198 CHASING AND RACING 



contemptible, for he had actually placed her at the 

 bottom of the handicap ! 



Her success at Nottingham entailed a 14 Ibs. 

 penalty for the great Newmarket race, so I struck her 

 out. 



On the morning when the latter event was set 

 down for decision, I ran across the official handicapper 

 in the paddock. " Here, I say, Cox,*' he greeted me 

 with, in his genial way, " I owe you a great debt of 

 gratitude. How can I repay you ? " 



" As how ? " I asked innocently. 



" Oh, for running that filly of yours, Dornroschen, 

 at Nottingham and picking up a penalty. Why, my 

 dear chap, I had made you a handsome present of 

 The Cambridgeshire, and you go and chuck it away 

 as if it were not worth your serious consideration. " 



Well, that may have been so ; I have felt regrets 

 myself, and yet I have an idea that the " extra bit " up 

 the hill would have found out the weak spot in my 

 favourite.* On " the book " she undoubtedly was, 

 as the gallant Major said, a stone-cold certainty ! 



Oh yes, taking all in all, Dornroschen was as- 

 suredly a most unlucky animal, but one of singular 

 brilliance, when conditions favoured her. 



There was a time, well within my memory, when 

 every one believed in a " Jockey Ring," and probably 

 not without cause, though I am inclined to think that 



* Also there was the question of a suitable pilot. Dornros- 

 chen was not a " boy's mount." 



