92 IRiMno IRecoUections an^ XTurt Stories 



a difficult race to ride, with one exception, which 

 was to win at the winning-post, and nowhere else, 

 so my sole object was to keep Archer from knowing 

 how my mount was going, by keeping right in his 

 track, and just close enough to him not to strike into 

 his horse's heels. About the distance Archer was 

 looking for me again, but could not see me. Appa- 

 rently, he really did not know what to do. Luckily 

 for me, instead of catching hold of ' Thunder's ' 

 head, and sending him straight home, he waited for 

 one run. Fortunately, I got this first, and won by 

 a little less than half a length. 



Another of my best employers was Sir Charles 

 Legard. He was a great sportsman, and a patron 

 of Bloss's stable, in which Mr. Henry Chaplin and 

 Captain Machell trained at that time. Sir Charles 

 did not possess a very large stud, but he had a couple 

 of good horses in ' Vespasian ' and ' Border Knight.' 

 The former carried me victoriously in several races, 

 but his best performance was when he won the 

 Chesterfield Cup at Goodwood in 1869, with 

 10 St. 4 lb. on his back. ' Vespasian ' had been 

 beaten on the first day of the meeting by ' Blue 

 Gown ' in the Craven Stakes, Fordham being in the 

 saddle. We, that is, Fordham and myself, were 

 walking off the course that evening together, when 



