MR. HARRY BIGGS 159 



Negress. But I think Little Bed Rover was the best he 

 had ; for with him he secured many valuable stakes. It 

 was when riding him at Goodwood rny father gained the 

 sobriquet of ' Honest John,' with 'which his name has 

 ever since been identified by race-goers both of the old 

 and present school. I should mention, too, that when 

 my brother John won the Produce Stakes at Bibury for 

 Mr. Biggs on Arrian, he said : 



1 Now, young man, I am going to give you a little 

 advice, which will be much more serviceable than money. 

 Mind and enjoy yourself as much as you can before you 

 get to sixty, for you will have little pleasure after, I 

 assure you.' 



Mr. Biggs was fond of his joke, and though, after the 

 fashion of the time, his were not of the present refined 

 order, they were never made at the expense either of 

 friend or foe. So far as I remember, he never betted, or, 

 at most, but a trifle ; and in this way he would permit 

 himself no inducement to do anything unworthy of his 

 turf reputation. And, strange as it may seem to many 

 who race in the present day, and exchange a trainer one 

 day to have another the next, he never changed his 

 trainer, and thus showed his confidence and satisfaction 

 in those he employed. Indeed, the same jockey rode for 

 him as far as practicable during the whole time that he 

 kept racehorses ; and he never, that I remember, had a, 

 discordant word with either the one or the other. Bare 

 qualities, not possessed by many in our time ! 



When he was getting well on in years, being at the. 

 time about seventy, a very serious accident befell him.. 

 He was returning in the evening from a convivial party 

 of youthful friends in his own village, and, in crossing 

 the fields to his house, accidentally fell down a chalk-pit 

 and broke his thigh. As no one was near to hear his 



