THE TURF 123 



being the most fortunate. Indeed it is a trite 

 saying, 'The general is honest, but unlucky/ 

 and this is well said in these slippery times. 

 He won the Oaks, in 1807, with Briseis, 

 with heavy odds against her, consequently 

 a round sum besides; and, again, in 1825, 

 by Chifney's fine riding with Wings, with ten 

 to one against her. He likewise won, with 

 Blue Stockings, the Riddlesworth of 1819, 

 perhaps the greatest stake ever won, being, 

 including his own subscription, five thou- 

 sand guineas ! Fortune has also smiled 

 upon him again, for the last year was a 

 winning one. He bought Glaucus for three 

 hundred and fifty guineas, won fourteen 

 hundred pounds with him, and sold him 

 for three thousand ! thus reversing the 

 proverb. A few years back his winnings 

 were somewhat unaccountable, his horses 

 having been in the hands, not of a regularly 

 bred trainer, but of his north-country colt- 

 breaker, who has been in his service twenty- 

 eight years. They amounted to twenty-five 

 times in nineteen months. 



After the father of the turf, we believe 

 Mr. Batson is about the oldest of the Jockey 

 Club. Although he was placed third with 



