226 TRAINERS WITHOUT TRAINING 



One more horse of which Mr. Parr had the care, 

 Weather gage, requires a special notice. Though run 

 in his name, the animal was probably not his; but 

 belonged to Mr. Megson, just as Fisherman was un- 

 doubtedly the property of Mr. Starkey. Nevertheless, 

 of all the horses he had to do with, no one did him so 

 much credit. For with Weather gage he achieved a 

 triumph in training or management, or both, that no 

 expert could ever account for. The whole story is so 

 strange that it reads more like fiction than fact. 



Weathergage was the property of Admiral Bous, who 

 said he had tried him fourteen times and could never get 

 him first. In consequence, he was sent to Northampton 

 with orders that if he did not win, or get claimed, he was 

 to be got rid of in some way. Frank Butler, the jockey, 

 brother to William Butler the trainer, would not allow 

 his intimate friend, Sam Scott, to buy him at any price ; 

 and as no other purchaser could be found, the horse 

 returned to Newmarket, with the rest of Butler's string ; 

 and here he was bought for 40 by Mr. Armstrong, and 

 sent to Mr. Parr with the following message : ' I have 

 bought you Weathergage, and think he will do you some 

 good.' These are the actual circumstances under which 

 he came into Parr's hands, the latter probably never 

 having seen or heard of the horse before in his life. 

 About a fortnight after winning a first race with him at 

 Lewes, Parr takes the horse to Bath, well knowing him 

 to be a good one. He meets the Admiral there and tells 

 him so, but is only laughed at for his pains. However, 

 Weathergage won, and Parr again assured the Admiral 

 that he was a good horse ; but the more he told him so, 

 the less he was believed. 



What the horse subsequently did how amongst other 

 races he won the Goodwood Stakes and the Cesarewitch 



