SIXTY YEARS ON THE TURF 



policy. The public, of course, knew nothing of 

 Victorious being fed, and odds of 7 to 1 were laid 

 on him. He was not a quarter himself, and could 

 only manage a dead-heat. Mr. George Payne was 

 in a rare state. 



" What are you going to do, Hodgman ? I've laid 

 100 to 15 three times." 



" Oh, I shall run it off. But you shouldn't have 

 betted without seeing me." And I told him of the 

 occurrences. 



" Well, I shall back him again." 



In the decider only 9 to 4 was laid on Victorious, 

 and he claimed a neck advantage. He ran in the 

 Fitzwilliam Stakes at Doncaster, but he ought not to 

 have been started, as he had had his foot in a bran 

 poultice for forty-eight hours, and could merely finish 

 third. Still, the race did him no harm, and two days 

 afterwards he, with 6 lb. the worst of the weights, in 

 the Eglinton Stakes ran Wild Agnes to a neck. As a 

 three-year-old he was a very difficult horse to train, 

 owing to the brittle character of his feet. At times, 

 indeed, he could not wear a shoe. In the Chester 

 Cup he was much knocked about, and in the Gold 

 Cup at Ascot he hit his leg badly. That finished 

 his racing career, and he went to the stud, dying a 

 very old horse in the neighbourhood of Hereford. 



Jackson, the practical controller at that period of 



185 



