46 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



he was well known as a sportsman of some degree of 

 mettle. Like many other men who have devoted 

 themselves to a life on the turf, he was afflicted with 

 a sort of craze, avIi h, put in so many words, Avas 

 that he possessed ' the best horse in the world.' The 

 animal in question was a horse named Bellario, a son 

 of Brilliant, a fiimous racer and stallion of its day, tbu 

 property of Mr. Crofts, of Norfolk, a gentleman who 

 acted in many ways as a kind of * coach ' or mentor 

 to Sir Charles when he first came on the turf. Bel- 

 lario was started upon several occasions against the 

 famous horse Eclipse, and although always beaten, the 

 owner continued to believe that it was the better horse 

 of the two. He was, in fact, a splendid judge of every 

 person's horses but his own. Sir Charles Banbury's 

 successes on the turf have been characterized as 

 ' chiefly of the small-beer kind,' and except on the 

 three occasions on which he won the Derby, the 

 victory of Eleanor in the Oaks, a double event, and 

 of Smolensko in the Two Thousand Guineas, also 

 a double event, the characterization may stand 

 good ; but to win the Derby three times is a slice of 

 Fortune's cake of which any man might well be 

 proud. 



Sir Charles was a member of the Jockey Club, and 

 played a part in the celebrated investigation which 

 took place as to the running of Escape, a horse belong- 

 ing to the Prince of Wales. The baronet is reputed to 

 have behaved rather fiercely over this affair, and to 

 have bluntly told His Royal Highness that if he con- 

 tinued to employ Chifney as his jockey no gentleman 

 would start a horse to run against him. The jockey 



