94 The Post and the Paddock. 



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. Something detained him till nearly everyone 

 had quitted the Grand Stand, and on passing through 

 it, the General suddenly beckoned him to his side. 

 " Well! Mr. Chifney" he said, "you wont take my 

 mare, will you ? I want her to force the running for 

 Brownie, in the Oaks, &c." " I will give her up, Sir, 

 only on one condition',' replied Will, " and that is that 

 Sam rides HER, and not Brownie, for the Oaks'.' 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 antici- 

 pated ; " Wings, who did not leave her wings at yam" 

 (as a Yorkshireman in after years expressed it), win- 

 ning 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 in the eyes of 

 the Jockey Club as his very finest performance. The 

 rare old General was in a great state of delight at his 

 second Oaks success, and sent a splendid pipe of port 



