26 SAM DARLING'S REMINISCENCES 



pointed, and his bind legs went from under him. He 

 fell clean through the fence to the other side on his 

 shoulder, which he broke. He could not be saved, 

 though he was slung for some time. Many sports- 

 men came down from the stands to see him put 

 in the ambulance, and one had only to look at 

 many of their faces to see how they were affected 

 by the scene. 



Soon after that happened I made up my mind 



to give up steeplechasing. About the same time 



as Coronet was a horse called Ballot 



Ballot Box 



Box, belonging to the late Sir Pat 

 Nickalls. He came to me in a very poor condition, 

 and after he had got strong he won the Croydon 

 Metropolitan, the big Sandown steeplechases, and 

 the follo\ving spring, carrying 12 st. 7 lb., he won 

 it again, giving The Fawn 21 lb. The latter won 

 the big chase at Leopardstown just afterwards. 

 Sir Patrick said to me : 



" I have been training this horse round my 

 cabbage garden ; I expect you will do something 

 with him." He had won point-to-point races 

 before. After that he carried 12 st. 4 lb., and was 

 third in the Liverpool, ridden by W. Nightingall, 

 which I think a very good performance. He 

 measured just over fifteen hands. A very in- 

 teresting thing in connection with the two horses 

 Coronet and Ballot Box was that Coronet 



