412 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



not have wished your Royal Highness to back 

 him to-morrow, for this sharp rally to-day will 

 not fatigue him ; it has caused a good perspi- 

 ration, so as to lighten him of his flesh, and 

 opened his pores, that he will run both faster 

 and longer to-morrow ; and his running to-day 

 is my only reason for wishing your Royal 

 Highness to back him to-morrow ; for had he 

 not run to-day, I should not have vvished your 

 Royal Highness to back him to-morrow." 



The above account of the first race is 

 Chifney's own language, who published a 

 book entitled " Genius 'Genuine," and sold it 

 himself, at the small sum of five pounds ! 



In the next race Skylark chose to make 

 play, and Chifney waited with Escape, and 

 he won. 



It was publicly said, and without hesitation, 

 that Chifney had ridden booty ; that he pur- 

 posely lost the first race, by which manoeuvre, 

 the odds running very high, next day, against 

 his Horse, an immense sum was won, by 

 backing or betting upon the Horse, to his own 

 considerable emolument. Even the gentleman 

 who had the management of His Royal High- 

 ness's betting and racing concerns, as soon as 

 the event of the race vvas known, riding up to 

 the Prince, said, " I give your Royal Highness 

 joy ; but I am sorry the Horse has won ; I 

 would sooner have given a hundred guineas !' 

 The Prince, severely mortified by these suspi- 

 cions of the conduct of his jockey, having taken 

 steps for the investigation of such a disagree- 

 able affair, left Newmarket the following- 

 day : it is said, that his Royal Highness never 

 thenceforth honoured him with a single word. 



Preparatory to bidding a final adieu to 

 Newmarket, the Prince ordered the attendance 

 of Chifney, and demanded of him whether he 



was prepared to take such necessary steps as 

 might be proposed to him, tending to clear his 

 own character from suspicion, and to give all 

 possible satisfaction to the parties concerned. 

 Chifney having declared his readiness. His 

 Royal Highness proposed, that he (Chifney) 

 should make oath as to his bets on the two 

 races, and to such other circumstances as 

 might be deemed explanatory of his conduct ; 

 and that he should undergo an examination 

 by the Jockey Club. 



The Affidavit required was forthwith made 

 by Chifney, before the Rev. D. Framton, at 

 Newmarket, to the following purport, and has 

 been since repeated — March 13, 1801 — before 

 Mr. Justice Collick, of London ; to wit, " that 

 Chifiiey had no bet whatever upon the lace 

 with Escape, which was lost October 20th, 

 1791 ; and only twenty guineas, and no more, 

 upon tl^ race which Escape won on the fol- 

 lowing oay ; that he was not interested or con- 

 cerned, directly or indirectly, in any other bet> 

 either against or for Escape, on either of tha 

 aforementioned days ; that he neither did, nor 

 caused, nor procured to be done, anything to 

 check, hinder, or prevent, the said Horse Es- 

 cape from running ; but, on the contrary, did 

 everything which his judgment suggested to 

 him, and his powers enabled him, to make 

 Escape win the race on the 20th of October ; 

 that in no place in which he had lived from 

 1784, had he won a guinea against any Horse 

 that was beaten, and which he either trained 

 or rode ; that he had never been arrested at 

 Ascot Heath, and that Mr. Vauxhall Clark 

 never did pay any money for him." 



It had been reported, it seems, to the Prince 

 of Wales, that Chifney had been arrested at 

 Ascot Heath races for three hundred pounds, 

 and that Vauxhall Clark (the well-known 



