106 THE ENGLISH TURF 



Alvescot, winner of the Hastings Plate at Newmarket, and 

 Chevening, winner of the Queen's Prize at the Kempton 

 Easter fixture. Jones again rode the Prince's colt, who car- 

 ried odds of 2 to I on, and the public were greatly surprised 

 when Chevening and Diamond Jubilee ran home locked 

 together, the last-named only winning by a head, after 

 putting in all he knew to avert defeat. At first it seemed 

 as if Diamond Jubilee's Two Thousand victory had been 

 overrated, but, as a matter of fact, the Egerton House 

 stable were only too pleased that their horse had won, 

 and if the public had known what had taken place during 

 the forenoon they would certainly never have laid odds 

 in the fashion they did. 



It appears that when the Egerton House team were at 



their usual exercise that morning, the horses walking round 



in a circle. Diamond Jubilee suddenly reared up several 



times, and finally fell backwards to the ground, rolling over 



with Jones underneath. Luckily Marsh was near enough 



to catch the horse's rein as he rose, and thus he did not 



get away loose. Luckily also neither horse nor jockey 



was hurt, but shortly afterwards Diamond Jubilee began 



to tremble and sweat, and such a condition was he in 



soon after the occurrence that his attendants were hardly 



able to get him dry before it was time to take him to 



the course. No doubt he had suffered from fright of 



some sort, and when I saw him in the Birdcage some 



hours later his coat was still half standing up, and with 



none of the bloom it had borne on the Two Thousand 



day. It was commonly reported afterwards that Diamond 



Jubilee had caught sight of Morny Cannon, who had gone 



down to ride a gallop on one of Marsh's string, before 



he began to play the fool, but I understand that the famous 



jockey was never very near the horse, and I can only say 



that if the sight of Cannon was the real cause of the 



contretemps, then horses have far quicker sight and greater 



sensitiveness than is generally supposed. What is really 



clear is that Diamond Jubilee was not himself, and it is 



wonderful that he escaped defeat after passing such a 



morning. The exceedingly clever riding of Chevening by 



