SAM CHIFNEY. 101 



that even her trainer, Robson, with all his acumen, 

 thought her only fit to enter in a selling stakes on 

 the first day of the meeting, and had arranged that 

 Sam should ride the General's other filly, The 

 Brownie. Will Chifney had formed a very different 

 opinion of the relative merits of the pair, and got 

 Mr. Charlton, the owner of the second horse in 

 the selling stakes, to claim Wings for him,, at 250 

 guineas. After the sale, he asked Robson to take 

 her home for the night, and promised to send a 

 cheque and a man for her the next morning. Some- 

 thing detained him till nearly every one had quitted 

 the Grand Stand, and on passing through it, the 

 General suddenly beckoned him to his side. " Well ! 

 Mr. Chifney/ 3 he said, " you ivont take my mare, will 

 you ? I want her to force the running for Brownie, in 

 the Oaks, fyc." " / will give her up, sir, only on one 

 condition, 3 ' replied Will, " and that is that Sam rides 

 HER, and not Brownie, for the Oaks. 3 ' Will was 

 pressed very hard to ascertain the reasons of his 

 preference, but declared that they were based on 

 nothing but his own idea of the two ; and hence, 

 finding that the mare would be restored on no other 

 terms, it was settled that Sam was to ride Wings. 

 Neither owner or trainer trusted her with much of 

 their money, but the race came off exactly as Will 

 anticipated ; Wings, who did not " leave her wings 

 at yam" (as a Yorkshireman in after-years expressed 

 it), winning a very splendid finish by a neck, while 

 The Brownie was beaten off. "The Four-in-hand 

 Club " turned out in great style this year, and Sir 

 Henry Peyton had two sets of greys on the road. 

 Sam's riding was no ordinary treat, and the patience 

 with which he waited off, when Will Arnull jumped 

 away at score on Tontine, and defeated Pastime 



(who only headed Tontine 100 yards from home) in 

 her turn in the last three or four strides, stamped it 



n the eyes of the Jockey Club as his very finest 



