LOKD GLASGOW. 137 



to have heard Tom Dawson say that Mr Copper- 

 thwaite, an Irish gentleman, sent him a yearling 

 to train who was as fat as a pig. Six months after- 

 wards Mr Copperthwaite went to Middleham to 

 inspect his colt, whom he found to be not half as 

 heavy as when he last saw him. " Good heavens ! " 

 he exclaimed to Tom Dawson, " half the horse is 

 gone already, and if I leave him here any longer, 

 the other half will soon follow ! " To prevent such 

 a catastrophe, the colt was taken away next day. 



Vast as is the change which racing has under- 

 gone since Lord George Bentinck's day, I have no 

 manner of doubt that he would have reaped a 

 rich harvest by following his old system of early 

 training and early trying if he had been living 

 now. It was his uniform practice to find out the 

 form of his yearlings before he engaged them ; and 

 I do not think that many of the fatted youngsters 

 which are now knocked down at prices varying 

 between one thousand and six thousand guineas 

 would have had much chance with Lord George's 

 picked colts and fillies, bred by himself regardless 

 of expense, and brought up with every care so as 

 to fit them to be running machines of the highest 

 quality. 



I never remember any wealthy patron of the 

 Turf who was so obstinate or so blind to his own 

 interests as the late Earl of Glasgow. It was his 

 Lordship's custom to make a lot of matches every 

 year with Lord George Bentinck, seldom winning 



