164 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



capital little meeting there by the banks of the 

 Wear in those days and beat Honesty the 

 following week in a handicap. At that time 

 Honesty, who belonged to old Mr. Masterman, 

 father of the present Tom Masterman, of Middle- 

 ham, was a very useful horse. The first time 

 Romping Girl ran in the Prince of Wales' Stakes, 

 I fancied her for it, but I could never account for 

 the poor show she made. Whether the boy 

 couldn't ride I don't know. I rode her in 

 the Oaks myself, when she ran the dead heat 

 with Achievement, behind Hippia. She beat 

 a mare of Mr. Thomas Dawson's named 

 Mendicant at Newton the week after the 

 Oaks, and Strathconan in the Newcastle Cup. 

 I have never had so good a one as Romping 

 Girl since. Well, yes, I think I had one Sir 

 Amyas Leigh, but he never did any good. 

 Afterwards Romping Girl was second to 

 Fripponier at Doncaster. I then sold her to 

 Lord Westmorland, and she was third in the 

 Cesarewitch won by Julius. I had a big ' pot ' 

 on her for that Cesarewitch. I had 1000 to 15 

 about her. 



" I never did bet very much, only a little for 

 hedging purposes. Now I backed Zetland for 

 the Derby took 3000 to 30 about him ; that 

 was a big bet for me. I hedged at 16 to 1. Now 

 you ask about my betting propensities. So far 

 as that goes, we had five horses in the Derby of 

 '64. I took 500 to 20 about the lot before any of 

 them ran as two-year-olds. I had 2000 to 10 

 about Prince Arthur, who had shown fair form 

 that year, running second to Fille de 1'Air for 

 the ' Criterion,' and they took 20 to 1 freely about 



