14 CHASING AND RACING 



of love. Local beauty offered no opportunity for the 

 chase. We were constantly driving up to town in 

 our dogcart, with its smart trotter, Phoebe, in search 

 of adventure, to the great neglect of our menagerie. 



At odd times, however, we did indulge in desultory 

 hacking in Richmond Park, on hired gees. It was 

 inevitable that we should do a bit of private racing 

 on the inviting stretches, with the result that, on one 

 memorable occasion, my mount " ran out," and took 

 me unwillingly through a clump of trees, where, had I 

 not ducked in the nick of time, a low-growing branch 

 would have assuredly deprived me of my "napper," 

 and there would have been an end of all my ** reminis- 

 cences.'* By what close margins does Kismet keep 

 on its implacable course I 



It was whilst residing at Cambridge House, 

 Twickenham, that I had my first experience of a 

 real live race-meeting. This was the Epsom First 

 Spring, to which Ted and I hacked over on the day 

 when Bend Or triumphed in the City and Suburban 

 of 1 88 1. He beat Foxhall cleverly, conceding a 

 lump of weight. When the latter's extraordinary 

 performances in the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire * 

 in the following autumn are considered, it will be 

 realized what a smasher was the chestnut son of 

 Doncaster. He needed to be that, the previous year, 

 when on the same classic downs he just, but only just, 



* Foxhall carried 7 stone 6 lbs. in the Cesarewitch and 9 stone 

 in the Cambridgeshire. 



