faced Eole again in the three mile Alexandra Plate which also attracted the leading French colt Hermitage. St. Gatien raced in last place for much of the way before moving up to take the lead two furlongs out and drawing away to win by six lengths. At about this time there was a serious disagreement between Jack Hammond and Robert Sherwood, which resulted in Hammond removing all his horses, including St. Gatien from Sherwood's stable and moving them across Newmarket to the Middleton Cottage stable of James Waugh. In autumn Lord Hastings, the owner of the 1885 Derby winner Melton issued a challenge to Jack Hammond for a £1,000 match race between his horse and St. Gatien, with Melton to receive nine pounds. The challenge was declined, as St. Gatien had already been heavily backed for the Cambridgeshire Handicap, a race in which he had been assigned 136 pounds and Hammond did not want to disrupt the horse's preparation. St. Gatien returned to the racecourse after a break of four months in Her Majesty's Plate over two miles at Newmarket on October 12. The race proved meaningless as a contest, his only opponent being a three-year-old filly called Jane who had finished runner-up in the 1000 Guineas. St. Gatien started at odds of 1/33 and won with predictable ease by twenty lengths. In the Cambridgeshire over nine furlongs on 27 October, St. Gatien, now undefeated in eleven races, started 2/1 favourite in a field of twenty-seven. He was prominent throughout the race but could never get on level terms with the filly Plaisanterie who won impressively by two lengths carrying 124 pounds. St. Gatien was involved in a close race for the minor places and finished fifth, just behind Bendigo, Eastern Emperor and Caltha. He had no chance with the winner, but may have been unlucky not to finish second. Two days after losing his unbeaten record, St. Gatien returned to his favoured staying distance in the Jockey Club Cup. He started at odds of 1/8 and won the race very easily, beating Lavaret by fifteen lengths. After St. Gatien's defeat in the Cambridgeshire, Hammond responded to the earlier challenge of Lord Hastings by suggesting a level-weight match race between St. Gatien and Melton at some point in the following season for a stake of between £5,000 and £20,000. 1886: five-year-old season Much of the interest in the 1886 season