 Before Ladas ran as a three @-@ year @-@ old , Mat Dawson , who had been training horses , including more than twenty classic winners since the 1850s , was reported to have called Ladas the best he had ever trained . Later that season he ranked him second , slightly behind St. Simon . Henry Chaplin , the owner of Hermit , called Ladas the finest horse he had seen . In June 1894 Ladas was rated fourteen pounds superior to the Derby winner Sir Visto by Dawson , who trained both horses . 
