78 THE RACING WORLD 



told they think he's sure to win. I am afraid he 

 is very dangerous, sir ! " 



Going into the ring, I found my colt easy at 

 fives, and Fishhook quite as good a favourite. 

 Very soon the latter became a better favourite 

 still, while mine drifted out. At the close it was 

 impossible to obtain an offer against Fishhook, 

 mine was freely on offer at loo to 14, and Fish- 

 hook, returned at 7 to 4, beat me in a canter by 

 three lengths. It was a horrible disappointment, 

 for I had made sure of winning, and had taken 

 particular care to let all my friends know how 

 sanguine I was about it. Moreover, it seemed 

 to make my colt much worse than we had sup- 

 posed ; but the trainer did not share this view. 

 We had beaten all the others easily enough, he 

 pointed out ; Fishhook was evidently a vastly 

 better animal than had appeared ; no one, indeed, 

 could say how good he was. In fact, there was 

 no doubt he had been very carefully " readied " 

 for this event, and the coup had come off, 



I had the pleasure of hearing myself discussed in 

 a railway carriage on the way to a meeting a few 

 days afterwards, where the two-year-old I had 

 lately bought was running. My friend C. H. was 

 with me, and was much more amused at the 

 conversation than I was. The chances of the 



