, have Derby and Oaks fallen to Dukes. As for ' mere 

 lords,' as Carlyle called a branch of the aristocracy, 

 they corae to the front all through the chronicle, 

 having on j"'^rty different occasions provided the 

 "winner ; whilst the noble roll of baronets has twenty- 

 six times been credited with ' Blue Ribbon ' or 'Garter.' 

 On two or three occasions the earlier races were com- 

 peted for by men of title only. 



Here, for instance, is a sample of how matters used 

 to be : in 1779 only one commoner ran a horse, and of 

 the eleven animals which came to the post, two were 

 the property of the then Prince of Wales, two belonged 

 to the Duke of Bedford, two to Lord Giosvenor, one 

 to the Duke of St. Albans, others to Lords Egremont, 

 Barrymore, and G. H. Hastings, Mr. Lade being the 

 commoner. In 1794, when only four ran, three of 

 ihern belonged to lords, the other was owned by a 

 Duke ! Again, three years afterwards, the Derby 

 field was entirely composed of the horses of titled 

 owners ! 



The fourth Duke of Grafton, destined also to become 

 a turf celebrity, was born in 1760, and not till Queen 

 Victoria had been for a period of seven years on trie 

 throne did he die, having attained his eighty-fourth 

 year. During the lifetime of his father, the fourth 

 Duke did not become conspicuous on the turf. After 

 succeeding to the title and estates, he continued to 

 maintain the Grafton stud successfully, winning many 

 of the important stakes of his period. In one year ho 

 won what was then thouglit an enormous sum, over 

 twelve thousand guineas ! The Derby fell to him only 

 on one occasion, but he was half a dozen times hailed 



