SOME FAMOUS PLAYERS AND PONIES 339 



a powerful horseman, as keen as mustard, and endowed with 

 great patience and dash, with quick habits of observation, 

 which only shine with greater lustre in awkward predicaments, 

 no wonder he succeeds in playing well a game he so dearly 

 loves, and he will always be associated with two of the most 

 wonderful hits on record. A few years ago, when charging for 

 the ball was the fashion, Mr. Kennedy was playing in a match, 

 Civilians v. Military, at Hurlingham. He was riding Mickey 

 Free, and, getting first to the ball, which was in midground, he 

 with one drive hit it within a yard of the enemy's goal ; then, 

 getting past all his opponents, he tipped the ball in and scored. 

 Now comes the extraordinary part, for when ends were changed 

 Mr. Kennedy repeated the performance ! Two goals in less than 

 five minutes with practically two hits ! The distance from centre 

 of ground to the goals was 160 yards. His pony Dandy Jim, 

 a chestnut who pulled his own pelvis bone in two when playing 

 at Hurlingham, and had to be then and there destroyed ; and 

 Mickey Free, bought originally out of a Brighton tradesman's 

 cart a wonderful little hunter, and the fastest pony of his day 

 at Hurlingham were two of Mr. Kennedy's celebrated polo 

 ponies. A chestnut Arab also, Euphrates, now the property 

 of Mr. E. W. Baird, loth Hussars, and one of the best Arabs 

 in England, formerly belonged to Mr. Kennedy, who brought 

 him over from Bombay in 1883, where he had purchased him 

 from Abdul Rahman, the well-known dealer, for Rs. 1,000. 

 After teaching him the game and playing him for two seasons 

 Mr. Kennedy parted with him to his present owner for 2oo/. 

 The chestnut Umpire, an Arab of the Anazeh tribe, Keheilan 

 strain, is one of Mr. Kennedy's best animals at present. Im- 

 ported by him in 1887, Umpire figures in the ' Stud Book.' A 

 beautifully shaped pony, and as fresh and clean on his legs as 

 a two-year-old, he has well repaid the Rs. 1,000 his owner gave 

 for him, and some day will make his mark as a sire. Mr. 

 Kennedy had also a nice mare, Deception, a black, bought at 

 Lord Airlie's sale for 2oo/. fast, and a grand stamp to breed 

 from, though she can hardly be considered first class as a match 



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