Ormonde, a bay thoroughbred, in a landscape signed lower left 'A C Havell' and inscribed lower right 'Ormonde' watercolour, bodycolour and gouache on card 27.5 x 37cm Footnote: Provenance: Acquired by Algernon Dunn Gardner (1853-1929) from Fores of Piccadilly on 16th February 1918 Ormonde was a bay colt bred and owned by Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster (1825-1899) at his Eaton stud near Chester. Foaled in 1883 by the Derby and Champion Stakes winner Bend Or, also owned by the Duke, Ormonde was regarded as the finest racehorse of the 19th century and dubbed “the Horse of the Century”. The Duke had the distinction of being the only person to have bred two Triple Crown Winners – Ormonde in 1886 and his grandson Flying Fox in 1899. Ormonde’s dam, Doncaster Cup winner, Lily Agnes by Macaroni, was also one of the best of her generation, winning eight races. Ormonde was sent into training by John Porter at Kingsclere as a yearling. Although Ormonde was an ungainly foal, by the age of 2 he had grown into a well-built horse standing 16 hands with excellent bone and straight hocks. His well-laid back shoulder with short, powerful hindquarters led some to call him “a racing machine”. Ridden mainly by Fred Archer or Tom Cannon, he was an undefeated winner of 16 races between 1885 and 1887, winning the 2000 Guineas by 2 lengths, the Derby by a length and a half, and the St Leger by 4 lengths. In 1886, he became only the fourth horse to win the Triple Crown. John Porter remarked that it was the best horse that the Duke had ever sent him. After his last race at the Imperial Gold Cup at Newmarket in July 1887, Ormonde was the guest of honour at a garden party given by the Duke at his Mayfair mansion to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. He was sent by train to Waterloo Station and walked through London to Mayfair to stand in the Duke’s Grosvenor House garden. He was retired to stud at Eaton Hall in Cheshire in 1888, producing the good winner Orme, the following year. Despite much public criticism, the Duke sold him to the Argentinian breeder Señor Bocau for £12,000 in 1889 before being sold onto Mr Macdonaugh of California for £30,000 in 1894. Ormonde died in California in 1904.