SIXTY YEARS ON THE TURF 



very good, I certainly must grant that (as she) 

 when he was bad he was horrid. No doubt he could 

 go when he liked. But the mood for vigour in the 

 proper direction was so rarely upon him that he was 

 a constant source of annoyance and trouble, I re- 

 member one race at Nottingham in the July of 1867 

 when he was only opposed by Mr. J. Barber's Contract. 

 The public betted 7 to 4 on him, and it was soon a 

 case of 100 to 1 on if he did not resort to pranks. 

 When he had the race at his mercy he took it into 

 his head to get out of the course, and jumped the 

 rails, leaving Contract to finish at his leisure. Some 

 of the faithful paragraphists of the day suggested 

 that because I had good prices at the clubs about 

 Vici, I paid Mr. Barber to run Contract, so that 

 there should be a race. I do not claim credit for 

 more than an average amount of common sense, 

 but I certainly do think I had sufficient prudence 

 not to risk a deal of money on such a horse as I 

 knew Yici to be. The extent of my betting on that 

 race was exactly a five-pound note : so where Mr. 

 Barber's " corner" came in I leave the paragraphists 

 to discover. Next day I ran Yici in the Chesterfield 

 Handicap, and he won : upon which he was made 

 favourite for the Goodwood Stakes, though he carried 

 very little of my coin or confidence. He was, 

 unfortunately for his backers, in his worst mood,* 



241 Q 



