354 KINGSCLERE 



'TOMMY HUGHES S YEARLINGS. 



The late Henry Mort Feist, ' Augur ' and ' Hotspur* — 

 the second and most brilliant of the line of ' Hotspurs ' 

 which the journal with ' the largest circulation in the world ' 

 has possessed — was the author of the phrase ' Tommy 

 Hughes's yearlings,' as he was of many another verbal 

 felicity which was current in racing circles some thirty 

 years ago. He was apter at packing a characteristic or an 

 idea graphically and with a sense of genuine humour into 

 a phrase than ' Argus ' (Mr. Willes), who prided himself on 

 the art and practised it on every possible occasion. Not 

 a few of Mr. Willes's alliterative headings in ' Our Van ' 

 v/ere laboured and inept Vauban, by Muscovite out of 

 Palm, was first favourite for the Derby of 1867, which was 

 won by Hermit. It was a snowy Derby Day, and * Argus ' 

 went about the paddock button-holing his friends and 

 telling them with a chuckle, in his well known nasal 

 manner, that ' it was Muscovite weather.'' He was seriously 

 alarmed when a brother of the pen threatened to use the 

 notion in his article for next day's paper, and implored the 

 banterer to respect his copyright. It was Feist who named 

 Lord Lyon and Rustic, sons of the same sire (Stockwell), 

 • The Lord and the Lout ' ; and a big loose-limbed horse, a 

 sluggard trained by John Scott, who never started in a race, 

 it was said, without having a bottle of port or Scotch whiskey 

 inside him, ' Hotspur ' named ' The tardy Taraban.' It was 

 Flash in the Pan's sensational Chester Cup victory which 

 provoked Feist's humorous remark about ' Tommy Hughes's 

 yearlings.' Flash in the Pan, b.h. by Pontifex out of 

 Gratis, aged, 6 st. 4 lb., started at 30 to 1 and won in a 

 canter by ten lengths. It was Mr. 'Tommy' Hughes's 

 custom to buy up old crocks with a view to landing such 

 coups as that in question. Feist and Hughes were warm 

 friends, and ' Hotspur ' had a hundred sovereigns to one 

 about Flash in the Pan. He, however, had characteristically 

 enough forgotten all about the bet, and when the book- 

 maker, who was a Croydon tradesman, ! called round ' on 

 the Sunday after settling day (Monday) and said to him, 

 4 Mr. Feist, you owe me a sovereign,' Feist replied, with 

 childlike innocence, ' What for ? ' ' Flash in the Pan,' was 

 the rejoinder. ' Why, good Heavens, I won ! ' exclaimed the 

 suddenly enlightened backer. Thereupon the bookmaker 



