REMINISCENCES OF SONEPORE. 125 



so well ; he must have won but for the false starts. It was 

 about this year that " Skipper" Wilkinson, whose Hindustani 

 was always lamentably weak, made a match to ride his yellow 

 countrybred against another planter's moke, and before he got 

 into the saddle he wanted to impress upon his syce that if he 

 won he'd give him a present ; what he did say was " Ugger him 

 girengey hum turn ko buxis dengey." The syce knowing how 

 very careful his master was of his own car-case, consolingly 

 made answer " Koch dhur nahin saheb ap zeroor bachhengey." 

 On the last day Blue Bell beat Vantage and Fieldfare in the 

 Civilians' Cup. Denis got home in front of Geraldine and Game 

 cock for the Doomraon Cup, Snowdrop won the Champagne 

 Stakes, and Master Jaffir won a selling race with Thisbee, now 

 in the Lall Serryah stable. At the end of the year the minds of 

 old patrons of the meeting were still seriously exercised as to 

 future prospects, as the following letter in the Asian shows : 

 "DEAR SIR, As a Soneporite of sixteen years standing, 

 allow me to enter a mild protest against the idea you encourage 

 in your paper of the gth instant, viz., that Sonepore is on the 

 decline, and has seen its best day. The primary object of 

 the meeting is to enable the residents of Behar to come 

 together after the tedious enforced retirement of the hot 

 weather, and to dispel dull care by a happy reunion with their 

 friends from a distance. The last meeting, as far as I could 

 learn, was considered, in a social point of view, to be one of 

 the pleasantest held for years, as indeed your friend allows. 

 Unforeseen and unavoidable accidents, together with the 

 uncommonly rich prospectus offered at Hyderabad, helped to 

 swell the list of absent owners and horses, but considering 

 how few of the latter there were, if close finishes are any 

 criterion, the racing was above the average. Next year I 

 trust we shall see the colours of the Maharajah of Durbangah 

 borne to the front by a horse worthy of a nobleman who 

 behaved so handsomely this year when the meeting was on 



