26 THE TURF 



teacher, as indeed is that of Mornington Cannon, who, 

 however, perhaps finishes with more vigour and 

 determination than his father was accustomed to 

 exhibit. Tom Cannon was and his son is much eiven 

 to "waiting," a practice which some critics consider 

 that Mornington carries to excess. Both riders, how- 

 ever when they have just lost races have sometimes 

 expressed the conviction that if they had only dared to 

 wait for two or three strides longer, they would just 

 have won ; and it is by no means certain in this 

 matter that lookers on see most of the game, or 

 are best able to estimate the situation. It is quite 

 certain that the most usual fault in young riders is the 

 reverse of this, a disposition to begin to finish too 

 soon ; they are in too great a hurry to get home, and 

 there can be no doubt that many races have been 

 won by these waiting tactics. It is absolutely cer- 

 tain that Enthusiast ought not to have beaten Dono- 

 van in the Two Thousand Guineas of 1889, but 

 Donovan, and Pioneer who was esteemed his most 

 dangerous rival, spun themselves out before the post 

 was reached. As Tom Cannon said, in accounting 

 for his most unexpected victory, " they had two or 

 three little races to themselves a long way from the 

 judge's box, and when we got near it I thought 

 I would join in." Few persons who saw the race 

 for the Leger of 1894 will doubt that Mornington 

 Cannon only won on Throstle because he waited well 

 behind. 



