128 REMINISCENCES OF SONEPORE. 



of them ; sometimes he would trot round and round with his 

 head against his flank for half an hour at a stretch ; he would 

 run after crows or other birds that alighted in the paddock, 

 chasing them with his mouth wide open ; in fact, his antics 

 were far more like those of a puppy than a colt. After about 

 a year he was put into training again, and although he occasion- 

 ally showed speed, yet he developed so much temper that he was 

 sold to Jack Thomas, a famous jockey and trainer down there, 

 for twelve or fifteen guineas ; Jack Thomas at that time hunted 

 the Cape hounds, and used to take Echo out regularly with the 

 pack, soon getting him quite handy and quiet. Seeing after a 

 bit that he could do almost anything with him, and also notic- 

 ing he had a decided turn of speed, Thomas added Echo to 

 the string he was then training, and the colt steadily improved. 

 He ran well up in one race and was then allowed to lie bye 

 for another season, after which he was brought out as a five- 

 year-old, when he won two races out of four starts at the Cape 

 Town races, two out of four at Malmesbury, and one or two 

 other races at smaller meetings. The following year he 

 cleared everything before him and was scarcely, if ever, 

 beaten ; all distances seemed alike to him, one mile, or two and 

 a half, they crushed him with weight but he never seemed to 

 mind it, and with Thomas on his back was simply invincible. 

 As in his latter days, he was an awfully lazy horse in training, 

 and the boy on his back used to have to literally flog him for 

 three hundred yards ere he would go faster than a trot ; he 

 was so sleepy and lazy that he hardly ever went out to exercise 

 without falling down once or twice ; and one day, when being 

 led from his stable to the race course, a distance of about a 

 mile, on one occasion with two men leading him and a small 

 boy on his back he fell twice, and then won his race two miles, 

 with ten stone seven up giving everything else twelve pounds 

 and more. Nobody would send their mares to him when he 

 was advertised for the stud, as he was such a bad hack, and 



