52 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



names of Lade, Watson, and Queensberry may be cited 

 as being among the unsuccessful. Other members of 

 the peerage were quite as unsuccessful as ' Old Q.' 

 The chivalric but hot-tempered Earl of Glasgow might 

 be named, as well as Lord Palmerston and many more, 

 some of whom, imleed, seem to have lived on with 

 the one idea of winning the great race, but never 

 succeeded in doing so, although in all probability they 

 had expended thousands of p()unds in the endeavour. 



There is one gentleman who more than all the 

 others deserves a prominent place among those who 

 have aided in making the turf popular — Lord George 

 Bentinck. He never won the Derby, but was un- 

 ceasing in his endeavour to promote honest sport. 

 Those who desire to know more about this estimable 

 gentleman than can be told them in these pages, 

 can gratify their curiosity by reading Mr. Disraeli's 

 biography, in which occur these appreciative words : 

 ' He had become the lord paramount of that strange 

 world so difficult to sway, and which requires for its 

 government both a strong resolve and a courtly 

 breeding. He had them both ; and though the 

 black-leg might quail before the awful scrutiny of 

 his piercing eye, there never was a man so scrupu- 

 lously polite to his inferiors as Lord George Bentinck. 

 The turf, too, was not merely the scene of the triumphs 

 of his stud and betting-book. He had purified its 

 practice and had elevated its character, and he was 

 prouder of this achievement than of any other con- 

 nected with his sporting life.' 



Lord George, had he not previously disposed of his 

 stud, would probably have won both Derby and St. 



