RACEGOERS AND RACEGOING 285 



wood that I heard this, the day before The Sun 

 made his first appearance, and in the evening my 

 friend drove me over to Waterbeach to have a 

 good look at the flyer, rejoicing on the w^ay that 

 the colt v^as so w^ell entered. The Sun, hov^ever, 

 v^as a flyer that never flev^. He started a hot 

 favourite, ran badly then, and failed to improve 

 upon the performance afterw^ards. I fancy he 

 v^^on a single little race in moderate company, but 

 it could have gone a very small way towards 

 paying for the engagements, the making of which 

 my friend thought a cause for so much congratu- 

 lation. The Cob was also a Manton horse, but 

 his story has been told,^ and indeed the subject of 

 good things that have not come off is endless. 



What is luck for the racegoer ? " Owning 

 winners if he be an owner, backing them if he be 

 not," is the probable reply ; to which I say, as 

 regards the latter half of it, " Perhaps." One of 

 the worst things that can happen to an enthusiast 

 who goes racing with the intention of battling 

 with the ring is a run of luck at the first ; for the 

 reason that he imagines it is always an easy matter 

 to find winners, and when — as so very often 

 happens — they prove elusive and are beaten at 



1 See the chapter on " Handicaps " in T^he Turf (Lawrence 

 and BuUen, Ltd., i6 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden). 



