THE TURF 33 



not be quite up to his mark, on the day of 

 trial or the horse, or horses, with which 

 he is tried, may not be so ; the nature of 

 the ground, and the manner of running it, 

 may likewise not be suited to his capabilities 

 or his action, and the trial and his race may 

 be very differently run. The late Chifney, 

 in his Genius Genuine, says the race-horse 

 Magpie was a hundred and fifty or two 

 hundred yards a better horse some days 

 than others, in the distance of two miles ! 

 Tiresias won the Derby for the Duke of 

 Portland in a canter, to the ruin of many of 

 the betting men, who thought his chance 

 was gone from his previous trial with Snake, 

 who beat him with much ease. It after- 

 wards came out, that his being beaten at 

 the trial had been owing to the incapacity 

 of the boy who rode him and he was a 

 bad horse to ride : indeed, we remember 

 his taking old Clift, his jockey, nearly into 

 Epsom town before he could pull him up, 

 after winning the race. We are compelled, 

 however, to observe, that much deception 

 in late years has been resorted to, by false 

 accounts of trials, and thereby making 

 horses favourites for the great stakes as 

 c 



