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VINTAGE YEAR OF GRAND RACE HORSES. Memorable Struggles in Which Ormonde and His ! Mighty Rivals Engaged, Thirty years ago, at the instance of the bite Mr. John Coriett, who araa then proprietor ami | editor r the "Sporting Tines." invitations were i fanned t.i the principal owners, trainers, ami other re-- . n*ible Indices of ia -i nc t ontribute their opinions as t» the best •"horses Of the century."" and the response was nut only liberal, but Intensely interesting, by reason of the expert replies elicited lroiu all classes of spoitmnil. in. ire psilfc alaily from old Btnaum, whose memory carried them back In tile days of Priam. Plenipotentiary and Hay Middleton. This took place in the spring of ]ssc. . hi. Ii was a remarkable season fur three J ear-olds, peruana the best of all time, foe such as Ormonde. Minting and The Hard would certainly have won the Darby nine years out f ten. and to tals -elect band might be added others of better than average ilass In Saraband. St. Mirin and Chelsea. Ormonde bad at the time won the Two Thousand Guineas, but bad these selections been deferred until the end of the season, when he had Joined the band of triple-crowned heroes. then made ap of West Australia, Gladiatenr and Lard Lyon there can be no doubt that his name would have been Included in eyery list. As matters stood he was ;n many Instances omitted, a] though be was included by Lord Ross m ore, Joseph Cams a, "mi present at pearances," Mr. James smith, John Hammond, Thomas Brown. Tom Jen-nintc, Jr., .Matthew Dawson, Colonel Barlow and Mr. .1. Davis, while after naming his ten and Instancing Isonomy as absolntely the liest horse within his knowledge, John Porter added the signiti i ant postscript, "I will add one more after the St. Letter is over." Bred by the late Duke of Westminster at Baton. Ormonde, by Bend or -Lily Agnes, was a phenomenal borne, and a shining light in the remarkable sequence of Dei by winners in direct descent that started with Pom aster by Stock well, which begat Bend or. arhleh begat Ormonde, which begat Orme, which begat nying Pox, which begat Aja. Adam. Val d*Or and .Tardy, any one of Which might hav.- won the Derby with ordinary luck. Ormonde was never beaten in public, and I believe only once in private, when Kendal Just had the best of l:im in a trial. His brilliant career opened at Newmarket Second October Meeting, when be upset the odds laid on Modwena lor a P st Sweepstakes. Next he cantered away from Oberon and Mephisto for the Criterion Stakes. and then wound up his juvenile season by bearing without the semblance of an effort his stable companion, Whitefriar. anil the rest in the Dewhurst Plate. Prod Archer rode him in all th.se races, but a prior claim for Saraband kept him off his ; back, and that of Minting also, in the Ts I Thousand. Before the Guineas Mr. Yyners big horse had been regarded as a smasher by l oth Mathew Dawson and Archer, but the opinion Of the Jockey was changed after a lying trip to Kingsclere, where he rode Ormonde in a fast gallop and lie openly de hired the opinion that a battle royal would be seen between two giants. "There" will be nothing." he said, "to choose between them at the Pushes, and it will be a matter of which cracks first, and it wont be Ormonde." That in effect was exactly what O em-red. for the issue was always confined to Dl BMnde and Minting, the pan- being tremendous for six furlongs, after which the Puke of West minsters burse came 0:1 to win easly by a couple of lengths, much to the chagrin of Mathew Daw-nan, who. while congratulating John Porter, ex-presed his surprise that any h use could beat Minting in such fashion. Archer was equally impressed, and it was on his advice that Mr. Vyner decided not to oppose Ormonde in the Derby but to keep the son of Lord 1 yen fresh for tiie Grand Prize of Paris, which he won in a canter. The Derby followed ill due coarse, and the only danger thai threatened Ormonde, on which odds of :i to 4 were laid, appeared to be represented in The Bard, which was backed .low i to T to -. and right gallantly did be run. Put it was a case of a t .nl big an against a good little nn, for though mi ::c thought that the two were balanced after tlie bell had been left behind, and. indeed, a shout was raised Im- the game son of Petrarch, the moment he was asked the urn -tien Ormonde shot awaj ami again von easily. His pilot alone fad any conception of how much he hail in hand, aiel the Duke confessed that he bad experienced something of a rrlght. P. was in this race thai Chelsea showed himself a good horse, as he was going great gun* until an unfortunate bump sent him Hying out a; Tattenhaaa Corner, and rendered him harmless for the remainder of the j- arney. At Ascot extravagant j odds were laid on the big horse fin- the St. .lame- j Palaci siakes. with t!:-- expected result, and : t the same meeting, in the Hardwicke stakes, be made a ha. i f the preceding Derby winner, Melton. | After a rest be won the ."st. Leger running swa: from St. Mirin, next the Great Foul staki- at Xe. market and. With a week only Intervening, was next opposed by Oberon and Argo Navis for the Champion Stakes, which was merely an exercise cantT for him, but none the less led np to the tragic revelation that he had become touched in his wind. I remenibi r that at the time everyone was surprised that he carried Archer so far up the Cambridgeshire hill in tore being pulled up. and tin wind trouble, bo doubt, was the reason, though the si- -, i did not leak o-.t until some time afterwards. Mephisto, an old opponent, and in receipt of twenty-right pou, ids. had another cut at him for the Free Handicap at the Houghton meeting, but was unable io make the slightest Impression, cud as neither Mi h ui i. or The Bard was pulled out for a private sweepstakes f a thousand each. A. P.. he re tired fir the season the wiener of ten races, unchallenged, but admittedly a rearer, a weakness traceable doubtless to .-is d.-r.n. The unassailable proof of the greatness of this wonderful borne came die following year at Ascot, when- to commence with in- made a hack of the! Iirospectlve St. Leger winner, Kilwariin. in the] pou- Memorial Stakes, iii w liich race Tom Can-nan BTSl rode 11-e big Iwr-o. hi- previous pilots being Archer ami G. Barrett, and in the same handling he won the Hardwicke Stakes, when opposed by Minting, Bendigo. and Phil. Cannon was, in fact, the successor as Kingscleres first Jockey to poor Archer, who died tin- November previous. Ormondes infirmity wss n well known, and this, combined with the fact that Minting bad easily v. on the Jubilee Cup Introduced i,i honor of «. u.c;i Victorias Jubilee on the opening day. led up io gome spirited gambling between Mm and Mr. Vgners crack for tin- Hardwicke sia - -. Jealous riding upset Ormonde and caused Cannon some snxletj until Phil was done with, and then ensued an intensely Interesting struggle between tin top-sawyers, Ormonde winning by a neck. while Bendigo was three lengths behind the pair. This was a great performance on the pan or the winner, which closed bis r arkatde career with a fine exhibition of speed when over three-quarters he raced away from Whltefrlar and Love Hold fori tiie Imperial Cup at tie Newmarket First July meeting. One recal - that Archers opinion as t. the best horses la ids due wen- st. Simon the best. Barcaldine and Wheel of Fortune, but that was before Ormonde had established himself, or be would surely have been Included, tor 1 have heard the Jockey describe him as "no! a horse, but a verit-able -cam engux ." The Duke of Westmlnsl r dis liked i.; ding from an unsound horse, and si got rid of Ormonde, who went to Buenos Ayres in 1899, the year in which his sons. Orme and Goldfinch, were foaled. Four y.-ars later lie returned to England only to be -int awaj again to America, bar a - Iii-u- illness ruined his constitution. Orme turned out a great horse, certainly the pest of his year, p navlsta. s::- Hugo and Le Flecbe notwithstand tog. and gained tame at the stud principally as sire ei Flying Fox. wail.- Goldfinch was a -mart two-year-old, and although a roarer, met with • • i-slderalde success a- a sire in the States.— "Vigilant" in London Sportsman.
