40 IRiMiKj IRccoUections an^ tluit Stones 



back, and whom Fordham ought to have known but 

 did not. 



When ' Fille de I'Air ' won the Oaks in 1864, the 

 people connected with her w^ere under the im- 

 pression there was a prejudice against French 

 horses ; and as she had been badly beaten in the 

 Two Thousand at Newmarket when a great 

 favourite, they were afraid there would be some 

 hostile feeling against her if she proved successful at 

 Epsom. In consequence of this, John Hawses, who 

 was Count Lagrange's factotum, and a great friend of 

 Owen Swift's (whose acquaintance he made during 

 Owen's exile in France after killing Brighton 

 Bill), got him to hire some fighting men to be 

 ready to take care of the filly and her jockey 

 after she had won. I waS' riding a mare called 

 ' Antoinette,' belonging to Captain King, and trained 

 by W. Goodwin at Newmarket, whose colours were 

 blue jacket, red sleeves, and white cap — exactly the 

 same as Count Lagrange's with the exception of the 

 cap, which was red. After passing the post — ' Fille 

 de I'Air ' having won easily, my mare being about 

 eighth or ninth — on returning to the enclosure, 

 I noticed the French mare trotting back sharply, 

 with two or three mounted policemen and several 

 pugilists. Amongst others, I can specially recollect 



