110 THE POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



to wit Escape, Baronet, Pegasus, and Smoker. 

 Some five days previous to the race, the four were 

 tried at the Oatlands distance and weights, and 

 Escape, with Chifney on him, won easily by three or 

 four lengths the rest running in as we have named 

 them. On the Sunday before the race, Chifuey got 

 a message from the Prince to meet him at the 

 stables at four o'clock on Monday afternoon. The 

 four horses were looked over, and Chifney, the 

 moment the sheets were taken off Escape, begged 

 the Prince's permission to ride Baronet instead of 

 him. Both Neale and Mr. Warwick Lake protested 

 against the change, and declared that the horse was 

 never better j while Chifney as strongly maintained 

 that he had lost his form so completely since the 

 trial, that it was impossible to win with him. 

 The Prince very soon settled the question, and not 

 only decided that Chifney should ride Baronet, but 

 added " Whenever I have two horses in a race, I 

 wish you, Sam, to ride the one you fancy most on 

 the day, without consulting us about it." The race 

 was a severe one, but Baronet won it, beating nine- 

 teen of the best horses out, while Escape was abso- 

 lutely " nowhere." The King and Queen were pre- 

 sent, with all their family, to see it, and were not a 

 little pleased when the Prince told them the anec- 

 dote. Chifney's picture was shortly afterwards taken 

 on this horse, by Stubbs; and Nimrod tells us in his 

 immortal articles of " The Turf, The Chase, and The 

 Road," that the print still occupied, in his time, 

 the post of honour over the Old Club chimney-piece 

 at Melton, though a generation of sportsmen had 

 passed away, and the room had been three times 

 papered. 



With the remembrance of this stable scene fresli 

 in Ms mind, it was no wonder that the Prince felt 

 sure that Chifney would never play him false ; and 

 that Chifney, more sorry for his royal master than 



