160 THE GOODWOOD STABLE IN 1844. 



fraudulent design or practice beforehand. All he 

 wished was, that every endeavour might be used 

 to get the horses to the post well, and fit to 

 run through their races successfully. Naturally 

 there existed a rivalry between the Goodwood and 

 Danebury establishments, which the Ratan affair 

 tended to increase. After that my doubts were 

 strengthened with regard to the running of Gaper 

 for the Derby, and for a Produce Stake at Abing- 

 don, where Gaper was beaten by Mr Isaac Day's 

 Somerset, when the odds were "breast-high" on 

 Gaper. In the ' Racing Calendar's ' official report 

 of the race, the following sentence occurred : 

 " Somerset fell within the distance, but recovered 

 himself and won by half a neck." This was a 

 remarkable occurrence, as the following week at 

 Warwick they met again. The distance (1 mile) 

 and weights were the same, and Gaper won easily. 

 Even this did not excite Lord George's suspicion 

 of any foul play, although at Warwick the betting 

 was even on Gaper, when, after the running of 

 Somerset at Abingdon, it ought to have been 2 to 

 1 on Somerset. When Sam Rogers rode the Duke 

 of Richmond's Red Deer at Liverpool for the 

 Liverpool St Leger, and the Gratwicke Stakes at 

 Goodwood the following year (1844), there were 

 unpleasant rumours about him then. At Liver- 

 pool it was remarked that " he rode Red Deer 

 with the greatest severity, in fact, that he rode 

 his head off." Red Deer was beaten two lengths 



