36 THE TURF 



the fact of which horses run fastest, as they 

 are kept in ignorance of the weight they 

 carry a good load of shot being fre- 

 quently concealed in the stuffing of their 

 saddles. 



In later times than these, we have heard 

 of more than one good ruse de guerre being 

 practised at Newmarket ; whereby, accord- 

 ing to the old adage, the biter was bitten, 

 and deservedly bitten too. The late Earl of 

 Grosvenor had a horse heavily engaged at 

 the Craven meeting, and a few days before 

 he was to run a report was circulated that 

 he coughed. But whence the report ? Why 

 a man had been hired, by a party, to lie all 

 night on the roof of his box to ascertain the 

 fact which he proclaimed. His authority, 

 however, being doubted, another worthy 

 was employed to perform the same office 

 on the following night; which, coming to 

 the ears of the trainer, was immediately 

 reported to his noble employer. ' Have we 

 no horse that coughs?' inquired his lord- 

 ship. 'We have one, my lord,' was the 

 reply. 'Then/ said his lordship, Met him 

 be put into the box over which the fellow 

 is to pass the night; and if he does not 



