CHASING AND RACING 197 



by her famous opponent of yore, Victor Wild, who, 

 after a short, sharp tussle, pegged her back into the 

 proxime accessit position, for the second time of 

 asking ! 



It is practically certain that this obviously good 

 thing, on the book, would have materialized ; albeit, 

 as previously stated, I had by that time come to the 

 conclusion that my erstwhile flyer did not really stay 

 a mile, malgre her capture of the time record at that 

 distance. Moreover, I feel convinced that after going 

 seven furlongs she was subject to some spasm or 

 stitch, which caused her to shut up like a knife, or to 

 swerve right across the course, for I am sure she was 

 not a wilful jade, as some have supposed. I wonder 

 how many race horses have suffered ignominy and have 

 been decorated with ** the rogue's badge " owing to 

 similar causes over which they have no control, and 

 which do not, in any way, owe their origin to tempera- 

 ment. 



On the other hand, I also wonder how many shifty 

 customers are so created by the cruel and injudicious 

 use of whip and spur ? 



A propos Dornroschen being " chucked into " a 

 handicap, I recall that she was entered as a three-year- 

 old in the Cambridgeshire, the same autumn that she 

 won the Nottingham Autumn Handicap, in which, as 

 stated, she established the mile time record. In the 

 former race Major Egerton had treated her as if her 

 name were " mud " or " dud," or something equally 



