SIXTY YEARS ON THE TURF 



me, I had to meet Dulcibella, who scampered home 

 alone, with Heiress but third. Time upon time 

 friends told me Heiress could not win while Dulci- 

 bella kept well. I failed to make it out on form, 

 as on August 1 I, at 10 lb., had with Wild Bird — 

 a very, very bad horse — beaten The Don a head, 

 and he, at 10 lb., on August 16, had "lost" Dulci- 

 bella. This was at Oxford, when The Don beat 

 Little Gerard by a neck, with Zingari third ; and, 

 adds the Calendar, "a very bad third." There 

 were eight runners, and Dulcibella was seventh ! 

 Consequently, knowing what a wretched horse Wild 

 Bird was, and how bad, too, must be The Don, I 

 was not impressed with Dulcibella, always pre- 

 suming she had revealed her true form at Oxford. 

 This she could not have done, or else in the space 

 of six weeks William Day had wrought in her an 

 improvement that approached the miraculous. It 

 was this rapid, this startling improvement in horses' 

 form that roused the wrath of Admiral Rous, and 

 the stables from which sprang these equine miracles 

 were generally by him cared for. 



Dulcibella did not, as I have stated, forget to 

 half win. The official verdict was ten lengths. It 

 could easily have been a hundred. Before the race 

 Mr. Fred Swindell came to me, and said, " Do you 

 fancy yours ? " 



100 



