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i * — — — — -. ! INTERESTING FEATURES OF ORMES SENSATIONAL CAREER IN RACING j I I ] 4. . 1 . .*. ] ] • ■ Orine. which was bred at the BahM Stud by the lab- Duke of Westminster, was doubtless the best sen of the celebrated and unbeaten Ormonde, and was from Angelba. by Calopin out of St. Angela, by King Tom. Foaled in MM, he made his first appearance as a two-year-ohl in the liichniond Stakes, Cuodwo d. winning froia Flyaway and seven others, and at the same meeting won the irince of Wales Stakes. At Manchester he was beaten by the Cheveiier Giiiistnllis Sigiionna. one of the best of her season, and then carried off in succession the Middle Park Plate, Dewhuist Plate and the Homebred Foal Iost Stakes at the Newmarket Ho;ight. n meeting. His JneeaUc ] erforniaiices, it will be Been, were full of lu.rii. UM he retired into winter quarters with the brightest prosper. s for the classic races and of having his name included in the list of winners of tin- Ik-rby. Just before the decision of the Two Thousand Cttineas, however, he was attacked by a niysteriou : malady, which prevented him fullilliiig his engag"-nient and. there being no improvement in his condition, he area unable also to go to the post for the Derby. Ormes illm-ss created a great sensation at the time, when rumors were current that he had lai-n iioison.-d. and his withdrawal from those great events if lNd was a source of the profo mdest dis-:il.|Miiiitiiient not only to his owner and to John Porter, who trained him. but to the general sporting public." But the son of Ormonde gradually recovered and it was learned with the greatest satisfaction that, having one well thr. ugh a trial at Kingselere. be would contest the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park. He duly came out for the ten thousand pounder, which he won, amidst a s.-onc of the greatest excitement, by a neck from Orveito, willi St. Daniieii third and four others behind them. The scene was a most enthusiastic one when the Date . 1" Westminster led his colt bark to the weighing room, and such cheering had never bt-on heard at Sandown Iark as greeted horse, rider, trainer and owner on tlruie emerging triumphant from a stubbornly contested battle. The colt was evidently back to his form and it seemed likely all going well with him. that he would win the St. I eger. That idea was strengthened by his success in the Sussex Stakes at Uoodwo d. and slight odds were laid jn him at the start for the great race at Hon. aster. He. however, failed to stay. and. beaten out of the first four, the siioils went to Ids stable companion. Iaron do Hirschs I.a Fleche. Oraaa ran tip a seiiuence of f ur victories afterwards — in the Great Foil Stakes at Newmarket First October, ChalBp!** Stakes at the Second October, and the Uaaekfaa Stakes and Subscription Stakes at the Hougliton — but his last appearance as a three-year old was associated with defeat. The following day he contested the Free Handicap Sweepstakes anil was beaten by El Diablo, to which he was presenting sixteen pounds. Ills re;. ppea ranee as a four-year-old was not made till Ureal, where he had little to do in giving ten pounds and an easy beating to Lady Leant, and his lixt essay was in the Kclipse Stakes. This lie again wen", and took his revenge on I.a Fleche for the beating she inflicted on him in the St. Leger. The fiby was only third, and Oriue secured the ver-drt after a good race with Medicis. The scene that followed the sorond victory of the "yellow and black" was a repetition of that enacted on the first ocasion. All connected with the colt came in for an ova; ion, but whereas J. Barrett was the winning jockey the previous year, the riding honors this time fell to Mornington Cannon. Barrett having the mount on La Fleche, Oriue subsequent ly defeated Baron de Hirschs filly in the Cord, n Stakes at Goodwood giving her seven pounds!. but ne in turn went down when he met Childwick in the Limekiln Stakes at Newmarket. But he was n.t disgraced in failiug to give away thirty-throe pounds to the son of St. Simon and IMaisan-terie. and was. perhaps, not quite at his best .iisi then. Onaa Mi not return to Kingscb-re. but was sent to commence stud life at Eaton after what can fairlv be described as a brilliant turf career. As a sire lie was a considerable success, hut his fame in that capacity will rest chietly upon the exploits of his sons. Flying Fox and Orbv. both of whi.h Win the Fcrby. and the former, like his grandsire. Ormonde, is enrolled among the baud of "triple-crown" heroes as the winner, in addition, of the Two Thousand Guineas and the Doncaster St. I.eger. First appearing, in 1S9S, in the New S:.ikes at Ascot— a meeting where many youngsters from UnajerJeW have commenced their career— Flying Fox was an easy winner, and his other successes as a two-year-old weie in the Stockbridge Foal Stakes and the Criterion Stakes at Newmarket ibii-hion. ins defeats were sustained in the Imperial Praahjec Stakes at Kempten Iark when he failed bv a bead to give live pounds to St. Crisi and in the Sliddle Park Plate, in which the American-bred Caiman rather easily disposed of him at three pounds. His three-year-old record was an uninterrupted triumph. The Two Thousand Ouineas in whieh he turned the tables on Caiman fell an easy prev to him. and in the Derby lie scored another popular victory. In that race, however, he might nave had. but for an accident, a tough opp-nent to dispo-c of in M. -T- de Bremonds Holoeauste, whieh came over from France with good credentials au.l the strong backing of Jallic sportsmen. Th" colt, soon after passing Tattenham C-irner. broke a fetlock, an.l. falling, narrowly escaped bringing .low 11 some of hs followers. Vetermiry aid being of no avail, he was put out of his suffering. Bad the statement of Sloan his jockev i that he had the liest of the race at the time could never be coi.tinncd or contradicted. Flying Fox after-cards aeeaaatod for the valuable Princess of Wales Stakes ai Newmarket, the still more rateable Eclipse Stakes, the St. Letter one again beating Catena, and wound up a memorable season by readily winnng his third ten-tliousand-pouiider— ile- jo.lcy Club Stakes — at Newmarket First Oe-tolH-r. Then came tha lamented death of his owner, the Puke of Westminster, in December, followed by the morable public disposal at Kingselere of his baenaa in 1 raining on March S, 1000. Flying Fox was included among those submitted to auction and 1 necessarily was the great attraction of the day. The French sportsman, M. E. Blanc, had come specially to secure the son of Oriue atid Vampire, upon w hieh a reserve of :jt».HX guineas was placed, ami despite the fact that the first bid for him was ol.lMKi guineas, the competition proved so keen that offers bad reached :!7, NW guineas before M. Blancs Baal bid of another live hundred secured the colt ; for France. This :!7..i0O guineas put all previous reiords into the shade in the way of- money given , for a thoroughbred. It was hoped that Flying Fox would go into training for the Ascot Cup of that year, but he never ran again, and conimeu-ed stud , du.ies forthwith on the other side of the Channel. 1 Ii would be another story to tell of the immediate mark lie made as a sire, and the brilliant form , shown b.v many af his progeny. But it may be mentioned that his aaa Ajax won the Grand Prix de Parte, the Flench Derby and other good races in 1!M»4: and in the same year Oouvernant took the , Prix thi President de la Bepnblic at Mai sons Laf-fitte, and living Star won the French Oaks in MM; and it is notable, as indicating the value set upon his stock, that such large sums were paid to obtain possession of it. Gouvernant was sold for |ia0,0CO. Val dOr a great i erformer as a two-ami three-y ear-old for JflhUiOo, Adam fur ?S0,0 10. , and Javdy for IHt,*—. With regard to Orby, incidentally referred to akeae, he. like Flying Fox. was connected with something of the sensational. No one had enter- ; lamed the idea that a winner of the Derby would or could be trained in Ireland, but he was able to dissipate the illusion and to break the spell. Though In- had been well tried, his two-year-old form in the 1 Sister Isle in PKMi was nothing to boast of. for he was well beaten in both his races, hat the following season showed him in a brighter light. He made , his first acquaintance with this country at the Lire renal spring meeting, when he won the Earl of , Seftons Plate from a not very gay field. Still, he created rather a favorable impression, and it was , generally agreed that more would l e heard of him. . He afterwards won the Baldoyle Plata in a canter. . anal his connections were confident that the Derby was within his grasp, despite the strong favoritism of Slieve Cailion. an easy winner of the Two Thousand Guineas. Their anticipations were fully real-izi-d. for though some considered that Wool Winder, which he beat by a couple of lengths, was an unlucky loser, the suhsequtut form of Orby showed , that then- was not much of a fluke about ids victory. He next won the Irish Derby at the Cnrragh in runaway fashion, hut was unfortunately afterwards seized by an illness that caused him "to make ;:i ignominious show for the Atlantic Stakes at ; I.iverp.xil. for which odds were bet on him. This was his last public appearance, and his owner and brer ear, Mr. it. Crater, sent him to the stud at GleiKairn. To refer to the doings of all the eapalde horses sired by Oriue would occupy an inorinate amount of space, but n:ention may lie made of a few others in addition to Flying Fox and Orby. He had a couple of speedy sons in Orchid and Harrow, of which tiie first-named as a two-year-old won the Beaten Peleral Plate at Newcastle ami the Champagne Stakes at Ponoastor and. although a disappointment in his second season, he as a four-year-old won a sequence of live handicaps, in which he mostly carried heavy weights ami beat some of the heat sprinters of his day. Harrow, if not quite so smart as Orchid, was a fair performer, and was eventually sent to the Fnited States. Ameer. Or-pah. Frontier, Model Agnes. Conway. Paigle. Vane. Birkenhead. Quest. Baft. Duke of Westminster, living Lemur. 1-ancaster Gate. Tankard. Whits-bury. Witch Elm. Olympian and Faskally were a useful lot claiming Orme as a sire, and most of ti.iin did something noteworthy, though some were more or less disappoint nients. In that category can he included Kaft and Firing Lemur, and the ■rat-named was reckoned, when a three-year-old. to be a certainty for the Cambridgeshire in llOO. for which he was backed down to : to 1. but failed to get into tiie first four. He was alee supported for other important handicaps the following year. but was always a disappointment, and did rto"t redeem bis character by anything lie aeaanaaaaaanl afterwards. Flying Lemur, at a later date, was another of which much was exiiected and little realized. A brother to Flying Fox. he had done suflifi-ently well at homo to lead Kingselere to look for his easy success in the New Stakes at Ascot, in which, like his sire, he made his bow to the public, but he was badly beaten and did not finish within hail of Duke of Westminster. Flying Lemur failed to score as a two-year old. and though in his second season he won the Ascot Derby, he was well beaten by Sceptre for the St. James Palace Stakes, and as a racer did little credit to his sire. Of others mentioned above Witch Elm won the One Tiiousand Guineas, but was well beaten afterwards in the Oaks and the Fern Hill Stakes at As.ot. Winning of Ormes Progeny. MM $ o.otto 1S0S 4.r ,lMI MM 2:«.2ir, MM 43.500 MM 27.0S7 MM 24. 77S MM 21.7C2 MM M.435 MM 21.2so MM 41.2..0 MM 90.420 PUIS S.7O0 1000 M88 MM ■ 0220 1011 4-,7-, ]•»;•-: ..:: t.«* MIS us.-, pn s Total MM.MI
