214 LATTER HALF OF RACING SEASON OF 1845. 



lifted him out of the morass into which he was 

 subsiding. Next morning, when I took my horses 

 out to exercise, I encountered an old acquaintance 

 on the farther side of the course under the wood, 

 who thrust his walking-stick into the spongy soil 

 up to its handle, remarking that " there was no 

 bottom to be found." A shrewd, hard - headed 

 Yorkshire labourer who was engaged in filling in 

 the holes made by the horses' hoofs on the previous 

 day, overheard my friend's remark and ejaculated, 

 " You be mistaaken, zur ; there be a parlous good 

 bottom, nobut goe deep enouf doun to foind it." 



Lord George was at all times very sceptical as to 

 the soundness of excuses made for any of his horses 

 which failed to win a particular race. He would 

 not listen, therefore, to the assurances forced upon 

 him by some of his friends, that Miss Elis had been 

 beaten through the deepness of the ground. In 

 addition to Miss Elis, Major Yarburgh's mare had 

 also beaten Mr Bennett's Hope, who was second to 

 Refraction for the Oaks. With his usual practical 

 good sense, Lord George soon convinced himself 

 that Miss Sarah would win the Doncaster St Leger, 

 and immediately commenced to back her heavily 

 for that race. Before long his Lordship's money 

 made Miss Sarah first favourite for the St Leger, 

 and when the flag fell she started with odds of 

 5 to 2 against her. In the race, for which she 

 was trained by the late Charles Peck, she was 

 beaten rather cleverly by Mr Watts's chestnut 



