PERFuRMANCES OF JESTER AND CHAROX. 109 



referred to — Charon. In him we have a similar case of 

 improvement from two to three years old, except that he did 

 show pretty good form in some of his two-year-old races, having 

 beaten Hesper, Julius Ccesar, and other fast horses. He was in 

 the hands of the most talented men, who had the whole of the 

 winter and part of two summers, to discover his latent merit ; 

 yet the commencement of his three-year-old racing was so 

 wretched, he was pronounced a " selling plater," and as such 

 was started at Goodwood and won, when he was claimed by 

 one of the shrewdest and most popular gentlemen on the 

 turf, and within a few weeks placed the next race he ran for 

 to his new owner's credit. He was " sold again," as the 

 Cheap-Jack says, for a sum comparatively small in relation to 

 his real worth ; and after passing through the hands of well- 

 nigh all the talent, fell to one who, if his discernment had 

 been equal to his luck, and had led him to try the horse 

 privately over a distance of ground before making his merits 

 public, would not have missed a fortune without adding to his 

 reputation for astuteness. In his hands he eclipsed all former 

 doings, winning several long-distance races, and was sold for 

 1,750 guineas. Nor did his victorious career end here, for he 

 did his noble owner good service by beating Jester and the 

 winner of the French Derby, besides many others. 



Here, again, the secret seems to have been that the horse's 

 form was over a distance of ground, and no one appears to 

 have been aware of the fact till too late. At his first effort 

 on a long course every one was fairly electrified ; he was only 

 beaten a head by Thunder, and as Lily Agnes was behind 

 them, it proved that the old horse was not out of form. We 

 are all very wise after a mistake has been made, and see then 

 what should have been done to prevent it; though in reality 

 we would probably have done the same thing, or something 



