H match witb 'Julius' 71 



about (such a thing could not occur in these days) ; 

 so there was nothing to do but run. The opposing 

 parties had been trying to bluff each other, as neither 

 horse was really fit. Run they did, and a tremendous 

 race it was. Fifty yards from home I thought I was 

 going up to just beat ' Julius ' about a neck ; but my 

 little horse, instead of answering to the call, curled 

 up, and was defeated by about half a length. When 

 I say "curled up," I don't mean he really cut it like 

 a rogue, but ran just as if he felt something was going 

 to happen ; and I always believe it was the fear of 

 breaking another blood-vessel. After this it looked 

 good odds on him beating ' Julius ' for the match 

 with 7 lb. the best of the weights, remembering how 

 they ran in this race. The result goes further to 

 strengthen my argument about ' Hermit ' being a 

 delicate horse. Both of them had a fortnight's hard 

 training, and Julius won by two lengths in a canter, 

 showing that one had improved 5 lb. in a fortnight 

 with training, and that the other had gone back 

 7 lb. Later experience has shown that nearly all 

 the ' Newminsters ' were liable to do this when the 

 least bit overworked. 



From what I have written, and from what I know 

 to be the case, my readers will forgive me for saying 

 that I think the breaking of a blood-vessel won 



