A "LIMEKILNS" GALLOP 



Derby selection. I had liked the colt very much as 

 a two-year-old, and had seen the possibilities in him. 

 Then came the " downcoursing " of Franklin's and my 

 own statements. Those who had not seen the trial 

 pooh-poohed it and the public were in a tangle which 

 to believe. 



I had made up my mind to win a thousand over the 

 race and, mind you, with the contradictory stories 

 about that gallop on the Limekilns the price still 

 remained extended. I went down to Gatwick some 

 weeks before the race with Sir Ernest Cochrane. I had 

 heard of the second gallop they had given Spearmint 

 with Pretty Polly, as the first could scarcely be 

 credited even by the stable. I asked the Irish baronet 

 to go on and " see what they will all lay you ; have 

 a good win over Spearmint. Take a thousand to 

 thirty for me." He made a little pilgrimage to the 

 rails and presently we met again. He said : " They will 

 lay only a thousand to forty, and in any case I have 

 spoken to Mr Bird, and he tells me that Flair is their 

 horse for the Derby and Spearmint is intended for the 

 Grand Prix." As a matter of fact those were exactly 

 the intentions at the moment. Flair had won the 

 One Thousand and was one of the best fillies ever in 

 training. It was intended that Spearmint should be 

 in reserve for the great race in Paris. Mr Bird was 

 connected with Mr Gilpin's stable ; in fact, until a few 

 years ago had a very important managerial status at 

 Clarehaven. What was I to do, therefore ? It was a 

 question of waiting. At a meeting the following week I 

 endeavoured to get a thousand to forty : five hundred 

 to twenty myself and five hundred to twenty through a 

 friend, but they would only lay twenty to one. A few 

 days later, waking up in the middle of the night after 

 having written for that morning's paper an unusually 



191 



