6 SAM DARLING'S REMINISCENCES 



David slew with sling and stone. I have forgotten 

 the answer. I was very small just then. 



When about eight years old I was very anxious 

 to learn to ride. The first opportunity, I mounted 

 the horse of a visitor who had come to see my 

 grandfather, which ran away with me over some 

 deep stone quarries. I managed to stick on ; had 

 I not I should probably have broken my neck. 

 Half the village turned out when we returned, 

 riding, they said, as if nothing had happened. 

 They didn't expect to see the little boy Darling 

 on the horse's back again ! 



When about nine years old I went to Warwick 

 College. One day of the races, while at school there, 

 I dodged behind a screen, got out of school without 

 my hat (mortar-board), and ran on to the race- 

 course (Warwick), where I saw Salamander win 

 the Grand Annual Steeplechase, and said, " I'll go 

 into the stables and be a jockey ; that's the life for 

 me." My people had arranged for me to go into 

 a bank, but my persuasion prevailed, and I went 

 to Mr. Weever's at Bourton Hill, in Sept. 1866, 

 leaving school to go there as apprentice. 



I rode with more or less success on the flat as 

 a light weight. My first mount was 



cast for Chimney Pot, for Lord Coventry, at 



Knighton, Wales ; weight, 5 st. 12 lb. Did 



not win. My first winning mount on the flat was 



I 



