CHASING AND RACING 149 



was, however, giving me a good feel and striding out 

 freely. 



I soon tumbled to it that he had the foot of the field ; 

 so I let him " gang his gait." One by one he passed 

 the others until he lay third, and then second. As we 

 rounded the bend for home he went smoothly to the 

 front and took the rails. It was then that I heard a 

 dismal wail from somewhere in the rear: " Hi, Cockie, 

 hold hard, hold hard a bit, don't show us up ! " 



Well, I took no pains to cause a lengthy hiatus 

 between Latimer and his proxime accessit^ but allowed 

 the former to doddle on, to win by four lengths. So 

 there was a plumb centre, with the first barrel of my 

 double ! 



When I got back to the dressing-room there was a 

 howling chorus of derision. " How do you manage 

 to keep that tit behind hounds, Cockie ? " " Have 

 you entered him for the Gold Cup at Ascot ? " " I've 

 got a two-year-old I think is a smasher ; will you lend 

 me Latimer to try him out ? If my youngster can peg 

 him back at a couple of stone I'm going to win the 

 Derby " and so on and so forth. 



Certainly the gelding had pleasantly surprised me, 

 and I came to the conclusion that he really might be 

 able to win a " Corinthian Welter," or a long-distance 

 " Seller " ; so I had him relieved of his fox-catching 

 exercise and put into regular training. Presently I 

 entered him for the principal club race at Lewes, and 

 looked forward to a renewal of my experience as his 



