SUCCESSFUL TIPPING 



need not be referred to, but that was one of the 

 aftermaths of his chagrin. There were other men 

 with runners in that memorable Derby who had mixed 

 feehngs after the race. Colonel Hall Walker has 

 written to me that he thinks the best horse he ever 

 owned was Black Arrow, who was also unplaced in the 

 race. Black Arrow was in his day a phenomenal 

 colt, but when he died eventually it was discovered 

 from the autopsy that it was a wonder he could have 

 raced at all. I forget exactly what it was, a tumour, 

 if I remember rightly. We all know what The White 

 Knight did ; the greatest cup horse we had for years. 

 Having a long talk with William Waugh some years 

 after the race he told me what an unlucky man he 

 thought himself not to win the Derby that year ; but 

 Troutbeck certainly finished third. He had done 

 nothing as a two-year-old, but had an unbroken 

 sequence of successes as a three-year-old prior to the 

 Derby. But they can all talk, and one cannot help 

 respecting their opinions; for, as I have said, there 

 were many horses that year which would have won 

 a Derby in an ordinary year, but there was something 

 in the atmosphere or in the stars which caused the 

 horses which were foaled in 1903 to be equal to that 

 of a comet vintage in wines. Spearmint was the dandy 

 of them all, and would always have beaten them. 

 Surely to heaven he proved this in the Grand Prix. 

 Bernard Dillon has described that race to me more 

 than once, but surely those who remember it can 

 recall the incidents. Nearly every jockey in the race 

 had a go for Spearmint nearly all the way round that 

 mile and seven furlongs, and goodness only knows 

 what would have happened if Bernard had not kept 

 his mount in front, as one after the other came for 

 him. Unfortunately one was not able to bet properly 



194 



