120 KINGSCLERE 



races. Almost a clean sweep of the board, and all 

 the events useful to backers. 



Porter recalls with a smile a circumstance con- 

 nected with the Goodwood meeting in question. 

 His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales invited 

 him to join the party on board the Royal yacht for 

 the purpose of witnessing the naval review. Rooms 

 being difficult, not to say impossible, to obtain in 

 Portsmouth, John was put up for the night at the 

 shore quarters of Captain Curzon-Howe, which 

 were over a hairdresser's shop. The enterprising 

 perruquier made himself acquainted with the name 

 and profession of the Captain's guest, and was 

 profoundly impressed therewith. ' Mr. John Porter, 

 the Kingsclere trainer ! ' If that was not ' a straight 

 tip,' ' a moral,' 'a cert,' what more could a confiding 

 backer of Fortune's omens desire ? At any rate, 

 the hairdresser determined to follow the guidance of 

 the finger of fate and have something on every one 

 of the Kingsclere horses at Goodwood. He did, 

 cumulatively. Porter met one of the officers of the 

 Royal yacht at Goodwood, who informed him that 

 the hairdresser's rapture, and so forth, in conse- 

 quence of his prosperous speculation, had reached 

 such a pitch, he had become temporarily incapacitated 

 from pursuing his habitual calling. When last heard 

 of he had abandoned shaving — for a time — to his 

 customers' intense relief. 



To follow the advice of the circus manager in 

 the well-known story, and get to the horses, we find 

 that in 1887 Candlemas wen the Royal Stakes 



