1 72 REMINISCENCES OF SONEPORE. 



The other non-acceptors were merely hacks whom it was 

 impossible to bring together with the four who elected to 

 start, and the best criterion of the excellence of the handicap, 

 was the timidity with which these latter were backed, no 

 owner standing more than half his horse in the lotteries. On 

 public form, however, Seer was more than a stone behind 

 Torchlight. Bluebell's ability to get a mile was confessedly 

 a thing of the past, and Triplet's wretched performance on 

 the first day certainly did not justify her sanguine owner in 

 entrusting her with much money. So the talent went for 

 Torchlight. But Triplets, with Apples up, ran a very different 

 mare to what she did the first day, and at the distance, when 

 the favorite apparently had the race in hand, Harry Abbott's 

 old plater sailed past her seemingly without an effort. This 

 was the commencement of a series of upsets, for in a half mile 

 scurry for all horses that had never won, Druid, a hot favorite, 

 went off from a false start, and was ridden for half the distance 

 under the impression that the flag had fallen an impression, 

 moreover, justifiable by Bertha being raced against him. This ; 

 of course, destroyed his chance, but even then no one dreamt 

 that the winner would turn up in another of Harry's stable, 

 the despised countrybred Greased Lightning despised in fact 

 to such an extent that not a single ticket bearing his name was 

 found in the pari mutuel box, whereby the fund benefitted 

 considerably. The time, 52secs., was pretty tall going for a 

 countrybred. Dream was considered by her owner to have an 

 excellent chance for this race, but whatever it was worth was 

 destroyed by Greased Lightning crossing her soon after the 

 start and knocking her off her legs, and it spoke well for Bob 

 Lockhart's good nature that no objection was laid, as evidence 

 was ample to prove the cross. This was followed by a scurry 

 in quarter mile heats for all ponies, and backers were soon 

 put out of their agony, for Ruby's easy win in the first, 

 augured a similar result in the second heat. Speculation on 



