He was determined not only to own the best horses to ride but also to race.
His father had a racing stable, but he had not been particularly interested in it and when the older horses died or were put out to grass, he did not replace them.
The Duke was running two horses at Royal Ascot this year, both were exceptionally fine thoroughbreds and although he had paid a great deal for them, it had certainly not been a waste of money.
In point of fact the Duke took so much interest in horses that his family teased him, complaining that as they could not induce him into marring a young and pretty girl, he would have to marry a horse!
“I am sure I would be far happier with a horse than with most of the women you have tried to force me up the aisle with,” he volunteered the last time one of his
