The result of the 1886 Cambridgeshire horse race shows that St Mirin was beaten a neck by Sailor Prince and that the losing horse carried a pound overweight. Jockey, Fred Archer, rider of second-placed St Mirin, blamed himself for the defeat as he had been unable to rid himself of that excess pound. While riding in Ireland Archer had received a telegram from the Duchess of Montrose, owner of St Mirin, stating that ‘my horse runs in the Cambridgeshire. I count on you to ride it’. Archer needed little persuasion. He had been champion jockey for thirteen consecutive seasons but had never won a Cambridgeshire, a major non-classic race.  He had been racing in Ireland at 9 stones 4 lbs but, so keen was he to break his drought, that he undertook to ride at 8 stones 6 lbs, a reduction of 12 lbs in less than a week. He attempted to achieve this by not eating at all on three days, counteracting the intake at other times by doses of a devastating purgative, especially devised for him by Dr. Winter, a Newmarket physician, and, when not riding, making use of the Turkish bath attached to his Falmouth House residence.