SIXTY YEARS ON THE TURF 



ill the closing years of his Hfe Mr. Brayley was 

 bitterly acquainted witli the fleeting character of 

 riches. I am no behever in the superstition men- 

 tioned, or any other. So I do not attribute 

 Mr. Brayley 's downf ill to retribution from the Fates, 

 the rather fixing the blame on the poorness of his 

 judgment. And the evil of the business in the end 

 was that he often obstinately stuck to his erroneous 

 ideas in the face of information and evidence. Thus, 

 because at Ascot in 1869 he beat Yestminster with 

 Duke of Beaufort he would not believe in my horse 

 winning the Cambridgeshire ; and the more I told 

 him that Yestminster at the time of his defeat was 

 not himself, the more he protested he knew better. 

 This same Duke of Beaufort let him down badly in 

 the Derby of that year. He formed a notion that 

 lie was a good colt, whereas the best judges told him 

 he was a bad. 



" I'll back him all the same," he said, and took 

 30,000 to 1000 oft* " Tubby " Morris. 



"He'll see 10 to 1," he told Morris as he booked 

 the bet. 



" I tell you what it is," said Morris. " If your 

 horse goes on nicely, you bring him to the post fit 

 as he can be made, and the people like him, you'll 

 be able to get 100 to 1, never mind lO's." 



Matters were not so bad as that, but all the same 



19S 



