CHAPTER XLVI 



AT OSTEND 



Greek meeting Greek — The Popular Joe Marsh — Belgian Bookmakers 

 — Taking Each Other on — The Comedy of Thirty-Seven Thousand 

 Francs — Lord Torrington buys a Horse — The Late Jack Gourand — 

 Abelard II. — Our Race to Doncaster — " T.'s " Marriage 



I It has frequently been a source of wonder to more 

 than myself how all the " boys " made a living out of 

 i Ostend. It seemed the place for a general rendezvous 

 I of every exploiter of a new fake, and the only hypo- 

 thesis could be that like the celebrated parallel of a 

 certain island, the inhabitants of which lived on doing 

 the washing for each other, it was at Ostend the 

 survival of the fittest, the merriest raconteur (in this 

 case " most ingenious tale pitcher "), or the head 

 which could stand most drink. In one hotel there 

 were little schemes hatched which were " ready " for 

 those who — did not come. 



That boon companion, Joe Marsh, who has been 

 mentioned in previous chapters, always stays at the 

 Splendid. He is one of the best starters I have ever 

 seen, and is a most agreeable companion, fall of busi- 

 ness on his working days, but ready to " relax " on 

 his off days. Joe claims attention in many bypaths 

 of racing, apart from starting and horse dentistry. 

 As I have said, as a starter he has no superior, and 

 very few equals. In Belgium, of course, there is the 

 latitude given to the official at the tapes to send the 

 horses off from a standing start or walk them up to 

 the barrier, whichever he likes. He has a perfect under- 



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