2i6 PROFESSIONAL HARDSHIPS. 



unfit ; and when told that they were so, would not believe 

 it. When he found his commands were not obeyed, he left 

 for Broadlands in high dudgeon, and quickly returned with 

 a mandate for the delivery of the horses, and immediately 

 bore them off in triumph to Littleton. 



But after all, changes are not so often brought about by 

 the neglect, seeming or real, of his duties on the part of the 

 trainer, as by inability on the part of the owner to meet his 

 engagements. The removal is, in these cases, made with the 



intention of getting fresh credit elsewhere. Lord left 



me because after his account was two years standing, I was 

 presumptuous enough to ask for payment. He paid it, and 

 ordered his horses to be given up to a trainer at Epsom, 

 whom he left very shortly after, and probably from the same 

 cause, being about Christmas time, and retired from the turf. 

 Trainers, it is commonly thought, have opportunities to be- 

 come rich men ; but here we have one reason why so many of 

 them die poor — the method in which training accounts are 

 jDaid. Employers having the reputation of great wealth are 

 often short of money, or at least make that excuse to the 

 trainer. Theoretically, training accounts are paid every three 

 months ; practically, it is very different. Some pay yearly, 

 some in a number of years, some not at all. To these must 

 be added those who pay by bills of exchange — as a rule the 

 worst kind of payment, and unfortunately only too custom- 

 ary. As the bills represent racing transactions, your banker 

 declines to discount them ; thus, in order to provide money for 

 current expenses, you must apply to a West-end money- 

 lender, who kindly obliges you at fifty per cent, and if not 

 paid at maturity or punctually renewed with interest at the 

 same rate paid in cash, a writ is issued and judgment with all 

 its attendant expenses follows. You apply to the acceptor, 



