TRIAL OF ' BOBBIE NOBLE ' 241 



About ten days before the race, Mr. Saunders, his 

 trainer, with Mr. Buchanan, arrived at Woodyates with 

 the horse, in readiness to be tried the next morning. In 

 the evening the subject naturally occupying our attention 

 was the weights that Hobble Noble and the other horses 

 taking part in the trial should carry. On this point Mr. 

 Saunders's notions and my own were totally different. 

 He thought that the two, Hobbie Noble and Joe Miller, 

 should be tried at a difference of 10 Ib. only. I argued 

 that the difference should be 21 Ib., Hobbie Noble, of 

 course, giving it, to enable him to win ; and this notwith- 

 standing that Joe Miller had beaten him at even weights 

 a few months before at Ascot. I declined altogether to 

 stake my personal reputation on surmise. And I think, 

 as many will think with me, that had Hobbie Noble won 

 a trial at 10 Ib., he probably could have done so, giving 

 10 or 20 Ib. more. Mr. Saunders, however, was an older 

 man than myself, and his opinion entitled to, as it 

 received, respect. Ultimately, at the suggestion of Mr. 

 Buchanan, who reminded him that I was ' to try the 

 horse as I liked,' an agreement was reached, the differ- 

 ence in weight being fixed at 17 Ib., a mile and a distance, 

 and in the result Hobbie Noble won cleverly ; Joe Miller 

 second, and the others beaten off. It does, of course, 

 seem strange that Joe Miller, his quondam victor at even 

 weights at two and a half miles, should be beaten with 

 an allowance of 17 Ib. at a mile. The explanation is that 

 the one horse could, and the other could not, stay over a 

 longer distance than a mile. Moreover, Joe Miller may 

 not have been quite at his best at the fag-end of a long 

 season, after running in so many long races, including the 

 Derby. Besides, his quite recent trial with Weathergage 

 was an additional reason for my wishing to try at 21 Ib. 



As for the race itself, I should say that Mr. Saunders 



16 



