“He could scarcely have quitted the turf that day without a pang.  He had become the Lord Paramount of that strange world, so difficult to sway, and which requires, for its government, both a stern resolve and a courtly breeding.  He had them both; and though the black-leg might quail before the awful scrutiny of his piercing eye, there never was a man so scrupulously polite to his inferiors as Lord George Bentinck.  The turf, too, was not merely the scene of the triumphs of his stud and his betting-book.  He had purified its practice and had elevated its character, and he was prouder of this achievement than of any other connected with his sporting life.  Notwithstanding his mighty stakes, and the keenness with which he backed his opinion, no one perhaps ever cared less for money.  His habits were severely simple, and he was the most generous of men.  He valued the acquisition of money on the turf, because there it was the test of success.  He counted his thousands after a great race, as a victorious general counts his cannon and his prisoners.”

Up to the time that he developed a new interest in politics, his great ambition in life had been for one of his horses to win the Derby.  And one of the horses that he had owned did win it; but to his chagrin it was no longer his property.  That horse was Surplice, the winner in the year 1848; but Lord George had disposed of it with his stud in 1846.

Under any circumstances and whatever the prospects of political success which opened up in Lord George’s mind, his decision to dispose of his stud must have caused him a pang as it created a sensation among all who were attracted towards turf doings.

There were two horses in Lord George’s stables, which, if he could have laid claim to the powers of divination would have kept him still “Lord Paramount of the Turf.”  They were the yearlings Surplice and Loadstone, and both were destined to make historic names in the classic races.

But the die was cast and the immense establishment which his friend the Duke of Richmond permitted him to keep on the Goodwood estate was sold.

There were no fewer than 208 thoroughbreds, which all passed into the hands of the Hon. E. M.L.  Mostyn, for the small sum of L10,000.

This was in August, 1846, and the light-blue jacket and white cap of Lord George Bentinck were to be seen no more on a race-course.

The stables had been on such an immense scale that the responsibility was too much for one man to undertake, so that the monetary interest was divided, and two or three turf celebrities of the day entered into partnership, which accounts for the fact that when Surplice ran in the Derby of 1848 he was entered in Lord Clifden’s name.

From that time to this the career of Surplice has always been of interest to racing men.  His trainer was John Kent, who faithfully discharged his duty in guarding the horse from the machinations of unscrupulous loafers and touts.