H m^c on ' trf3C IRake ' 67 



and was powerless myself. He then asked Mr. 

 Pryor to write a letter to Mr. Chaplin, asking him 

 to give me up to him. The Squire wrote back to 

 say he had a lot of money on his horse ' Hermit,' 

 and would he let him stand the odds to ^100 on 

 ' The Rake ' on consideration of giving up his claim ? 

 Mr. Pryor replied that he thought ' The Rake ' was 

 certain to win the Derby, and Mr. Chaplin could 

 back him for what he thought proper, but he had so 

 many friends standing in with him that he could not 

 afford to let him do so. Mr. Chaplin, however, said 

 he should be sorry to stop me from riding the 

 winner, so wrote back at once and gave me up. 



The most extraordinary part of the story is, that 

 on the Friday before the Derby the news arrived at 

 Harpenden Races that ' The Rake ' had broken a 

 blood-vessel. That night I went over to Chantilly to 

 ride in the French Derby, and when I returned to 

 England on the Monday had no idea which horse I 

 was going to steer at Epsom. As each had broken 

 a blood-vessel, I didn't think it mattered much. On 

 the Tuesday morning I went on to the course to 

 ride ' The Rake ' a gallop as usual before the 

 Derby, never having been on his back. Mr. Joseph 

 Dawson, his trainer, told me to follow some horse or 

 other three-quarters of a mile cantering twice, as he 



