WELLS'S ECCENTRICITIES 233 



then asked Wells how much he would like. Wells 

 replied, " I should like to have the other four 

 hundred." Sir Joseph rejoined, " Then what am I 

 to have ? " Wells said, " You will have all the 

 honour and glory of winning, Sir Joseph." The 

 Match came off at the Second October Meeting, 

 and proved the soundness of the Baronet's judg- 

 ment. They laid 5 to 2 on Blue Gown, who was 

 giving Friponnier a year. The latter was beaten by 

 half a length. W T ells, of course, rode Blue Gown. 

 I never quite knew how the deal was squared 

 between owner and jockey, but I rather think that 

 Sir Joseph received as his share more than the 

 honour and glory of winning. 



' Of trainers as a body I have naturally very 

 little to say. Theirs is an arduous, a trying, and a 

 highly responsible vocation, and if they perform 

 their duties conscientiously they have no occasion to 

 fear any kind of criticism, private or public. They 

 are sometimes rather roughly handled by the dis- 

 appointed backer, but that personage is always a 

 prejudiced witness, and, as a rule, an ignorant one. 

 At all events, the trainer knows more than he does. 

 I doubt whether I ever had an enemy amongst the 

 members of my brotherhood in all the years I have 

 been engaged in the work, and I number amongst 

 my " rivals," as I suppose I must call them, some 

 of my warmest and most cherished friends. The 

 trainer who stands out most prominently amongst 

 the earliest of those I knew is John Scott of White- 

 wall, the renowned Wizard of the North. His fame 



