MORE RACING 195 



repurchased as a two-ycar-old for ^^50. It must 

 be presumed that his appearance when immature 

 must have been poor. There is no need to go into 

 his exploits, but he has proved himself one of the 

 best chasers of all times ; no small credit for this is 

 due to his trainer, Escott, for keeping him up to the 

 scratch without overdoing it. 



Waterbird was regarded as a very useful horse on 

 the flat ; Poethlyn and he ran a dead-heat. Pollen 

 ran second in the Chester Cup. Take at random 

 a few old chasers like Why Not, Frigate and Old 

 Joe, all winners of the Grand National, the latter 

 by six lengths, carrying 10 st. 9 lb. I do not think 

 they could have won a decent-class race on the flat. 

 The folly of trying them, to say the least of it, was 

 exposed when Old Joe ran the same year, 1886, 

 in the Cesarewitch, weighted 6 st. 3 lb., and was 

 not in the Abingdon dip when Stone Clink caught 

 The Cob and beat him a length. There is a story 

 of a man who went to see a friend in an asylum. 

 The conversation got on to racing, and the visitor 

 mentioned that he had backed Old Joe for the 

 Cesarewitch. 



" Hush ! " said the lunatic ; " don't let anyone hear 

 you. There are men in here for less than that." 



Old Joe was originally one of the Hunt horses 

 of the Duke of Buccleuch's hounds, but he was 

 such a poor performer that he was sold for ^40 to 



