JAUNTS AND JOTTINGS. 153 



'^ That's Darebin, the Sydney Cup winner/' said 

 the man in charge. *'He's off to America, I believe." 



" What is the other ? '' I asked 



'^That's an old EngHsh horse, called Vespasian," 

 was the reply. 



Yes, there he stood : gallant old Vespasian, whose 

 victories at Goodwood were again brought back to 

 memory when reading Custance's " Riding Recol- 

 lections.'' Custance rode Vespasian in those 

 memorable races. 



At the time I saw him in Brisbane, Vespasian 

 must have been over twenty years old. The next 

 time I saw him was when he was led into the ring 

 at the sale of Mr. W. H. Kent's stud at the 

 Grange, Ipswich, near Brisbane. Poor old horse. 

 He could hardly stand on his fore legs, and his 

 hind legs were not much better. There was, how- 

 ever, a fiery look about his head, and he neighed 

 proudly as he hobbled round the ring. He was 

 sold for, I think, 120 guineas to the Bowmans, of 

 Mount Brisbane. 



I have seen some good stock of old Vespasian's 

 running in Australia. Vespasia, a splendid mare, 

 and Greygown, a real good horse, at one time being 

 two of the best. 



While writing of Vespasian I may as well allude 

 to another good old horse that died in the Bathurst 

 district of New South Wales, and this was Scamp, 



