UPON TRAINERS 195 



Croft, and Richard Boyce were among its most capable exposi- 

 tors. At the commencement of this year, a nobleman was still 

 living, the venerable Earl of Stradbroke, whose undimmed 

 memory recalled not only the battles of Salamanca and Vittoria, 

 at which he was present in 1812 and 1813 in company with his 

 regiment, the Coldstream Guards, but also the best Newmarket 

 trainers at the close of George III.'s reign. 



To talk with him of other days seem'd converse with old Time, 

 He remembered feats of Bunbury and Mellish in their prime ; 

 Sir Joshua and Filho seem'd but yestreen from his lips 

 Fell tales of colts by Diomed, of matrons by Eclipse. 



In a communication recently addressed by the late Lord 

 Stradbroke to a weekly journal, the patriarchal owner of Henham 

 Hall gave the exact particulars of the trials in which Sir Joshua 

 (the property of Mr. Neville, afterwards Lord Braybrooke) took 

 part just before the memorable match at Newmarket in which he 

 beat Filho da Puta in 1816. 'I think it very probable,' said Lord 

 Stradbroke, 'that Filho was a little overtrained. The Chifneys, 

 at whose stables he stood, were notoriously severe trainers.' In 

 another letter, Lord Stradbroke added that Mr. Boyce, to whom 

 Lord Stradbroke's father, Mr. Neville, and Lord George Caven- 

 dish (great-grandfather to Lord Hartington) entrusted their 

 horses was ' a most respectable man, but not so clever as Rob- 

 son and the Chifneys.' In no other way, perhaps, can we more 

 forcibly exhibit the alterations and in some respects the im- 

 provements which training has undergone within Lord Strad- 

 broke's lifetime, which ended on January 27, 1886, than by 

 dividing the last seventy-five years into three periods of twenty- 

 five years each. 



The first, extending from 1810 to 1835, will comprise the 

 careers of Robert Robson, James Croft, Tommy Sykes of 

 Malton, William Chifney, Richard Boyce, and James Edwards. 



Within the second, extending from 1835 to 1860, will be 

 included those of William Edwards, John Scott, old John Day, 1 



1 Young John Day trained Hermit, winner of the Two Thousand Guineas, 

 and Andover, winner of the Derby in 1856. ED. 



O 2 



