THE NOBLE ART OF BACKING WINNERS 1 97 



same game, and you get beaten in a 

 canter by four lengths. 



So the noble game is played ; but what 

 matter, when you are in the know of a real 

 cop for the Cambridgeshire, which is to 

 be the grand retriever for all your losses 

 of the year, and you mean to back it 

 *' till the cows come home " ? It over- 

 powers its light-weight boy, and runs 

 three times to the bushes in false starts, 

 but performs respectably in the race, con- 

 sidering what it had taken out of itself 

 before the race, so it must be backed 

 again in a welter race with a man up, 

 and so on. 



Fve just remembered the case of a 

 man who made an error worth recount- 

 ing. It was the Alexandra Park meeting, 

 June, 1893, and I was at home, and 

 walking up street in the afternoon, I met 

 my friend, and said, ''Good afternoon. 



