CHASING AND RACING 167 



will conclude with the popular farce, entitled * The 

 Unequal Match.* I'll take a pony to twenty, or any 

 part of it. Pick which yer like ; except Trelaske ! ** 



I do not know why the boisterous bookie should 

 have assumed that conditions were so overwhelmingly 

 in my favour, unless on the assumption that my then 

 greater experience would prove the determining 

 factor ; for on " the book '* there was little between 

 our respective mounts. However, his forecast seemed 

 to be justified when Trelaske, jumping off in front, 

 made all the running and reached the winning-post a 

 length and a half in front of Foghorn. 



It was not long before George was handsomely 

 compensated by winning a nice race at Kempton on 

 that same Foghorn, incidentally taking down the 

 numbers of a good field of our leading jockeys.* 



The hope of the House of Thursby soon proved 

 himself an exceptionally brilliant amateur rider on the 

 flat. Indeed, there were very few, if any, profes- 

 sionals who '' had anything on him," as the Yanks say. 



A later match between us might well have been 

 of the " unequal " description, given mounts whose 

 prowess was on a par, in which case the wagering 

 on the score of jockeyship assuredly would have 

 enabled me to take odds instead of laying them ! 



Having suffered defeat at my hands on the race- 

 course, the sportive and combative George thought to 



* This, I believe, was the first race under rules won by George 

 Thursby. 



