AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 249 



Tier morning canter, and she pecked from crossing her 

 legs, or something, and because Osborne jiunped off 

 her back to see what was the matter and she was led 

 back to her stable ; hence arose this groundless panic — 

 the rumours that she was dead lame, the scratching, 

 and all the rest of it. A panic, we know, is most 

 catching, and both backers and layers for two hours that 

 afternoon were like a flock of frightened sheep, ready 

 to follow any one's lead. It was just possible, too — 

 for even the cleverest and sharpest may be deceived — 

 that the bookmakers thought she was as ' safe ' as 

 George Frederick. Only on that supposition can we 

 explain their action. The prices we have above 

 mentioned might have been, and were, had at different 

 intervals during the two hours or hour and a half before 

 the race. Even when seen in the paddock, and after 

 she had cantered, 5 to 1 might still have been got. She 

 evidently did not move with freedom on the hard 

 ground, but in other respects she looked pounds better 

 than she did at York. 5 to 1 against the Leger 

 favourite ! Was ever heard such a case ? To show how 

 unreasoning and unreasonable was the panic — in the 

 false start — because she was rather slow in beginning — 

 some bookmaker shouted ' 10 to 1 against Apology! ' 

 Whether he was taken or not we can't say, but the 

 mare was not entirely deserted by her friends. It 

 required some amount of courage, though, to back her 

 in the face of this opposition. The shouting gentlemen, 

 with their books and pencils, had been so right about 

 George Frederick, why should they not be right now? 

 So some of her former staunch supporters, among them 

 Mr. Chaplin, forsook her, to their cost, and those who 

 Avere on her and could not lay off looked upon their 

 money as gone. 



