134 THli POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



He had no more luck for Lord Darlington in his 

 St. Leger than in his Derby mounts,, and hence " it 

 was no wonder/' as The Life remarks, " that he so 

 often departed up the North-road like a ' Knight of 

 the Rueful Countenance/ and in no great cue for 

 the banter and nut-brown ale of the cheery Boniface 

 of Barnby Moor." Accident foiled him on The Al- 

 derman ; Priam began to give in before the saperior 

 stride of Birmingham and the heavy ground at the 

 Intake farm; and Mameluke only scuffled off at 

 the eighth attempt, about 100 yards in the rear of 

 Matilda. It was fully believed at the time that the 

 false starts in this last race were got up by the 

 Northern jockeys, who were dreadfully jealous in those 

 days of having their great prize snatched from them by 

 a Southern Derby winner, and still worse by a New- 

 market jockey. Perhaps, however, the animals on 

 which many of them were mounted had as much to 

 do with making a scene as the jockeys themselves. 

 It used, indeed, to be a common bet among divers 

 low parties, that a certain number of horses, say 

 twenty-five, would come to the St. Leger Post; and 

 accordingly they would scour the country for horses 

 which were certain, in the ordinary course of things, 

 not to start bring them up from grass, or anywhere, 

 put a jockey or a bumpkin on them, and give them 

 orders to pull up as soon as they decently could. Of 

 course, owners did not demur to lending their ani- 

 mals for 25 sovs. for the day, as it just covered their 

 p. p. stake liability ; and thus the taker of a 1,000 

 bet of this kind was known to clear nearly 900, 

 after all his spirited outlay ! Geloni, who owned to 

 white legs and a white tail and mane, was suspected 

 to have been run on this system in Mameluke's year, 

 as he was ridden by a lad in gaiters, who pulled him 

 up before they reached the road; and horses like 

 those, whose own chances were nil, were just the 

 ones, designedly or undesignedly, to kick up a 



