SIXTY YEARS ON THE TURF 



" Yes." 



" What will you take for him ? " 



" What I gave for him." 



" And that was ? " 



'' Three hundred pounds." 



" rU have him." 



The Beacon had not long been the Baronet's pro- 

 perty before he wrote to me, " I have been wonder- 

 ing what you fed The Beacon on. Will you kindly 

 say whether it was saw-dust? I am very pleased 

 with him now. He has greatly improved." 



The second change had evidently been ^beneficial. 

 Sir Joseph ran him in the Cesare witch of 1858, 

 wherein his weight was 4 st. But he was dis- 

 appointed about his jockey, and, failing anybody 

 else, put up Billy Bottom, who could not go to 

 scale luider 5 st. ! This action was typical of Sir 

 Joseph, capable of going to any extremity whenThe 

 had " made up his mind." The flouting of the 

 handicap was not attended with success, as The 

 Beacon ran nowhere. But in the Cambridgeshire 

 he beat all but Eurydice, this meaning he defeated 

 thirty-four opponents. Nor did he lose the race by 

 more than a length. In the ensuing season he won 

 the Queen's Plate at Newmarket over the Bound 

 Course, and afterwards was sold to the Italians. 

 He certainly did come on apace while Sir Joseph 



140 



