The Laughing Cavalier (novel) of Sir Percy Blakeney, known to history as the Scarlet Pimpernel." EMMUSKA ORCZY <br>Haarlem, 1913 The Laughing Cavalier (novel) The Laughing Cavalier is a 1913 adventure novel by Baroness Orczy, which revolves around Percy Blake, a foreign adventurer and ancestor of Orczy's famous character, the Scarlet Pimpernel. The story takes place in Holland in 1623/1624 and is partly inspired by Frans Hals' painting "The Laughing Cavalier": in the novel, Blake is Frans Hals' adopted son and the man who poses for the painting of the Laughing Cavalier. The sequel to this book, continuing the story of Percy Blake, is "The
Sir Percy Dwyer called Sir Percy an exceptional horse with a "tremendous turn of foot". Martin Dwyer's ride on Sir Percy at Epsom earned him the 2006 Lester Award for Flat Ride of the Year. Sir Percy was troubled with a series of training problems which included a shoulder injury which ruled him out of a run in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. On his only start after his Derby win he finished seventh of eight runners behind Pride in the Champion Stakes, when it was revealed he was still suffering the ill effects of an injury sustained in the Derby.