I70 JOCKEYS. 



instructions, and possibly to the ruin of his employer. Such 

 a case happened at Shrewsbury in 1871, and produced some 

 spirited letter-writing : Admiral Rous taking one, and in my 

 opinion, the wrong side ; whilst Mr. Chaplin, with his usual 

 acumen, ably advocated the right. 



I will now name one or two other cases ; not, be it under- 

 stood, that they are the only ones I could put my hand upon, 

 but because they will suffice to show that the instances are in 

 themselves too frequent, and something of the immense injury 

 that such occurrences may produce. The first I remember 

 seeing was with Mr. Rolt's two horses, Collingwood and TJie 

 Cur, at Goodwood in 1847. ^^ declared to win with Colling- 

 wood, but George Whitehouse beat him on The Citr by a 

 length, and nothing else near. The incident caused, as one 

 might expect, a great deal of excitement and much angry 

 feeling at the time, and led to an investigation on the subject. 

 The jockey's explanation, that he mistook the colours of the 

 rider of Collingwood, was accepted, and so the matter ended. 

 Mr. Rolt lost large sums by the result, and to this may be 

 attributed his retirement from the turf, which took place soon 

 after, Mr. J. B. Starkey had a similar case happen to him with 

 Viridis and Land Tax. The latter was backed for many and 

 heavy sums, whilst no one had backed the other for a guinea. 

 The owner made the usual declaration to win with Land Tax, 

 who beat all the rest in the field but his stable companion, the 

 latter winning easily. This fatal action of the jockey's not only 

 caused Mr. Starkey's secession from the turf, but, it is to be 

 feared, brought about the ruin of an honourable and estimable 

 man ; for he went abroad, where he died a few years after. 



In contrast to such fatal performances, it must have been 

 truly gratifying to his Grace the Duke of Hamilton to win as 

 ho did, his orders being obeyed to the very letter in the hands 



