for the Derby to drift out to 100/8 (12.5-1). Summer In the Derby on 26 May he started at 7/1 in a field of nineteen, with Bend Or being made the 2-1 favourite. The race, which was run on very firm ground, attracted the customary huge crowd. Among those in attendance many MPs, as Parliament was adjourned for the day despite the fierce objections of one member, Sir Wilfrid Lawson, who denounced the sport as "rascality and roguery". After a delay caused by the crowd overflowing onto the racecourse, Robert the Devil broke quickly and was sent into the lead by his jockey, Rossiter, with a mile to travel. He led the field down the hill and into the straight as several challengers emerged and then dropped away, and entering the final furlong he had a commanding lead and looked the likely winner. Fred Archer on Bend Or however, had been making gradual progress and sent his colt up to join the leader in the closing stages. Robert the Devil responded with a "brilliant effort", but at the line the favourite prevailed by a head after a "magnificent" finish. It was widely agreed that the riding of Archer on the winner was the main difference between the colts. Following the race, "much excitement" was caused when an objection was lodged against the winner on the grounds that he was “not the horse he was represented to be” and that all his race entries were therefore not valid. This resulted from rumours that Bend Or had been accidentally switched with another colt named "Tadcaster" as a yearling at the Duke of Westminster's stud. The affair was described as the biggest scandal in racing since the "Running Rein" affair of 1844, when a four-year-old had been illegally entered in the Derby. The objection was rejected after a ten-day private hearing. Shortly after his defeat at Epsom, Robert the Devil was sent to France for the 3000m Grand Prix de Paris, the most valuable race run in continental Europe. At Longchamp on 6 June he started 4/6 favourite against eight French colts for the £4,000 race. Rossiter tracked the leaders and turned into the straight in fifth place before accelerating smoothly past his rivals and winning very easily by a length from Le Destrier with Milan third. Robert the Devil's owners donated £200 from their winnings to the poor of Paris. Robert the