128 MR. PARKER 



home. After taking his gallop at four a.m., he came 

 back to the stable, was done and done up, and at 

 eleven o'clock entered his van (a double one), and 

 started for Cheltenham, where he arrived in the even- 

 ing, and slept the night. He reached Chester in the 

 afternoon on Tuesday, and cantered over the course 

 after the races were over that day. He returned home 

 by rail, and though the van had passed under the 

 gauge for testing the height, yet it came into contact 

 with one of the arches with great violence ; and had 

 not the roof given way, the van, or the truck it was 

 standing on, must have been thrown off the rails, and 

 most likely the boy, or the horse, or both of them, 

 have been killed. As, however, it passed several sta- 

 tions and under innumerable bridges after the accident, 

 the stationmaster at the next stoppage decided there 

 could be no further danger, and let it proceed at the 

 railway company's risk ; and so the matter ended 

 harmlessly. 



Joe Miller, as a five-year-old, was again well in for 

 the Chester Cup, and we thought would win it; and, 

 but for an accident, I think even now he probably 

 would have done so. As an account of the accident 

 may serve as a useful warning, I will briefly relate the 

 particulars. It happened between seven and eight o'clock 

 in the evening; for at the latter hour the horse was 

 found with his head in the manger, looking dispirited 

 and thoroughly unwell. On examination we discovered 

 a large bump on his poll, and the horse, in fact, insen- 

 sible. The injury was caused, I do not doubt, from his 

 having his head under the manger, and then raising it 

 quickly, and coming into contact with the sharp edge 

 of the under part of it. We had unfortunately backed 

 him for some money, and were only able to save a 



