• 'THE FRENCH YEAR; 1S55. 149 



noted sportsman, ran ' nowhere,' and the Marquis ot 

 Hastings was not destined to be hailed the owner 

 of a Derby winner. 



As has been mentioned, the French horse had pre- 

 viously won the Two Thousand Guineas Stakes, for 

 which, however, he did not start anything hke I'avourite, 

 Bedminster, Liddington, Breadalbane, and Kangaroo 

 taking precedence of Gladiateur in the price current. 

 In the race for the Guineas seventeen horses followed 

 the victor to the winning-post, and of that number the 

 following took part in the struggle for the Derby : Sir 

 Joseph Hawley's Bedminster, which started favourite 

 for the Two Thousand, but was only placed seventh ; 

 Le Mandarin, also the property of Count Lagrange; 

 Archimedes, Breadalbane, Kangaroo, Tilt, Ariel, Rifle, 

 and Joker. Of the race for the Guineas, we were told 

 at the time that 'Gladiateur, without being called 

 upon in earnest, maintained the best of it to the end, 

 and won very cleverly, if not easily, by a neck from 

 Archimedes, Mr. Merry's horse Liddington being third.' 

 At the stud, to which he was rolefrated after his v/on- 

 drous successes on the ra(^.ecourse, Gladiateur proved 

 a sad failure; yet the Count in the year 18G9 refused 

 the big sum of £16,000, which Mr. Blenkiron, the 

 well-known breeder, offered him for it, but that 

 gentleman became ultimately his owner a year 

 later, when he bought the horse at less than half 

 the money. 



When Lagrange died, the event was of course 

 utilized by our literary turf-men, while recording the 

 achievements of his horses, to rechronicie the scandals 

 which they said were the accompaniments of his racing 



