Comte de Lagrange made his debut upon the
turf in the year 1857, now more than twenty years ago, by buying
outright the great stable of M. Alexander Aumont, which boasted at that
time amongst its distinguished ornaments the famous Monarque, who had,
before passing into the hands of his new owner, gained eight races in
eight run, and who, under the colors of the comte, almost repeated the
feat by winning eight in nine; and of these two were the Goodwood Cup
and the Newmarket Handicap. Afterward, at the Dangu stud, he achieved a
fame of another sort, but in the eyes of horsemen perhaps still more
important. Never has sire transmitted to his colts his own best
qualities with such certainty and regularity. Hospodar, Le Mandarin,
Trocadero were amongst his invaluable gifts to the comte, but his
crowning glory is the paternity of the illustrious Gladiateur, the
Eclipse of modern times. Gladiateur, said the baron d'Etreilly, recalls
Monarque as one hundred recalls ten. There were the very same lines,
the same length of clean muscular neck well set on the same deep and
grandly-placed shoulders, the same arching of the loins, the same
contour of hips and quarters, but all in proportions so colossal that
every one who saw him, no matter how indifferent to horseflesh in
general, remained transfixed in admiration of a living machine of such
gigantic power.
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