50 NEWMARKET EARLY IN THE CENTURY. 



building. Pride, however, comes before a fall, and 

 scarcely was the house finished before its owner 

 found it unavoidably necessary to sell it at a ruin- 

 ous sacrifice to Mr J. F. Clark, who afterwards 

 resold it to Count Batthyany. It is now the 

 residence of Mr John Dawson. 



It is not generally known that H.R.H. the 

 Prince Regent was not driven away from New- 

 market by the " Escape " affair, but by another 

 race in which his horse Sultan was supposed to 

 have been ridden foully. H.R.H. then resolved 

 to sell all his horses and to retire from the Turf. 

 Bill Chifney's house became, as I have just said, 

 the property of Count Batthyany, and his stables 

 and paddocks at Headley (near Epsom) passed 

 into the hands of " Lawyer " Ford, who afterwards 

 disposed of them to my noble master Lord George 

 Bentinck ; and there Gaper, Refraction, Surplice, 

 Loadstone, and many other horses from the Good- 

 wood stable, were located before they met their 

 Epsom engagements. The inconveniences then 

 experienced in getting horses from Newmarket to 

 Epsom have often led me to admire the foresight 

 and sagacity of Lord George Bentinck, who pre- 

 dicted that railways would entirely revolutionise 

 horse-racing. The youngest boy at Newmarket 

 can now appreciate the accuracy of Lord George's 

 prophecy. 



With one final tale, which about that time 

 caused no slight amusement, let me close a chapter 



