The bettors choice was Freebooter, a coffee-colored gelding and half-brother of an Irish plow horse. But the sentimental favorite of thousands of British housewives was Princess Elizabeth's Monaveen. Last week, in Aintree's bright spring sunshine, Britain's royal family peered down from the roof of the clubhouse as anxiously as any two-shilling bettor as the 49 starters crowded to the post.
Up until the 14th jump, it looked as if Monaveen might be the first royal horse to win since the Prince of Wales's (later King Edward VII) Ambush II in 1900. At the first...
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