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I THE EQUINE AVENGER OF WATERLOO. I Were a poll taken to decide which was the abso I Intel] lest horse of the Dim teentta century. I fancy thai St. Simon and Ormonde would tigure at the head of it. Doubtless a lair number of people would be of the sann mind, as the bile James Wangh, who plumped mildly Im- Gladiateur. The unbeaten Barcaldine would undoubtedly nana a strong following, especially in Ireland, whilst there - Would i.e some tO illdol-c llll- lllle Jdllll SCOttS I opinion, and maintain ilia! there has never been the - . 1 1 1 .-1 1 of West Australian. II would not serve any good purpose, however. were I to discuss the merits of horses thai I did I nm -. e. am! "The We-l." which was the tir-t ..I the nine winner- of the "trinle crown." gained his chief honors in 1853. He was beaten by Speed [ the Plough iii the Criterion a- a two-year-old. but ilii- was bis Iii -I OUtIng, and the form was all wrong for he ran . lean away from his eonqueror - ver On Bretby Slake- i onrse onl.i three days later. In the following v.ar he was unbeaten, am! i the famous Jockey, Frank Butler, who rode him in ; the three . ia--i ■ races, though! thai there never was such a horse. Gladiateur was on., of those n irses which must be Judged quite as morn by what he .lid in private. as by hi- public performances. There is no doubt thai hi- b.i was cast in a moderate year, for Archimedes, second to him in the Two Thousand Guineas. wa- never quite tir-t class, Christmas Carol and i Bit ha in, secondhand third in the Derby, were din tlnetly moderat*. ubilsl Regalia, second in the St. L.-uei. iievei Inok very high rank in the li-t or oa1;- winners, in fact, the best three-year-old that t _:..il French nm-e over me! was The Duke ami. •ring t-. a bad at lack if inlli enza. tuat coll made . hi- In -t appearance of the year at Doncaster, and I wa- never in hi- line form until the following sea --on Gladiateur was trodden upon in the paddock in i hi- very early days, from tin- effects of which be Hi way* iiad a very bin and nglj enlargement on his - off foreleg. This, however, was a mere eyesore, and neer -hi- :m trouble, but the horse always - suffered from navicular disc i-o. which made his i extraordinary performance* all tin- more marvelous. lie doubtless Inherited hi- BBsoaudaeaa from his s dam. Mi— Gladiator, which wa- always a hapatcaa i ippic and could not he trained. Things wenfvcrj mi—HiU wiih tin- coll between Ho- Ouine-is victor] and the Derby, and be was I •i--i!.1 a- lil at an.v pel io,| ol l;i- .-aicei as when he went io Lp-oni. Ab-ui ill. ea-il.. as hi- victory wa- gained, it was one in momentary doubt, for Harrj Grimshaw, who rode him, was vf-ry shori-sithted and Jim Goater win. wa- wearing Lord WeMtmoreiauds color- mi Brahma always ma int. -lined that, had In not shouted Io him to K0 along, he would never have seen Christmas Carol, and would have allowed himself p. in- beaten. Tli i- would have meant the up- t of one of the besl things ever known in the history of the mil. . as Oladialt-uis trial tor the Derbj seems almost Incredible. I here were lour iii ii. I. nt Ellle de IAir was tin- mi.- really asked the question and the Oak-w inner of the preceding year was in ran- form. having won half a doaen races alreadj inn season three in France and the same number in England wit heal having once known defeat. They wire galloped a mile and a half mi the Limekilns. and Gladiateur actually gave the liily a year ami eight pound-, and tfeirtj live pounds in each of IWO other four y.-ar old-, and DO onlj WOO, but fairlf made rings round them all. Having regard to the fa- t thai tin- trial took place in May. I fan.-v it will be generally agreed that this was about the biggest ta-k ever s i a three-year-old. it :- needless for nn- to go through tin- whale ..f Gladlateurs performances, bill in- was lamer time pver about a fortnight prim- to tin- St. Deger. and fm two or three days absolntel] could not if got out of the -table. Even on the Saturday before the great lice :n Doncaster ho was m sore and lam that tie lite Tom Jennings wh.. not onlj trained but praeticallv wa- ui.-u a free hand in tin- in. hi agenieul of mint de Lagranges horses almost decided not Io Inko him. Nor did he show much im pr rement aftei making the Journey, and moved m feelingly in a canter on the T.-wu M mi tin- Mou ilaj before the race thai Ben Bartholomew, who wan in, i the performance, ami who was deeply Interested in tin- colt, w.ni straight away home, saying. "I wont -top to see hint break dowa." Happily, this did n-i happen, and be scored with consummate ..,-.. Dm there i- no doubt thai he really won Ike St. Leger oa three legs, and llni- Joined W - Australian as a winner of the three classic race- u which colts can take pan. He ran iu the Don-easier Stakes two days biter under a mk*app3 heiision. During the morning it wa- believed that Breadalbane was the only oilier animal that wa- oi the -p.u tor it. and an arrangement had been made by which Mr. Chaplin was to receive a certain -urn mil of ilii- stake- to allow the French colt to walk over. Al the lust moment, however, itcgiuell.i turned up. and he gave fourteen pounds to her am! ten pounds t. Breadalbane without an effort. Gladiateur wound up this three yeai old season by sustaining the only defeat that was destined to fail lo his lot after his two y.-ar old day-, and this Jo-feat v.a- far more glorious than the .ureal majority of his triumphs. No three-year-old. before or since, ha- .ver essayed to carry Lis pounds in the Cambridgeshire, and. in this race Harry Orim-liaw s •!.■ fective sight completely destroyed any chance he may have possessed. ■Where were you al the ltd lo-i »" asked Jenniags of the Jockey in the weigh lag-room after tin- race. "Oh, I was lying ill a good place. alMiur half a dozen lengths from the front." was the reply, and. no doubt, Grimshaw fully believed that iie was -peaking the truth. Th- trainee, however, had gone -.me distance down the coins, to view the race. and. at the his tori, landmark mentioned, which is now to he SeeU on FeUx l. each*s premises, he was horrified t , nm* thai Gladiateur wa- fully a- Iniiulre.l yards behind the leader, in no ease probably could he have i - ceded fifty two pound- to Gardevisnrc. a three-year-old half-sister to Lord Lyon ami Achievement, lei in almost the Inst chat I had with him prior to his death. Jennings assured me thai, properly ridden, his horse would have been ill the first three. We do not now lee such fields for the Caaabridge. shire, or for any other big handicap, a- turned ..ut on that eventful afternoon. There were no fewer ihan thirty six runners, ami class was splendidly represented by John Davis. 119 pounds; Mi- -r Richard, us pounds: Regalia, lis pounds; Bacchus. US pounds, who. later in his career, won mi v steeplechases for Captain MaeheU; Breadalbane, 115 pounds, and The Duke. 114 pound-. Catch KM Alive. 111 pounds, the winner of the sensational Cambridgeshire of 1863. was also iu the held. The following appears in the "Racing Calendar," which rives an account of the race: •Tin starter reported that half an hour was ksst at the start through the disobedience ol Ward. Maidim-m. Ren-yon, Barker and Jarvis. Ward and Maidment were suspended till the 2nd -if April. 1888, and Hie others till the 8th of November next." It is probably certain that a three yeai . Id. with such a hunting -weigh! as 138 pounds in the saddle, would be sadly handicapped by this delay, with all its attendant fal-e starts. People who are anxious to make a return to the sst.ni of starting by Bag do not remember bow often this sort ol thing used to occur, the worst case that 1 can call to mind being in the Derby of 18638 when they were kept at the post three quarters of an hour, mainly through Tambour Major absolutely declining to move. Gladlateurs legs arete worse than ever in the following season, but owners had now discovered that their sound horses had no sort of chance against this marvelous ••cripple." and. after walking over for a couple of little stakes at the Craven meeting, he went to France and easily secured a valuable prise ver a course of three mile- and a furlong. Iu the Ascot Cup of that year In accomplished about his most extraordinary feat. The other two runners were Regalia and Breadalbane. The ground v.a- very hard. and. as Gladlateurs lameness had been worse than usual. Grhnabaws orders were to lie do-civ up with tin- others until the turn at the top of the straight, to nurse his mount very carefully down the iii!!. and then fo make the best of his way h .inc. For some reason or another the j.K-key entirely Ignored the first part of his instruction-, for Bread albane raced past the stand the til si lime with a bad of fully twenty lengths. Regalia being half that distance in trout of the favorite. From that point, however, Griatahau carried out hi- order-to the letfa r and came down tin- hill into Swinb-y Bottom in such leisurely fashion that at one time In- must have been fully :.ih yards behind tin other pair. The style in which the favorite closed up that enormous gnp when once he was oat level ground again, and was allowed to stride along, was almost incredible. and the brief return in the •Calendar" is "Won by forty lengths — Breadalbane beaten off. and did no; nass the DOSt." The late James Waugh. who Jia-1 no reason to be biased in favor of the French colt, and whose vast experience rendered his opinion of special value on such a subject, always considered this to Ih- the lin.-st performance ever -ecu on a ia... curse. A race iu France, over a coarse which was described as being "nearly four niibs." and which he won as he liked, closed ihe career of "the Avenger of Waterloo." as he was asimiallv tunned iu some of the French newspaper-. "Augur," in Sporting Life.
