Brigadier Gerard Brigadier Gerard Brigadier Gerard is the hero of a series of 17 historical short stories, a play, and a major character in a novel by the British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The hero, Etienne Gerard, is a Hussar officer in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Gerard's most notable attribute is his vanity – he is utterly convinced that he is the bravest soldier, greatest swordsman, most accomplished horseman and most gallant lover in all France. Gerard is not entirely wrong, since he displays notable bravery on many occasions, but his self-satisfaction undercuts this quite often. Obsessed with honour
Brigadier Gerard (horse) for the first time in Britain's most valuable race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. He won by one and a half lengths from Parnell, with Riverman five lengths back in third, but he hung to the right in the closing stages and his win was only confirmed after a stewards' enquiry. Then came his loss in the Benson & Hedges Gold Cup run over an extended mile and a quarter at York. Brigadier Gerard (starting at 1/3) raced against the 1972 Epsom Derby winner Roberto and the runner-up, Rheingold, who started second favourite. Roberto had