By the year 1900 the prize money had reached a total of £1322, the classes remaining as from 1895 with seven for stallions, six for mares, and two for geldings. The next year, 1901, another class, for mares 16 hands 2 inches and over, was added, and also another class for geldings, resulting in a further rise to £1537 in prize money. The sensation of this Show was the winning of the Championship by new tenant-farmer exhibitors, Messrs. J. and M. Walwyn, with an unknown two-year-old colt, Bearwardcote Blaze. This was a bigger surprise than the success of Rokeby Harold as a yearling in 1893, as he had won prizes for his breeder, Mr. A. C. Rogers, and for Mr. John Parnell (at Ashbourne) before getting into Lord Belper’s possession, therefore great things were expected of him, whereas the colt Bearwardcote Blaze was a veritable “dark horse.” Captain Heaton, of Worsley, was one of the judges, and subsequently purchased him for Lord Ellesmere. The winning of the Championship by a yearling colt was much commented on at the time (1893), but he was altogether an extraordinary colt. The critics of that day regarded him as the best yearling Shire ever seen. Said one, “We breed Shire horses every day, but a colt like this comes only once in a lifetime.” Fortunately I saw him both in London and at the Chester Royal, where he was also Champion, my interest being all the greater because he was bred in Bucks, close to where I “sung my first song.” Of two-year-old champions there have been at least four, viz. Prince William, in 1885; Buscot Harold, 1898; Bearwardcote Blaze, 1901; and Champion’s Goalkeeper, 1913. Three-year-olds have also won supreme honours fairly often. Those within the writer’s recollection being Bury Victor Chief, in 1892, after being first in his class for the two previous years, and reserve champion in 1891; Rokeby Harold in 1895, who was Champion in 1893, and cup winner in 1894; Buscot Harold, in 1899, thus repeating his two-year-old performance; Halstead Royal Duke in 1909, the Royal Champion as a two-year-old. The 1909 Show was remarkable for the successes of Lord Rothschild, who after winning one of the championships for the previous six years, now took both of the Challenge Cups, the reserve championship, and the Cup for the best old stallion. The next and last three-year-old to win was, or is, the renowned Champion’s Goalkeeper, who took the Challenge Cup in 1914 for the second time. When comparing the ages of the male and female champions of the London Show, it is seen that while the former often reach the pinnacle of fame in their youth, the latter rarely do till they have had time to develop. CHAPTER XI HIGH PRICES