154 ON AND OFF THE TURF. 



once the property of the late Sir John Astley. Who 

 that saw it will ever forget that race Scamp won 

 at Croydon for Sir John^ and which he so vividly 

 describes in his '' Kecollections/' 



Mr. W. H. Kent, who owned Vespasian, was, 

 and still is, an ardent lover of racing, and he has 

 during an extended career owned a lot of good 

 horses. 



On racecourses iu Australia the public are apt 

 to express their opinion freely when anything 

 suspicious takes place. I shall not forget in a 

 hurry a scene that occurred at Eagle Farm, Bris- 

 bane, I think in 1887. It was when Honest Ned 

 won the Cup. At that time Mr. C. Holmes 

 was starter to the Club. There were some hot 

 favourites in the race, such as Touchstone, who 

 had won the Moreton Handicap ; Lord Headington, 

 winner of the Derby on the first day of the 

 meeting ; Pirate, Theorist, and several others. 

 Honest Ned, owned by Mr. D'Arcy, was an outsider. 

 Some heavy double event books were then open 

 on the Moreton Handicap and Brisbane Cup, and 

 when Touchstone won the first - named race the 

 layers of odds had bad books on the Brisbane 

 Cup. At the start for the Cup there was a lot of 

 delay, and at last the horses got off to what 

 seemed a false start to the majority of the people. 

 Some of the horses ran the course, and of this lot 



