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THE HORSE OF THE CENTURY The eighties were certainly very rich in ex ¬ ceptionally good horses as will be generally ad ¬ mitted when I recall the fact that amongst the classic1 winners during that period are enrolled tbe names of Bend Or Robert the Devil Thebais St Gatien Melton Paradox Ormonde Donovan and Seabreeze There may be some who will take ob ¬ jection to the introduction of St Gatien to this select little party ou tbe ground that he conld only run a dead heat with a moderate colt like Har ¬ vester for the Derby but It is never safe to judge a horses merits by the result of one race and it is quite certain that St Gatien had not come to any ¬ thing like his best form or else was by no means himself when he ran at Epsom though even as it was the general opinion was that he ought to have won and would certainly have done so had the dead heat been run off Be this as it may the back end of that season saw him in his true colors and his easy victory in the Ocsarowltch under 122 pounds was one of the best performances ever ac ¬ complished in that race A fortnight later his stable companion Florence carried off tbe Cam ¬ bridgeshire under 127 pounds and from what he could do with her at home there is no doubt that 140 pounds would not have stopped him in that race raceIt It is however of Ormonde that I wish to write as be s generally considered to be St Simons chief rival for the proud title of the best horse the world has ever seen As was the case with St Simon the only time that anything ever finished in front of him was in his first trial which took place over six furlongs In the first week of October and is thus given by John Porter in bis very in ¬ teresting book Kingsclere KingsclereHorse Horse Age Wt Fin FinKendal Kendal 2 119 1 1Ormonde Ormonde 2 120 2 2Whipper Whipper In 6 132 3 3Whitefriar Whitefriar 2 132 4 4It It seems a little strange that the lastnamed should have been asked to give thirteen pounds to Kendal and I imagine that his weight is a mis ¬ print This however is of small consequence the main point being that Kendal won by a length and as a result Ormonde was started for a minor race at the Second October meeting instead of opposing Minting in the Middle Park Plate PlateIn In the trial given above Ormonde had his clothes off for the first time in his life and was by no means wound up nut the gallop did him a great deal of good and he came to hand very rapidly Thus he had no difficulty in upsetting tbe slight odds laid on Modwcna in a Post Sweepstakes over the Brethy Stakes Course and followed this up bv cantering away with the Criterion Stakes and Dewhurst Plate This was a marvelous year for twoyearolds as in addition to Ormonde Minting and The Bard went into winter quarters with un ¬ beaten certificates though tbe lastnamed had been hard at It from Lincoln to Doncaster and had earned sixteen brackets They did not keep horses to look at a quarter of a century ago Then there was Saraband which had won six of the eight en ¬ gagements he had fulfilled and whose third in the Middle Park Plate showed him to be only three pounds behind Minting MintingTlie Tlie Bard was not engaged iu the Two Thousand but Ormonde Minting and Saranand made their first appearance as threeyearolds in that race The slightest shade of odds was accepted about Mint in which Matthew Dawson not unnaturally felt unlimited confidence whilst thanks to Archer being in the saddle the great jockey had an even bigger following than Wootton has now Saraband was a slightly better favorite than Ormonde which ran untried and started at 7 to 2 However he won so easily from Minting that Mr Vyner did not think it worth while to run bis nig horse in the Derby but employed him more profitably in picking np the Grand Prize of Paris this being the last British victory in that event until Major Loder scored with Spearmint just twenty years later laterOrmonde Ormonde was not however to have a walkover for the Derby for Tlie Bard was amongst the oppo ¬ sition and 1 have always considered that this was the stiffest race that tbe great horse ever had until his wind became affected Just for a few strides as they descended the hill from Tattenbam Corner the little colt for The Bard was scarcely more than a pony fairly held him but outside the distance where the slight climb for home began Ormondes superior stride told its inevitable tale It was another example of the truth of the old saying that a good big one will always beat a good little one and the only exceptions that I ever remember to this rule occurred In races over very long courses In the Hardwicke Stakes at Ascot1 Ormonde easily beat Melton the Derby winner of the preceding year and 7 to 1 was laid on him for the St Leger in which St Miriu was the best of his opponents and he only had an exercise canter He was allowed a couple of walkovers before the end of that season and whenever he ran prohibitive odds on him were asked for forUnhappily Unhappily about the time of the St Leger symp ¬ toms of his wind being affected had been detected These naturally grew worse as time went on and as a fouryearold he was a pronounced roarer This makes his performance In tbe Hardwicke Stakes all the more phenomenal The Swlnley course Is about as severe a mile and a half as can be found in England and yet he beat Minting by a neck A practical walkover for the Imperial Gold Cup at the Newmarket July meeting closed his marvelous career and he went to the stud in tbe following season In his first season he sired two firstclass horses in Ormc and Goldfinch but then had a very bad attack of fever The Duke of Westminster who had a very strong objection to breeding from a roarer sold him for 60000 and he was subsequently passed on for 150000 but his severe attack of Illness seemed to take all the vitalitv out of him and he did little more good Augur in Sporting Life
