

16 THE POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



the precise instant when every horse was on the move, 

 as he walked by their side, flag in hand, at the start- 

 ing-post ; but his riding practice hardly corresponded 

 with his precepts. He was ordered to be fined for 

 not being ready, when he rode his Cup Course match 

 at Goodwood in 1844 against Lord Maidstone on. 

 Larry McHale; and many a jockey-boy grinned 

 derisively when he saw him making all the run- 

 ning, and shaking and punishing his roarer Cap- 

 tain Cook right furiously, long after the colt had hung 

 out distress signals. The maxim of " Cave de resig- 

 nationibus" which an ancient head of a college was 

 wont to impress on all his departing B.A.'s, loses 

 none of its point in turf matters ; and hence the 

 troubled sea of politics brought him even less rest 

 than the constant ebb and flow of the odds at Tatter- 

 salPs. Mr. Disraeli has placed on record, in his 

 memorable "blue ribbon of the turf" passage, how 

 he gave a " splendid groan " in Bellamy's, when he 

 realized the bitterness of his defeat on his cherished 

 West Indian motion, and the Derby triumph of his 

 still more cherished Surplice, in the colours of an- 

 other. 



His Lordship's stud averaged between thirty and 

 forty during the time Mr. Mostyn had it ; and this 

 gentleman's winnings in stakes are said to have been 

 about 22,500 in 1847 a sum which has, we believe, 

 never been exceeded. In value, the .6,325 Derby 

 of 1849 still keeps the lead, while the 3,378 which 

 was taken at the Doncaster Grand Stand in Stock- 

 well's year, is said to be the largest sum of the kind 

 on record. The subscribers to the Dutchman's 

 Derby numbered 237, and the luckiest of handicaps 

 was the Chester Cup of 1853, when 131 out of 216 

 horses accepted. This Cup also brought out 43 

 starters in 1852, which is more than have ever been 

 seen at a starting-post in the memory of man, before 

 or since the handicap era, that inevitable result of 



