few strides" and he drew clear with "ridiculous ease" to win impressively by four lengths from Polemic (carrying 85 pounds) and Archiduc (117). His win was described by one correspondent as "the greatest that has ever been accomplished within in the memory of racing men," while others took the race as evidence for a radical reformation of the weight-for-age scale. Jack Hammond reportedly took £40,000 in winning bets on this occasion. Although St. Gatien was entered in the Cambridgeshire Handicap at the next Newmarket meeting, he would have been required to carry 139 pounds, and his connections decided not to run, instead targeting the ten furlong Free Handicap at the same meeting on October 22. He started odds-on favourite and successfully conceded three pounds to Duke of Richmond, winning comfortably by three quarters of a length. On his final start of the year he won at Newmarket for the third time when taking the Jockey Club Cup. Hopes for a meeting between St. Gatien and the other outstanding horse of his generation St. Simon were put in doubt when it appeared that the latter would be retired. Although St. Simon did stay in training in 1885, he was unable to run and the much-anticipated meeting of the "two Saints" never materialised. 1885: four-year-old season Before the start of the 1885 season, Hammond announced that although St. Gatien would be entered for the most important handicap races, he would be mainly aimed at the major weight-for-age staying races. In spring however, all of Hammond's plans were placed in jeopardy when St. Gatien fell seriously ill with what was described as "pleuro-pneumonia", putting his future as a racehorse in considerable doubt. St. Gatien made a full recovery, and made his seasonal debut in the Gold Cup over two and a half miles at Royal Ascot on June 18. Much interest in the Gold Cup was created by a "sealed entry" in the race by the Duke of Portland, with hopes that it would contain the name of St. Simon. St. Simon did not appear, but St. Gatien's opponents for the race included Eole, the outstanding older horse in America in 1883, and the 1884 2000 Guineas winner Scot Free. St. Gatien, who started the 1/3 favourite was always going easily and overtook Eole a furlong out before pulling clear to win "in a canter" by three lengths. On the following day he