28 iRiDino IRecollections an^ Uuit Stones 



Mat joined in, and, I need hardly tell my readers, 

 there was a merry chorus for about a hundred 

 yards or so. Going on, we had a tremendous 

 race, and finally I just won by a head at the finish, 

 but the horses were both so tired they didn't go 

 twenty yards past the winning-post. Neither 

 of them was worth anything afterwards. Mr. 

 Merry, or his friend Buchanan, I believe it was, 

 sold ' Special License ' to go to Germany as a sire, 

 and to run for the bio- race at Baden-Baden. How- 



o 



ever, the horse came back after he had been there 

 about a fortnight, as they discovered that he was a 

 gelding. Mr. Merry, therefore, was obliged to take 

 him back and refund the money. I am sure he did 

 not like this, ' Special License ' was a sound, genuine 

 anim^il, a wonderful stayer, and he won the Liverpool 

 Autumn Cup two years in succession, in 1857 and 

 1858. He was by 'The Cossack' out of 'Bridle.' 

 When I steered him he was a very generous horse. 

 Another memorable race that I rode in that, to me, 

 very successful season was the winning mount on 

 Sir H. des Voeux' horse ' Comforter ' in the City and 

 Suburban. This was after a dead heat with Sir 

 Joseph Hawley's ' Lord Nelson,' with Wells in the 

 saddle. I thought I had won the first time, but I 

 made no mistake the second go. Jumping away in 



