THE NOBLE ART OF BACKING WINNERS 209 



my path. From having dropped to 

 poverty, misery, and despair, I managed, 

 through bringing my auctioneering abilities 

 into play, to creep back into a moderately 

 decent position of ;^500 a year ; but, still 

 saturated with confidence in my know- 

 ledge of the Turf, and having, as I 

 thought, a nose for winners — which 

 however, often have a beastly habit of 

 running second only — I find myself some- 

 what (and a very big somewhat, too) 

 stranded once more on the pebbly beach, 

 and lowered to the utter degradation of 

 writing this jumble. 



Having touched on jockeys and betting, 

 surely I ought to say something of the 

 gees themselves. Accordingly, I may as 

 well say, without further parley, that 

 Ormonde is my ''best horse." I saw 

 him run all his races, I think ; and 

 give me a horse good at all distances, 



p 



