THREE-YEAR-OLDS, 177 



possibly even in the face of a declaration; as it was they landed 

 their bets, and their idol, though not finally shattered till the 

 Oaks, was seriously damaged in reputation. It must have 

 been a new experience for George Barrett to be obliged to pull 

 a horse opposite the stand, and doubly mortifying to be 

 thereto constrained in one of the classic events of the year. 

 There was moreover additional aggravation in store for him, as 

 in the following Newmarket meeting when riding Blue Green 

 he was beaten a head by Watts on Memoir, and was again 

 second to her on Signorina in the Oaks. After the One 

 Thousand, either winners, or losers, or both, had, as occasion- 

 ally happens, a thoroughly British attack of virtue, and began 

 seriously to question the morality of Rule 141, which enabled 

 an owner running two horses to declare to win with one and to 

 have the other stopped, though in favour only of its comrade. 

 There is something to be said against the proceeding, open and 

 above board as it must necessarily be, but one would have 

 imagined the crowd collected at Epsom on the Oaks day more 

 prone to swallowing camels than to straining at gnats ; never- 

 theless it was represented to the Stewards that if on this 

 occasion the Duke of Portland indulged his predilection for 

 Semolina, by again declaring to win with her, and Memoir was 

 once more obliged perforce to take second place, there would 

 be a row, and danger of the police being unable to protect the 

 jockeys ; the Stewards accordingly put the matter before the 

 Duke, who at once replied in effect that he had no intention 

 of running the fillies at Epsom otherwise than on their own 

 merits of the moment. As we all know, Memoir won easily 

 enough, while Semolina could only get fourth, and was even 

 beaten in their places by Ponza, who was a long way behind 

 her at Newmarket. In fact Semolina, though she started again 

 several times during that year, never scored another win, and 

 quitted the turf for ever at the age of three years. It is a pity 

 that the same course of withdrawal was not pursued with 

 Memoir, and her splendid record left untarnished by four-year- 

 old failures. 



N 



