CHASING AND RACING 31 



to this meeting, " The National Pony and Galloway 

 Club " had been formed with Captain " Freddy " 

 Herbert as Secretary, whilst I was elected a Steward. 

 The aim of the Association was to make pony racing 

 a game for gentlemen to play at, wherever, and under 

 whatever conditions, a meeting might be held. The 

 rules were drafted on the model of those of the Jockey 

 Club and the National Hunt, and it was thought that 

 a clean sweep would be made of the rascality and 

 double crossing which had hitherto thrown discredit 

 on the sport, and that many young officers and others, 

 who could not afford to go in for " legitimate " race 

 riding, would be eager to avail themselves of this 

 sport, which at any rate offered a valuable apprentice- 

 ship to more serious endeavours on the turf. Again 

 I suffered the indignity of being accused of fraudulent 

 entry ; for an objection to The Usher (as I had 

 renamed Kismet) was lodged on the ground that the 

 winner was not my property. I appeared before my 

 fellow stewards and stated how the galloway had 

 been procured for me by Jesse Winfield. I was 

 asked to produce the counterfoil of the cheque handed 

 to my trainer in payment and his receipt for the same. 

 This I could not do for the simple reason that I had 

 a running account with Winfield and never paid him 

 cash down for any several item. Luckily Jesse was 

 handy with this account, showing, on the debit side, 

 the date and the exact figure paid by him for the 

 purchase of Kismet on my account. So that was that ! 



