OWNERS AND OWNING 79 



two-year-old, who had run once before in good 

 company fairly well, were debated, and it seemed 

 to be agreed that he was very likely to win if he 

 was " out " ; but the horses belonging to me and 

 my brother in the North were said to be very 

 dangerous to meddle with. I had no brother in 

 the North — nor in the South for the matter of 

 that — but there was a man of the same name as 

 mine who owned horses, and their form was no 

 doubt curiously varied. He, it seems, had been 

 allotted to me as a brother, and one of my critics 

 incidentally observed, referring to the handicap in 

 which, as just described, I had run second, that he 

 saw my jockey " nearly pull the horse's blooming 

 head off," and he also happened to know that I 

 was " going for the favourite " — and most likely 

 laying my own too, another of them suggested. 

 I felt myself growing hot with indignation, and 

 saw my friend with difficulty suppressing his 

 chuckles. It is very easy to lose one's character 

 racing ! My Club acquaintance was evidently 

 convinced that I was a liar, and these roughs in the 

 railway carriage that I was a rogue. 



It is, of course, impossible in the limited space 

 I have been asked to fill to continue the story into 

 subsequent years. My lame colt never saw a 

 racecourse, and I gave it to a friend. The big 



