2 SAM DARLING'S EEMINISCENCES 



to Mr. Collins of Warwick, for whom he won most 

 of his races, many of which were four-mile heats. 

 His name will be always chiefly associated with 

 Hesperus and Isaac, two really wonderful horses. 

 Old Sam The former was introduced to him in 

 if ^erus 1824, and was ridden by him in eighty- 

 and Isaac gix races during that and the six follow- 

 ing seasons. Hesperus won thirty-four of these 

 races, and so great was the fame of the horse 

 and his jockey that they were commanded to be 

 specially paraded before the royal carriage, in 

 which was the Duchess of Kent, mother of Queen 

 Victoria. This was after Hesperus had won the 

 Worcester Cup. 



Curiously enough Hesperus would not give his 

 running for any jockey but my grandfather, and 

 on this point there was once a big wager, a jockey 

 named Callaway being backed to win on him, with 

 the result that he bolted out of the course. My 

 grandfather rode him the following day, when he 

 beat the same lot of opponents with the greatest 

 ease. 



It was in 1835 that the connection between my 

 grandfather and his marvellous grey gelding, 

 Isaac, commenced. He and a friend named Tom 

 Speed bought Isaac for a trifling sum. He was 

 then a four-year-old, and had run his first race 

 at Liverpool, showing some sort of form which 



