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) him 12 pounds." The theory that Brigadier Gerard was a sick horse and ran below form against Roberto does not bear factual scrutiny; neither his trainer nor owner offered this as an excuse and his official 10 lengths defeat of the third horse, Gold Rod, was on a par with his best form. As his owner, John Hislop, acknowledged, re-examination of the race film showed that he actually beat Gold Rod by 17 lengths. Thus the Brigadier may have run his best ever race in defeat. Brigadier Gerard returned in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and set a new course