AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 27 



market Craven Meeting. He was not quite wound up 

 to the mark as he had caught a severe cold in the early 

 spring, and the Chifneys could not hurry him in his 

 preparation. There was some difficulty to get a jockey 

 for Priam for the Derby, as Lord Darlington, who had 

 Sam Chifney's first services, claimed him for Sheldrake, 

 and Mr. Rush insisted on his first call on Robinson for 

 Ivanhoe, so that at last S. Day was entrusted with the 

 Chifney ' green and black cap ' on Priam. There was 

 no ' Newmarket Special ' travelling from headquarters 

 to Epsom in a few hours in those days, and horses had 

 to finish their preparation on the Surrey Hills. Will 

 Chifney and Priam started for Epsom on the Friday 

 week before the Derby, and it is reported thart ' Brother 

 Will' walked all the way from Cambridgeshire into 

 Surrey by the side of his Derby nag. The Chifneys 

 backed Priam to win a lot of money, but even yet he 

 did not start favourite. Like Lord Clifden in the St. 

 Leger thirty-three years later, Priam was the last off, 

 and Sam Chifney, who with Sheldrake was then in the 

 first flight, had, in turning round to discover where 

 Priam was, the satisfaction of seeing him still careering 

 at the post on his hind legs. However, when Day did 

 get him down he went after the others like a steam 

 engine and quickly caught Chifney's mount, who on 

 that day could not have won an ordinary plating 

 contest. Eventually Priam mowed down his field, and 

 quickly settling Little Red Rover won by two lengths. 

 After this easy Derby victory the Leger was thought to 

 be merely a question of health for him, but the going 

 was so bad on the day that it suited better the great- 

 striding Birmingham, who won by half a length. Next 

 spring Lord Chesterfield bought Priam for 3000 guineas 

 from the Chifneys, and he won for his lordship the Good- 



