CHASING AND RACING 251 



Molyneux *), were others of my time who made good ; 

 whilst such as Ronnie Moncrieff, Guy Fenwick, Alec 

 Popham, and Major Morris occasionally popped up. 

 But I must not forget Major Frank Atkinson, a stand- 

 ing dish at Lewes and successful elsewhere, a very live 

 proposition indeed, and one who could hold his own 

 with the best. 



George Thursby began to blossom out just as I was 

 fading away from the Turf; but we overlapped a bit, 

 as already described. All things considered, and when 

 his powers as a horseman were fully developed, I have 

 no hesitation in pronouncing him the best amateur 

 rider that ever came under my observation. There 

 were few, if any, professionals that " had anything on 

 him,'* as the American slang has it ! 



A good many of those whom I have named held, 

 like myself, the advantage of a license from the Jockey 

 Club to ride on equal terms with jockeys, so that 

 occasionally we met in a " mixed *' field, with the con- 

 sequence that we amateurs had an insight to pro- 

 fessional characters and methods which were hidden 

 from the public. For my own part I can bear witness 

 to the fact that the rumours and scandals which 

 overshadowed " the little men '* were for the most 

 part entirely without foundation, or preposterously 



* Lord Molyneux was a capable and cheery amateur who 

 came to a sad end. After sustaining a terrible crumpler at 

 Sandown, his spine was so affected that he was two years on 

 his back before death ended iiis sufferings. 



