DISRAELI AND THE RACE-COURSE 



bet forty," said Lord Milford. " Forty to one,'^ 

 murmurs the hero, who stood heavily against 

 Phosphorus. Nervously, he turns to a neighbour : 

 " Don't you think that Phosphorus may, after 

 all, have some chance ? " "I should be cursed 

 sorry to be deep against him," said his friend. 

 Egremont strolls away and consults his book- 

 Should he hedge ? — he stood so well by the 

 favourite, why mar the symmetry of his winnings ? 

 No, he would trust his star : he would not hedge. 

 This is the true mentality of the doubting punter^ 

 drawn to life. 



At last the Ring is up — the last odds declared 

 and the cavalcade of horsemen gallop away to 

 the Warren. Then follows a vivid description of 

 the race, which, with a trifling exception,^ is exact 

 in all points. 



The Derby of the 37ear 1837 was won by Phos- 

 phorus, a bay horse by Lamplighter out of a 

 Rubens mare, bred by his owner. Lord Berners, 

 Phosphorus had made his first appearance that 

 year in the Newmarket Stakes, when he ran an 

 indifferent second to Rat-trap. At the Second 

 Spring Meeting he won a £50 Plate easily in the 

 hands of John Day. These performances did not 

 warrant much hope of his success in the Epsom 

 race, and the horse had few supporters. Moreover,, 

 as Disraeli here asserts, it was well known that 

 he was an infirm colt, so much so that at twelve 

 o'clock on the day before the race he was absolutely 

 lame and John Day decHned to ride him. In 

 the evening the trainer called on Lord Berners- 



I Phosphorus is described as running on the higher ground ; 

 he was on the lower. 



107 



