A HISTORY OF SURREY 



year, but Galopin, who reintroduced the line 

 of Blacklock, barren of Derby winners since 

 Voltigeur had won twenty-five years before, 

 was an exceptional horse and enormous stud 

 success. He was a very easy winner of the 

 Derby, and the hero of a sensational ^^ 1,000 

 match with Lowlander at Newmarket. At 

 the sale of Prince Batthyany's horses he went 

 to the Blankney stud at 8,000 guineas, and 

 his stock won j^262,670 in stake money. 

 He was the sire of St. Simon, and the founder 

 of what has been for some years, and is still, 

 the strongest winning family in the world. 



In 1876 the Hungarian bred Kisber won 

 for Mr. A. Baltazzi, and in 1877 Lord 

 Falmouth scored again with Silvio, a son of 

 Blair Athol, and in 1878 Mr. Stirling Craw- 

 furd took the prize with Sefton, who beat the 

 French horse Insulaire and who also distin- 

 guished himself by winning the City and 

 Suburban at the Epsom Spring Meeting. 

 In 1879 Baron Lionel Rothschild, who 

 raced as * Mr. Acton,' won with a very 

 moderate horse named Sir Bevys ; but 1880 

 was a vintage year both as to the quality of 

 the competitors and the race itself. The 

 winner was the Duke of Westminster's Bend 

 Or, and the runner up Robert the Devil ; 

 and so close was the finish between the 

 two that few of the spectators knew which 

 had really won until Bend Or's number 

 went up. Both were good horses, fit, as 

 regards class, to rank with any that the very 

 best Epsom has known, and they met no 

 fewer than five times, Robert the Devil 

 beating Bend Or thrice, while the Duke's 

 horse had the best of it on two occasions. 

 Curiously enough the fifth and last meeting 

 between these champions was in the Epsom 

 Gold Cup of 1 88 1, and Bend Or — who had 

 also carried oflF the City and Suburban of that 

 year with nine stone in the saddle — once 

 more asserted himself on his favourite course. 



In connection with Bend Or's Derby it 

 should be mentioned that an objection was 

 laid against the winner, on the ground that 

 he was Tadcaster, by Doncaster out of 

 Clemence, and not Bend Or by Doncaster 

 out of Rouge Rose. It was supposed that 

 the two colts had been accidentally changed 

 when sent to the stable as yearlings, and the 

 evidence was supplied by a stud groom, who 

 was under notice to quit. The stewards 

 went into the matter, and on 24 July gave 

 their decision unanimously overruling the 

 objection. 



A few years afterwards the ex-stud groom 

 died, and on his deathbed he solemnly averred 

 that he had spoken the truth. To this day 

 there are many who believe that Bend Or 



was Tadcaster and vice vend, the subsequent 

 produce of the mares, Rouge Rose and 

 Clemence, confirming by their appearance 

 and capabilities the idea that a mistake had 

 been made. 



In 1 88 1 the Derby was won by an 

 American horse named Iroquois, the property 

 of the late Mr. Lorillard ; but the sensation 

 of the meeting was supplied in the race be- 

 tween Bend Or and Robert the Devil for the 

 Epsom Gold Cup, to which allusion has 

 already been made. In 1882 a somewhat 

 uninteresting Derby was won by the Duke 

 of Westminster's Shotover, the third and 

 last filly to win the great race. In 1883 the 

 class was very moderate, and — as often occurs 

 in such cases — the issue was very close be- 

 tween St. Blaise and Highland Chief, the 

 first-named, who has been a stud success in 

 America, winning by a neck. 



In 1884 the second dead heat in the his- 

 tory of the race occurred, the judge being 

 unable to separate Mr. John Hammond's 

 St. Gatien and Sir John Willoughby's Har- 

 vester. The first named was a great horse 

 and Harvester a moderate one ; it was gener- 

 ally thought that the owner of the latter was 

 lucky when Mr. Hammond agreed to divide 

 the stakes. Following Harvester in 1885 

 Lord Hastings won the race with Melton, a 

 fair but not a first-class horse. In 1886 the 

 winner was the mighty Ormonde, who never 

 knew defeat, and who was, in the opinion of 

 many of the most capable critics, the best 

 racehorse of modern times. That he was 

 the greatest horse which has run over the 

 Epsom course in the last fifty years is ex- 

 tremely probable, and the evidence in favour 

 of this idea is supplied by the fact that he 

 fell in a ' vintage year,' and that during his 

 career he beat with ease horses who were 

 themselves capable of doing very big things. 

 He twice defeated Minting, who won the 

 Kempton Jubilee stakes with the record 

 weight of ten stone in the saddle. The 

 Bard, from whom he strode away in the 

 Derby, was a big winner, and about the 

 most brilliant two-year-old of modern times, 

 while Saraband and St. Mirin were also high- 

 class horses. The pity is that such a horse 

 should have had such a chequered career 

 after his running days were over. The 

 Duke of Westminster, who was averse from 

 breeding from a roarer, sold him for j^ 12,000, 

 and he was sent to Buenos Ayres. Mean- 

 time, however, he had sired Orme, and Orme 

 in turn was responsible for Flying Fox. 

 This is the one redeeming feature in the 

 case, viz. that the blood has not been lost. 

 From Buenos Ayres Ormonde went to the 



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