104 HEROES AND HEROINES OF 



having been backed by one of his owners to be first 

 over, which bet he just won, for though the horses 

 were actually all but abreast as they rose. Emigrant 

 jumped so quickly and beautifully that he was 

 almost a length to the good. 



The masterly way Boyce rode the winner, handi- 

 capped as he was with a damaged arm, was beyond 

 all praise, and it is good to know that it did not go 

 unrewarded, the joint owners of Emigrant pre- 

 senting him with a thousand, and a gallant baronet, 

 who had won money over the race, half that 

 amount. 



The casual manner whereby Emigrant came into 

 the possession of Mr. George Hodgman reveals a 

 few interesting" details worthy of mention. 



In the spring of 1855 Mr. Hodgman, then 

 very successfully carrying on a bookmaker's 

 business, was at Shrewsbury attending the races, 

 and stopping at the George Hotel. 



Old Ben Land, the veteran steeplechase jockey, 

 had bought Emigrant and Odiham with a view to 

 winning a steeplechase with one or other of them — 

 possibly both. 



One night Mr. Hodgman turned up at the hotel 

 and found Land playing cards. Fortune had gone 

 against him the whole evening, and even while 



